By Paul Greenberg
LA JOLLA, California — Now in its 11th year, The Joyce Forum, founded by its namesake Joyce Axelrod, will present a variety of short films from around the world, as well as two feature films from Israel during the San Diego Jewish Film Festival
“San Diego has been a gold mine for the Joyce Forum the past years, ” Axelrod proudly explained.
“Three years ago, we showed the film, We Must Remember, done by the Carlsbad High School Dept of film and broadcasting. Before that, Nicole Opper, who went to Point Loma High School, did a film, Off and Running, that was on the short list for an Emmy and we previewed it here. The year before last, we showed Susan Schutz’s film, Over 90 and Loving It. She is a local filmmaker and does many films for KPBS. These are three examples of being able to showcase local filmmakers, which is just so exciting for us.”
The Joyce Forum– will present seven short films (8 to 25 min.), Shorts in Winter, starting on Monday, February 11 at 2 p.m.
At 5 Pp.m. the same day, Lia (65 min. and winner of Audience Award, Krakow International Film Festival; Winner, Audience Award, Berlin Jewish Film Festival; Winner, Best Film Award, DocAviv Film Festival) and Elliott Erwitt: I Bark at Dogs (12 min.) will be shown.
Life in Stills (60 min.) and Audition (7 min.) also will be presented, starting at 7:30 p.m. All the films will be shown at the Clairemont Reading Cinemas 14.
Axelrod and her curating committee (Mark Title, past president of the Visual Arts Foundation and Short Film Critic; Marcia Wolochow, past member of SDJFF curating committee) chose the short films.
“We find the shorts by finding them in other film festivals, or from just word of mouth, or the film festival community gives us clues as to the short films we would like to preview. We basically do not rely on submissions. One of the ways we try to make the films we show on that day special is that they must come from emerging filmmakers, and we loosely define emerging filmmakers as those that haven’t done a full feature film that has been shown commercially. It was quite challenging to preview 50 or 60 films that are shorts and picking out the best for Shorts In Winter. All of this year’s shorts are for mature teenagers and adults. What is typical of a strong age span is B-Boy. It is about a Bar Mitvah boy who is a breakdancer. It is charming. Also, it is not very often that we get light hearted or comedy films. It has only been in recent years that Jewish films have been able to go above and beyond the Holocaust. When we do get a film that is light hearted and has a funnier comedic edge to it, we are thrilled with that. Shlomo Pusycat, that is just charming, is about a rabbi and a woman he meets in a subway and there is a surprise ending, which is inherent in most of the shorts.”
The choices were not always unanimous. “Sometimes I would give a high rating to a film and I would see the listings of the ratings from the other two and they would be different from mine. At the end, anything that got an average of 4 and above (on a five point scale) would be on a list. Then we would have a list that would be a compilation of our ratings.. In the end, what we did choose was really the best of the best.”
“A short film packs its story into three to 30 minutes, but it is fast, you get the stories, the characters, the conflict, emotion, and then a surprising climax, all in 30 minutes or less. What makes for a great short film is it is tightly made, and you always experience the drama, joy, and sadness always within a short period of time. You can’t always typify a short film (by saying) that it is by a young filmmaker who is fulfilling an obligation for graduation. Many times, the short filmmakers have been adultswho have been in another profession and have this desire to make films. Short films can be funded by grants, nonprofit organizations or a sponsor, or the filmmaker’s own out-of-pocket funds. Shorts are often made by independent filmmakers for low budget or no budget, and in rare cases, big budgets.”
The feature films are basically chosen by Axelrod herself. “The curating committee does watch the feature films and sometimes they will give me a film or two to watch that they know is from an emerging filmmaker, and that is actually what happened for both of this year’s films. Feature-length films are at a minimum 90 minutes long. Both of the feature films showing this year are not feature-length films. That is why they are being shown with shorts. Usually, commercial films are financed by bigger companies.”
Since the Joyce Forum is part of the San Diego Jewish Film Festival, how much Jewishness is required to be connected to a film in order for it to be shown? “Sometimes the connection is very oblique. Sometimes people will ask, What is Jewish about that ? This year, I think the connection is strong because there is one about a Bar Mitzvah boy, there is a beautifully animated one about Nazi occupation, there is one about an Orthodox family, another one about a checkpoint outside of Jerusalem, and one about the Warsaw ghetto.”
Although the shorts and the two feature films come from a variety of different countries, that wasn’t Axelrod’s and her curating committee’s intention. It also wasn’t Axelrod’s intention that the two feature films came from Israel or that they focused on the preservation of art. “Both of them are tightly filmed, beautifully done documentaries. Life in Stills has gone on to win some very nice accolades.”
Axelrod keeps track of the filmmakers whose films have been shown at Joyce Forum over the years. “I keep track of them because I have established a relationship with them. Since Off and Running, I know Nicole Opper has already finished another film. Every once in a while, I run into her parents. I know Susan Schutz has finished another film and I was invited to the premiere of her next film, which will be previewed at KPBS for an audience only. The Carlsbad High School people have also finished another film. They are going great guns in their filmmaking.”
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Paul Greenberg is a freelance writer based in San Diego. Yvonne Greenberg contributed to this article.