The anatomy of a film festival

By Eva Trieger

LA JOLLA, California —  According to Craig Prater of the Lawrence Family JCC, San Diego audiences may not realize their great fortune in luring Hannah Fisher to the next month’s Jewish Film Festival.  After a scintillating phone call with the Toronto native, I must agree!

Fisher has agreed to Chair the Film Jury and is very excited to return to the San Diego Jewish Film Festival for a second year.  She deemed the city and festival “wonderfully organized” and credited Prater for making “everyone feel involved and valued, integral in the dance of the festival. He embodies all the best qualities that a leader has to have.  He is fabulous with people; he has great taste, and he is a good administrator. Ergo: he is perfect.”

Fisher became involved in film festivals in the early 1980s when the Toronto/Ontario  Harbourfront Corporation tapped her to create community programs for the federal, municipal and provincial governments.  The six month contract turned into a twelve year commitment.

As programmer of festivals, Fisher explained that it’s critical to “cluster” films in order to intrigue audiences and provide them with insights and nuances.  Her evident gift with this segued into the role of Executive Director for the Vancouver Festival where she served for three years.  The creative expression of putting together pieces of the festival delights Fisher and she has experienced all facets of the project from programming to administration.

What is the most difficult aspect of a film festival?  Fisher explained that as there are so many festivals internationally, it is essential to focus energy and hone in on a specific niche, and to have excellent, skilled programmers who “have a superb instinct for a great new product.”  This is what breathes life into a film festival and provides a solid foundation.  Experimentation can follow, but only after this bedrock is in place.

I was curious to know which parts of a film appeal most to this cineaste.  Fisher told me that it is the complexity in total.  If a story moves her, reveals relationships, whether they are “crazy, dysfunctional, passionate,” matters not.  The film must allow the viewer to put his finger on what is happening with the people on screen.  She stated that it “must teach me something about the world and the hearts of mankind.”  

This insatiable curiosity has drawn Fisher to create and participate in film festivals in South Asia, Dubai, Thailand, Mexico, China and India.  Fisher has a gypsy soul that she may have inherited from her parents.  Her parents, both professionals, lived in Vienna.  However, her father, a Jew, was “prescient” and saw the writing on the wall.  He moved his family to China where Hannah was born and lived until the age of 8.   She recalled that her father was aware of the “lack of generosity and understanding towards one another” in Eastern Europe, and working with the World Health Organization, was able to relocate.

Fisher’s unbridled wanderlust and desire to absorb new cultures has developed into a full blown love affair with India, where she has spent the last 25 years admiring their “craziness, exuberance, vibrancy, color and joy.  Not to mention the brightly colored saris.”  She has become a major devotee of director Sanjay Leela Banshali.  Another producer, Kon Ichikawa , made a Japanese film in the 1960s, a “love letter to his city.”  Fisher told me of these to underscore that the beauty in film is in the universal messages imparted.  In her own words, “no matter what stripe, colour or language… the heart line is the same.”  Given that we live in a world rife with prejudice, religious polarity and zealots, I wanted to know if Fisher had ever encountered adversarial responses to showing Indian or Arab films.  She was quick to assure me that, no, she had never faced that negativity because audiences seek out the commonalities of the human condition, and relate to the fear, sadness, joy and elation they see on screen.

Eager to know where Hannah Fisher sees herself next, the production of Indian films may be her beckoning.  At present, there is an Indian filmmaker who has entranced her passionate soul.  However, Fisher also admitted, that she “falls in love with films and filmmakers,” and follows them throughout their careers. Currently, she is looking forward to joining her friend, Makarame Brahme on the production of his documentary on renowned musicians, Ajman Ali Khan  her interest, and she is eager Additionally, after viewing a short film about the Massai youth, Fisher is concerned  to know more about how these young people can find their place in the world.  They are rejected by both their contemporaries and their families.  Hannah was profoundly moved by this conundrum. It seems they have a foot in two worlds, and a home in none.

Hannah Fisher is all about films of inspiration, hope, kindness and gentleness.  She will never involve herself with a horror film because she believes strongly, that the filmmaker, director and producer have a responsibility to inspire humans to strive for benevolence.  They are given a huge canvas on which to promote the best of humanity.

I asked Fisher what she hoped San Diego audiences would take away from the San Diego Jewish Film Festival.  She told me that she hoped they’d be “proud of the Jewish community, the talent, generosity in sharing their stories, and be proud of their filmmakers.” With kudos to Craig Prater and his team, Fisher said that San Diegans could very comfortably sit back, relax, and allow the magic of the film to transport them to new realities.  There is a vast array of stories, of  cultures, and of fascinating lives inherent in the films selected this year.

The San Diego Jewish Film Festival will run from February 4-14 at several venues around San Diego.  Tickets may be purchased online at www.sdjff.org, or by phone at 858.362.1348.  If you wish to become an underwriter, please call 858.362.1330.

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Trieger is a freelance writer who specializes in coverage of the arts.  She may be contacted via eva.trieger@sdjewishworld.com.  Comments intended for publication in the space below must be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the U.S.)