Mar 30, 2020

A Message from Miami Jewish Film Festival

Dear friends of the Miami Jewish Film Festival,

It’s the end of the month, and under normal circumstances, we would be announcing all the exciting events we have coming up today. As we all know, these are not normal circumstances.

Like many organizations, we at Miami Jewish Film Festival have spent the last weeks adapting to these tumultuous times that are so far beyond our control: transitioning teams to remote work, rethinking year-round events, and preparing to weather the economic impact on our work, our community, and independent film.

We’ve been heartened by all the people who have reached out to us by email, text, and through phone calls to ask how we are doing, and the answer is -- so far, so good. Our team is up and running with the new protocols, and we’ll do everything we can to adapt as the situation evolves.

Finding our way through this state of affairs as individuals and organizations is difficult, but it is also an opportunity to recognize and draw strength from the fact that we are all in this together. We are committed to collective action and impact, to a spirit of experimentation, and to the very hard work ahead maintaining the health and vitality of the Miami Jewish Film Festival and its mission in the face of this adversity. If we can approach this moment with that spirit, and listen to those who embody it, we can weather this crisis with our humanity intact and reimagine a future where we are more connected than ever before.

We at MJFF are planning for the time to come, ensuring that the show must, can, and will go on. This crisis will pass, at which point we very much look forward to welcoming you back to the movies and celebrating the best of world cinema at our 24th annual edition on January 14-28, 2021. After all, community connection and shared cinematic experiences are core to what MJFF is all about.

Behind the scenes, our dedicated MJFF team continues its work. During these last three weeks, we were at the forefront helping cultivate new ways to give housebound audiences the ability to experience seminal Jewish and Israeli films. The Sun-Sentinel featured the Festival in a special article that highlighted these unique virtual activations, which included:

• A partnership with Menemsha Films giving access to their entire virtual film catalog featuring hundreds of past MJFF films
• A free 1-month subscription to Film Movement Plus and Music Box Direct, streaming services that bring you an ever-growing library of foreign, independent, and documentary films
• A recourse page that lists where all past MJFF films are available to stream on Netflix, Amazon Prime, iTunes, and Youtube

Over the next days and weeks, we will be unveiling even more great film opportunities you can experience directly from your home with your family. We will continue striving to inspire, enrich, and connect our passionate audience together with our shared love of cinema.

The Miami Jewish Film Festival has proudly served our community for more than two decades, becoming the largest film festival in the state of Florida and one of the largest Jewish film festivals in the world, thanks to you. During these challenging times, it is our extraordinary community that will remain a crucial source of strength to preserve that legacy. The Festival's legacy lives in each one of you and the community we have built together.

Thank you as always for your longstanding support of the Miami Jewish Film Festival. We will keep working hard as always to earn it.

We look forward to seeing you in person at the movies again hopefully very soon,

Igor Shteyrenberg, Executive Director
Barbara Black Goldfarb, Board Chair
Judith Vigil, Associate Director
Debbie Brodie-Weiss, Development Director
Douglass Gavilan, Festival Manager
Daniel Vasquez, Festival Coordinator