Practicing Jews: Art, Identity, and Culture

About

Sponsored by The Jewish Cultural Collective at UW-Madison, The Conney Conference on Jewish Arts, UW-Hillel, and the Wisconsin Jewish Film Festival

About

The Jewish Film Challenge is an opportunity for up and coming filmmakers across the world to explore issues of Jewish identity, culture and/or religion while also sharpening their skills on set and in the editing room. Modeled after (but unaffiliated with) the National Film Challenge and other fast-paced filmmaking competitions, the Jewish Film Challenge will provide teams of producers and actors with filmmaking guidelines and a set period of time (sundown October 20th to sundown October 26th) in which to write, shoot and edit a short film (between 3 and 7 minutes). Provided the film is received before the deadline, it will be screened at an event in Madison in early November and critiqued by professional filmmakers, media scholars and critics. In addition to awarding specific prizes (best actor, actress, editing etc) the panel will also select three films as the best of the competition. These three films will then be screened at the grand opening of the Wisconsin Jewish Film Festival in February of 2008, where the audience will select its favorite. The producers of this grand winner will receive the JFC Directors award and a prize of $1,000. A DVD compilation featuring all awarding-winning films will be presented to every team that completes and submits a film. Registration is free.

Special Note: If any one organization submits five films to the challenge, the JFC will create a special category for this subgroup, select a winner and create a prize for it. Examples might include five different chapters from a national fraternity, five teams from the same university or yeshiva, teams from five different reform synagogues and so on.

Key Dates

1. September 12th: Registration opens (contact mattsienkiewicz@gmail.com).
2. October 15th: Registration closes.
3. October 20th, sundown: “Ingredients” will be sent to teams via email to ensure simultaneous production of films.
4. October 26th: Films must be submitted via mini-DVD or DVD via mail.
5. Early November (date TBA ): Screening of all qualifying films in Madison, WI.
6. February (date TBA ): Top three films will screened at opening event of 2008 Wisconsin Jewish Film Festival.

FAQ

Q: What qualifies a film as “Jewish”?

A: Great question. We don’t know exactly either, but participants are encouraged to take the notion of “Jewish film” in any direction they desire. This could take the form of films directly dealing with a Jewish issues or narratives in which elements of Jewish life or religion merely serve as a backdrop. A lot of the fun will be seeing what different teams decide to focus on. There is no requirement regarding religious content, although filmmakers who want to explore such topics certainly can. To ensure that teams don’t pre-plan their films too much, however, a list of “ingredients” will be sent to each team and these will no doubt be Jewish-themed. For examples, teams may be required to feature a Star of David or a Hebrew letter somewhere in their film. Filmmakers can choose to make this element the focus of their film or merely a background element; it’s entirely up to them.

Q: Do the filmmakers or actors need to be Jewish?

A: Absolutely not. The Jewish Film Challenge encourages any interested filmmaker to enter the competition, regardless of their relationship with Judaism. However, we certainly encourage filmmakers to use this as an opportunity to consider the ways in which Jewishness and Judaism impact their lives.he ways in which Jewishness and Judaism impact their lives.

Q: What if I want to make a film that’s critical of Judaism or Israel?

A: Films will be judged on their storytelling and technical proficiency. So long as filmmakers treat their subjects and audiences with respect, the Jewish Film Challenge encourages filmmakers to express their opinions in whatever way they deem fit.

Q: When will the event take place?

A: Films will be made from the minute Shabbat ends on October 20th and must be mailed in before Shabbat begins on October 26th. The first screening will take place the first week of November and the finalists will be presented again during the Wisconsin Jewish Film Festival in February.

Q: That’s not a lot of time!(?)

A: It’s true. However, most similar events provide filmmakers with only 48 hours (we’d like our students to continue attending class etc). While we’re confident the films will be of good quality, this event is much more about filmmakers having fun, practicing their craft and getting ideas onto the screen, even if they’re not fully polished.

Q: Do filmmakers need to be students?

A: While we envision many student groups competing, anyone is eligible.

Register

Registration is open until October 15th. Requests and other inquiries should be sent to mattsienkiewicz@gmail.com