SFist Mihi warns you that this preview clip above may be dull. Sidewalk, the documentary we saw at the Roda Theatre in Berkeley on Sunday for the SF Jewish Film Festival, was billed as a "wry and hilarious" examination by filmmaker Duki Dror as he follows kids on their daily journeys to and from school. "Dror has the same wondrous gift of bittersweet nostalgia that cartoonists Charles M. Schulz and Lynda Barry have," said......

SFist Wendy skips Harry Potter for the SF Jewish Film Fest! Who woulda thought. . . . we weren’t the only ones not completely immersed in isolation with the final Harry Potter book this weekend... although we did see a couple books neatly tucked under the seats at the Castro Theater on Saturday at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. If you weren’t there, well, then you missed out on a couple of good romantic......

Yay! SFist Mihi's back on the scene, covering the opening night festivities for the SF Jewish Film Fest! The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF) is the first and only Jewish film festival in the world. At least that's what the President of the SFJFF said at the Castro Theatre last night when he introduced the opening night movie, Sweet Mud. This is the kind of thing that makes us so proud to live here.......

-- Joan Osbourne: She's famous (or just known for) her one-hit confection "One of Us," but her first effort was an overall amazing album. At least as far as the Liz Phairian ouvre goes, we think. She performs with Victoria George at 8 p.m. at Slim's, 333 11th St. (at Folsom); $26. -- Natural Born Hooker: The all-caps happy counterPULSE Theatre brings us the in's and the out's of one man's ten-year journey as......

How can it be? So many great film festivals all over town! This week, you've got the Jewish Film Festival coming up at the Castro, and this Saturday, the Slant Film Festival at the 4 Star (Clement and 23rd). What's the Slant Film Festival? Asian-American short films! The Texas-based festival is curated by the co-founder of the thoughtful Asian-American zine Hyphen, and is coming to SF for the first time this year. Movies screening include......

Yay, more film festivals! We love it. Next up: the SF Jewish Film Festival, which runs from July 19 to July 26 (with some additional screenings around the area through August 6). You've got a wide array of movies to choose from, including movies about Jewish boxers and documentaries from Israel -- but also, the always-fun film festival staples of romantic movies set in Paris and plaintive movies about family drama. What seems especially notable:......

It's Bay Area National Dance Week! Dance studios across the city are dramatically flinging open their doors for free events all week. The one that jumped out at us for tonight is a free introduction to fire hoop dancing at the Temple of Poi. There's a 6:15 class and a 8:00 class, and the Temple is located at 953 Mission, Suite 11. Check out that YouTube clip of the Temple of Poi founder hula-hooping......

We're not going to miss a rare opportunity to see Stalker (1979) by Andrei Tarkovsky (director of the original Solaris), screening tonight at the SF Art Institute (800 Chestnut St.) for free. This influential Russian film has many elements associated with Russian literature - epic length, existential ennui, depressing locales. A brief plot synopsis: Two disenchanted intellectuals wish to explore the Zone, a mysterious region at the center of which a room, said to offer......

The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival organizer who introduced 51 Birch Street at the Castro Theatre on Saturday said, "welcome to our high class shvitz." The bubbie sitting in front of us turned around and asked, "do you know what a shvitz is?" We wanted to tell her that if you looked up "shvitz" in Leo Rosten's The Joys of Yiddish you'd see a picture of our shvitzy Korean-asses shvitzing like crazy all over the......

What's a hottie with a body, a good personality and an ivy league education have to do to find a husband these days? Well, if you're an Iranian-American Jew (or really any Americanized member of an immigrant group), the answer is plenty. Love Iranian-American Style (Ed note: we'd link to the film itself, but the SFJFF site won't let us. We hate that!) played at the 26th Annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival on Saturday......

Saturday: The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition's Tour de Fat runs from 11-5 today at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park. The event is described as "Two parts bike rodeo and one part circus", and is free, free free. Sunday: It's Amos Gitai day at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Unfortunately, we can't give you any links, because the SFJFF site is in frames. We hate that! His film, House is screening at 1:30, his......

When you assume, you make an ass out of you and Wednesday. Tonight: As part of its year-long partnership with the Yerba Buena Center, the SF Jewish Film Festival is screening the Oscar-nominated documentary "The Ritchie Boys," about young German Jews who fled to the US and were recruited into anti-Nazi psy-ops. Film starts at 7:30 and a surviving Ritchie Boy will be speaking after the screening. Thursday: Words not hands! Learn more about nonviolent communication techniques at an introductory seminar at SF State. Class starts at 7, and it's $0-35 sliding scale. and Friday: As part of the 2006 Queer Arts Festival, the Raw Dance troupe is performing at 69 Belcher (between 14th St., Duboce, Church, and Sanchez). The program is called "Per-Verses," and presents an exploration of porn, erotica, and intimacy through dance. Adult audiences only (our favorite!)....

Wednesday, please pack your knives and go. Tonight: We're keeping it bipartisan for once! You can stop by the Democratic County Central Committee monthly meeting at the State Building at 455 Golden Gate (between Polk and Larkin) at 7:00 p.m., or the SF Republican women's dinner at MacArthur Park at 607 Front Street, 6 p.m. We presume they'll both be discussing how they're going to defeat each other. The DCCC meeting is free; the Republicans are charging $25 (non-members) for admission to hear a speaker who is TBD. Thursday: Korean pansori, or storytelling opera, tonight at 7 pm at the Asian Art Museum! Check out these sound clips for a preview. Korean composer ChanHae Lee will be performing the music live. $5 members, $10 non-. and Friday: In commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day and the Jewish Film Festival, the Yerba Buena Center in conjunction with the Holocaust Center of Northern California, is screening the documentary "Rene and I," about the lives of twins temporarily separated by the Holocaust, and who both survived both Mengele and "a Jewish henchman of Al Capone." Huh! Filmmaker Gina Angelone will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A. 7:30 p.m., $7....

It wasn't that long ago that everyone we know was doing everything they could to avoid pregnancy, but as we approach our 35th birthday (what, did we mention that already?) we're noticing that some members of our social circle are at the point where they're having to do more than just "try" to conceive. Tonight at 7:30 the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts ( 701 Mission St. at Third), the San Francisco Jewish......

Anyone else remember that episode of "Friends" where Joey is in the musical, Freud!? We've had the song he sang (All you want is a dingle/What you envy's a schwang in our head) since we heard about the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and the San Francisco JCC's FreudFest, and its Cinema on The Couch series, which kicks off tonight with Secrets of a Soul. From the press materials: cinematic superimpositions, symbolic imagery of razors......

A review of "Campfire," showing at the Jewish Film Festival. It won best picture in Israel, but we thought it could have been a lot better. But then, we feel that way about U.S. best picture winners, too....

First off, we just found out via Craiglist about a wharehouse party tonight featuring The Wildlife, barbarasteele, Joel Gion's The Dilettantes and Six Eye Columbia. They tell us to "Bring some champagne and come and dance." Sounds like a fine time! 9pm at 58 Natoma, $5 at the door. Tomorrow are two hip happenings -- first is the 10th annual Books By the Bay, an outdoor event at the Yerba Buena Center for the......

26 years ago there wasn't a single Film Festival celebrating the Jewish experience -- 25 years later, there are hundreds of them! As with so many things, San Francisco's was one of the first, bringing audiences a great mix of International Jewish cinema. This year's San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is no exception, with a with a lineup of films from all over, special guests, and parties. You can catch films all over the......