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 Bay Area, in San Francisco, Berkeley, Mountain View, and San Rafael, so you can't whine about how hard it is to get there, because chances are that if you're reading SFist, you live an easy distance from one of these venues.

The Festival begins tonight in San Francisco, and concludes in San Rafael on August 8. What a great chance to break out of the mid-summer movie slump and see some challenging and thought provoking movies!

Of course, SFist will have folks out at the Festival seeing movies, attending events, and writing all about it, so keep your eye on SFist for hott Jewish Film Festival action!