Recent Events
Performance by the John Pizzarelli Trio and Jessica Molaskey
John Pizzarelli has been hailed by the Boston Globe for “reinvigorating the Great American Songbook and re-popularizing jazz.” The Toronto Star pegged him as “the genial genius of the guitar,” and the Seattle Times saluted him as “a rare entertainer of the old school.” He has recorded over 20 solo albums and has appeared on [...]
Bossa nova performance with Duduka da Fonseca, Maucha Adnet, and Leo Traversa
Duduka Da Fonseca, born Eduardo Moreira Da Fonseca (Rio de Janeiro, March 31, 1951) is a Brazilian jazz drummer who is a founding member of Trio da Paz with Romero Lubambo and Nilson Matta. He leads the Duduka da Fonseca Trio, with David Feldman and Guto Wirtti. Duduka is a resident of New York City. [...]
Book Talk with author Christopher McKittrick
Christopher McKittrick is the author of Vera Miles: The Hitchcock Blonde Who Got Away (2025), Howling to the Moonlight on a Hot Summer Night: The Tale of the Stray Cats (2024), Can’t Give It Away on Seventh Avenue: The Rolling Stones and New York City (2019), and Somewhere You Feel Free: Tom Petty and Los [...]
Q&A with filmmaker Heidi Ewing moderated by Variety writer Addie Morfoot
Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady are the co-directors of Jesus Camp (Academy Award nominee), The Boys of Baraka (Emmy nominee), 12th & Delaware (Peabody Award winner), DETROPIA (Emmy winner), Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, One of Us, Love Fraud, and Endangered. They are the co-owners of Brooklyn-based production company Loki Films. Addie Morfoot [...]
Q&A with Director Ira Deutchman moderated by JBFC Board President Janet Maslin
Ira Deutchman has been making, marketing and distributing films since 1975, having worked on more than 150 films, including some of the most successful independent films of all time. He was one of the founders of Cinecom and later created Fine Line Features—two companies that were created from scratch and, in their respective times, helped [...]
Q&A and Book Talk with author, critic, and curator Michael Koresky
Sick and Dirty: Hollywood’s Gay Golden Age and the Making of Modern Queerness: A blazingly original history celebrating the persistence of queerness onscreen, behind the camera, and between the lines during the dark days of the Hollywood Production Code. From the 1930s to the 1960s, the Motion Picture Production Code severely restricted what Hollywood cinema [...]
Q&A with filmmaker Ari Aster
Writer-director-producer Ari Aster’s debut feature Hereditary, starring Toni Collette, became a critical and box office success hit for A24 in 2018. Aster continued his genre-challenging work for A24 with his 2019 thriller Midsommar, starring Florence Pugh and Jack Reynor, and again in 2023 with Beau is Afraid, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Patti Lapone. In addition [...]
Q&A with fashion designer Kenneth Cole moderated by Director/JBFC Board Member Dori Berinstein
Kenneth Cole is an American designer and social activist who uses his brand to drive social change. In 2020, he founded The Mental Health Coalition to fight stigma and promote access to care. A long-time public health advocate, Kenneth has led efforts in HIV/AIDS awareness for over 30 years, including as amfAR Chairman and a [...]
Panel Discussion with Crew of Buena Vista Social Club the Musical
Director Saheem Ali is a proud immigrant from Kenya, currently serving as the Associate Artistic Director/Resident Director of New York’s Public Theater. He received Tony, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominations, as well as the Joe A. Callaway award for his direction of Fat Ham. He most recently directed and developed Buena Vista Social Club [...]
Deconstructing Rubber Soul Presentation with "Beatleologist" Scott Freiman
Scott Freiman is a composer, a musician, and a software entrepreneur. He is the creator of Deconstructing The Music, a series of multimedia presentations about the composition and production techniques of The Beatles and other musicians. Scott has presented his lectures to sold out audiences throughout North America at theaters, museums and corporations, such as [...]
Q&A with filmmaker Daniel Robbins and actor John Bedford Lloyd
Daniel Robbins is an NYC-based director who hopes to never move West. In his films, he takes exciting concepts and grounds them with authentic performances, surprising humor, and propulsive energy. His breakout film Pledge was a hit at Fantasia Film Festival and sold to IFC Midnight as well as a streaming deal with Hulu. He [...]
Q&A with actress Kathleen Chalfant
Kathleen Chalfant has spent more than five decades performing on stage, screen, and TV. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Vivian Bearing in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Wit, for which she received Obie, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, and Ovation awards. Other critically acclaimed roles include Hannah Pitt/Ethel Rosenberg in [...]
Q&A with author, critic, and historian Jason Bailey
Jason Bailey is a film critic and historian and the author of six books; his latest, Gandolfini: Jim, Tony, and the Life of a Legend, is out April 29th from ABRAMS Press. His essays and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Bloomberg, Vulture, Rolling Stone, The Playlist, Slate, TIME, and more. [...]
Q&A with legendary club promoter Ron Delsener and executive producer Jon Kamen
Since 1964, promoter Ron Delsener has been at the forefront of the outdoor concert scene. He cut his teeth while working for the promoter of The Beatles’ first outdoor concert performance at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens. Other shows quickly followed, featuring Bob Dylan during his controversial early electric period, Barbra Streisand, Woody Allen, [...]
Science on Screen Presentation with Conservation Manager Jacob Reiter from Pace University
Jacob Reiter is the Conservation Center Manager for The Suburban Biodiversity Conservation Center at Pace University, where he is responsible for the daily operation of the center and its projects and programs. Reiter is a former Environmental Educator, Field Biologist, and Zookeeper with extensive experience in the ecology and management of birds. In his current [...]
Q&A with Director Sandi DuBowski
Sandi DuBowski is the Director/Producer of Sabbath Queen, Director/Producer of Trembling Before G-D, Producer of A Jihad for Love, and Co-Producer of Budrus, His award-winning work has screened at Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca and Toronto, theatrically released in 150 cities, and broadcast on ZDF/Arte, BBC Channel 4, PBS. In 2020 he was invited to become a [...]
Blind Wine Tasting Experience curated by Marshall Tilden III, Chief Revenue and Education Officer at Wine Enthusiast
From his first sips of wicker basket Chianti at his grandfather’s dinner table to a 1986 Premier Cru Gevrey-Chambertin, Marshall Tilden III knew that there was something magical about wine. He earned his Diploma in Wine and Spirits from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and is a Certified Specialist of Wine with the [...]
Rocky Horror Shadowcast Performance
Double Feature Productions is a group of passionate Rocky Horror shadowcasters who want to keep this iconic and timeless experience going in the city that never sleeps. Find them on Instagram and Facebook!
Introduction with Filmmaker and JBFC Board Member Ron Howard
Ron Howard is one of this generation’s most popular directors. From the critically acclaimed dramas Cinderella Man and Apollo 13 to the hit comedies Parenthood and Splash, he has created some of Hollywood’s most memorable films. Howard directed and produced A Beautiful Mind starring Oscar winner Russell Crowe, which earned Howard an Oscar for Best Director and also won awards for Best Picture, Best Adapted [...]
Q&A with Filmmaker and JBFC Board Member Ron Howard, Moderated by JBFC Board President Janet Maslin
The 7PM screening is SOLD OUT. There will be a standby line starting one hour before showtime in person at the box office. Ron Howard is one of this generation’s most popular directors. From the critically acclaimed dramas Cinderella Man and Apollo 13 to the hit comedies Parenthood and Splash, he has created some of Hollywood’s most memorable films. Howard directed and produced A [...]
Q&A and Conversation with Hitchcock Scholars Sidney Gottlieb and Jeff Hughes
Sidney Gottlieb is Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT. His long-standing research and teaching interests are in literature and film studies. His publications include essays on numerous 17th-century writers, including George Herbert, John Donne, John Milton, and Andrew Marvell, and a variety of filmmakers including Orson Welles and Alfred [...]
Q&A and Book Talk with Film Critic and Writer Alissa Wilkinson
Alissa Wilkinson is a movie critic at the New York Times. Her book We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine, a cultural history of American myth-making in Hollywood through the life and work of Joan Didion, was published by Liveright on March 11, 2025. We Tell Ourselves Stories is a fresh [...]
Q&A with filmmaker Celine Song
Celine Song is an Academy Award nominated screenwriter, filmmaker, and playwright whose debut feature, Past Lives, earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Motion Picture. Loosely based on and inspired by Song’s own life experience, Past Lives, which she wrote and directed, was released by A24 in Summer 2023 after making its world premiere at [...]
Q&A with director Alex Ross Perry
Alex Ross Perry was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 1984. He attended the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and worked at Kim’s Video in Manhattan. He is the director of the films The Color Wheel, Listen Up Philip, Queen of Earth, Golden Exits, Her Smell, Ghost: Rite Here Rite Now [...]
Q&A with Filmmaker Kelly Anderson
Kelly Anderson (Producer/Director) is a Sunset Park based documentary filmmaker whose most recent film is Rabble Rousers: Frances Goldin and the Fight for Cooper Square (w. Ryan Joseph and Kathryn Barnier). Her 2012 film My Brooklyn, about the hidden forces driving gentrification, was broadcast on PBS’ America ReFramed. Kelly produced and directed Every Mother’s Son [...]
Introduction and Live Musical Accompaniment with Ben Model
Ben Model is one of the nation’s leading silent film accompanists, performing on both piano and theatre organ. For more than 40 years, he has created and performed several hundred live scores for silent films on piano and theatre organ. Ben is a resident film accompanist at the Museum of Modern Art (NY) and at [...]
Q&A with director Stephen Apkon and producer Marcina Hale
Stephen Apkon formed the Jacob Burns Film Center with a vision of establishing a center for independent, foreign, and documentary films and education. Under his leadership, the JBFC grew to become a major cultural destination and leader in the field of visual literacy. In May 2014, Steve stepped down as the executive director of the [...]
Panel Discussion: Save That Movie! Film Restoration in Action—with Industry Professionals
Ben Model is one of the nation’s leading silent film accompanists, performing on both piano and theatre organ. For more than 40 years, he has created and performed several hundred live scores for silent films on piano and theatre organ. Ben is a resident film accompanist at the Museum of Modern Art (NY) and at [...]
Introduction by Bob Furmanek from the 3D Film Archive
Bob Furmanek began his crusade to save our stereoscopic film heritage in 1990. Over the past thirty-five years, the 3-D Film Archive has restored and preserved over fifty vintage 3-D features, shorts and cartoons, ranging from the 1920s to the 1980s.
Q&A with Director James Ivory
James Francis Ivory is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. For many years, he worked extensively with Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, his domestic as well as professional partner, and with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. All three were principals in Merchant Ivory Productions, whose films have won seven Academy Awards; Ivory himself has been nominated [...]
Q&A with Elisha Wiesel moderated by Myra Clark-Siegel, Regional Director for American Jewish Committee Westchester/Fairfield
Elisha Wiesel is a recovering Wall Street executive. Since retiring from a twenty-five year financial markets career at Goldman Sachs at the end of 2019, he served in 2020 as one of the lead technologists in Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign. Elisha became philanthropically active through his board service with Good Shepherd Services, where he raised [...]
Q&A with Filmmakers Michael Rohatyn, Peter Yost, and Don Kleszy
Michael Rohatyn (Director/Producer) is a screenwriter and musician who was worked in features and documentaries such as Forty Shades of Blue (dir. Ira Sachs) and Maggie’s Plan (dir. Rebecca Miller). He scored the Emmy-nominated doc Arthur Miller: Writer for HBO. As a boy in 1975, Michael had a front row seat to many of the dramas that are featured [...]
Q&A with film critic Kenneth Turan and JBFC Board President Janet Maslin
Kenneth Turan was the film critic of the Los Angeles Times for nearly thirty years and was also a film critic for National Public Radio. He is the author of Not to Be Missed: Fifty-Four Favorites from a Lifetime of Film, among other books. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
Virtual Q&A with Director James L. Freeman
James L. Freedman wrote, produced and directed the HBO documentary Glickman, which was executive produced by Martin Scorsese. His second film Carl Laemmle can currently be seen on TCM, Amazon Prime, and Tubi. While a senior in high school, Mr. Freedman produced Marty Glickman’s late night radio program on WNEW in New York. He went [...]
Q&A with Co-Director Susan Wittenberg
Susan Wittenberg, alongside Carol Stein and their company Ace Pictures Inc., creates productions that focus on music, dance, arts, and culture including PBS films’ Women Who Rock a co-production of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville 2.0 about Americana music and filmed on location in Nashville and SXSW, and Hitmakers: The Changing Face of The [...]
Introduction by Writer and Critic J. Hoberman
Film critic at the Village Voice for over three decades, J. Hoberman has written over a dozen books, including Bridge of Light: Yiddish Film Between Two Worlds (with Jeff Shandler), Entertaining America: Jews, Movies and Broadcasting, and contributed to numerous anthologies. His most recently published book is a monograph on the Marx Brothers’s movie Duck [...]
Panel Discussion: Jewish Film in 2024 - Featuring Film Critics and Jewish Film Festival Curator David Schwartz
David Schwartz is a New York-based film curator and critic. He is curator-at-large for Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI), where he worked for many years as Chief Curator. In 2019, Schwartz received a Career Achievement Award from the New York Film Critics Circle for his tenure at MoMI. He writes about film for Screen [...]
Q&A with Director Yael Melamede moderated by Jewish Film Festival Curator David Schwartz
Yael Melamede is the co-founder of SALTY Features, an award-winning, independent production company based in New York City whose goal is to create media that is thought-provoking, vital, and enhances the world. Melamede’s documentary credits include 1341 Frames of Love and War (2022), the Steven Spielberg six-part series Why We Hate (2019), When I Walk (News & [...]
Opening Night Q&A with Columbia Film Professor Annette Insdorf, moderated by Jewish Film Festival Curator David Schwartz
Annette Insdorf is Professor of Film at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, and Moderator of the popular “Reel Pieces” series at the 92nd Street Y, where she has interviewed 300 film celebrities. She is the author of the landmark study, Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust (with a foreword by Elie Wiesel); Double Lives, [...]
Panel with UNDP Equator Prize Winners followed by a Live Musical Performance by AY Young
Maggie Musanje Bokowa is the Co-founder and CEO of CredorSave Loans. Raised in Rufunsa District, Zambia, she holds a BA in Mass Communication from the University of Zambia and an MA in Climate Change: Policy, Media, and Society from Dublin City University in Ireland. Her experiences working with rural women and her academic background have [...]
Q&A and discussion with "Beatleologist" Scott Freiman and Music Writer Dr. Kenneth Womack
Scott Freiman is a composer, a musician, and a software entrepreneur. He is the creator of Deconstructing The Music, a series of multimedia presentations about the composition and production techniques of The Beatles and other musicians. Scott has presented his lectures to sold out audiences throughout North America at theaters, museums and corporations, such as [...]
Q&A with Director Gina LeVay and Documentary Subject/Paralympic Champion Shawn Chesire
Gina LeVay (director/producer) works nationally and abroad for clients such as ESPN, Vanity Fair, Amex and Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Her award-winning documentary work about the legendary NYC miners, The Sandhog Project, premiered at New York’s Grand Central Terminal and later was published as a book by powerHouse. LeVay’s work is exhibited in the US [...]
Q&A with Director Stephen Apkon, Producer Marcina Hale, and Representatives from Combatants for Peace on March 30
Stephen Apkon formed the Jacob Burns Film Center with a vision of establishing a center for independent, foreign, and documentary films and education. Under his leadership, the JBFC grew to become a major cultural destination and leader in the field of visual literacy. In May 2014, Steve stepped down as the executive director of the [...]
Extended Introduction with Actress Amy Irving and Actor Peter Riegert—8:00pm
Amy Irving first came to prominence with breakthrough screen roles in Brian DePalma’s Carrie and The Fury, and stage performances of Romeo and Juliet with the Los Angeles Free Shakespeare Society and Broadway’s Amadeus. Nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in Yentl, Irving has captivated audiences with beloved starring roles in films like [...]
Q&A with Actress Amy Irving and Actor Peter Riegert—7:00pm
Amy Irving first came to prominence with breakthrough screen roles in Brian DePalma’s Carrie and The Fury, and stage performances of Romeo and Juliet with the Los Angeles Free Shakespeare Society and Broadway’s Amadeus. Nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in Yentl, Irving has captivated audiences with beloved starring roles in films like [...]
