Founded in 1980, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF), presented by the Jewish Film Institute, is the largest and longest-running festival of its kind and a leader in the curation and presentation of new film and media exploring the complexities of Jewish life around the world. Presenting more than 70 films, performances and events over 18 days, SFJFF's highly anticipated program typically attracts over 40,000 filmgoers and industry professionals to venues in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area.

SFJFF presents dramatic and documentary features, television and web series, experimental, and animated features and shorts about Jewish history, culture, and identity as well as films that reflect life through a Jewish lens. The programming staff takes a broad view of what makes a film Jewish and have been known to curate films that are Jew(ish) as well as films about issues that are relevant to Jewish communities and resonate with other cultural communities across the globe. Over the course of more than four decades, SFJFF has discovered and nurtured international cinematic talents sometimes long in advance of their discovery by mainstream international festivals. Filmmakers exploring Jewish themes often start out their career by having a short film in the SFJFF; many of them return to the SFJFF with feature length documentaries and narratives. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the 46th festival will be held in locations around the San Francisco Bay Area.

The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is an Academy Award® qualifying film festival in the Documentary Short category.

Awards & Prizes

🏆 SFJFF Audience Award
The SFJFF audience award is chosen by ballot from San Francisco Jewish Film Festival attendees. All feature length films are eligible for consideration. Audience Award categories include Best Narrative and Best Documentary.

🏆 SFJFF Best Short Documentary Award
This juried award honors achievements in short documentary filmmaking. All selected short documentaries in the Festival are eligible. The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival is an Academy Award® qualifying festival in the Short Documentary category. The recipient of SFJFF's Best Short Documentary Award qualifies for consideration in the Documentary Short category of the Academy Awards® provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.

🏆 SFJFF Best Short Narrative Award
SFJFF introduced the Best Short Narrative Award in 2024. Juried by distinguished filmmakers and industry members, this award honors exceptional narrative filmmaking. All selected short narratives in the Festival are eligible.

🏆 San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Award
This Award is a partnership between the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and the influential community of Bay Area film critics. The 2026 SFJFF San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle Award will be presented for Best Narrative Feature.

🏆 The Freedom of Expression Award
Since 2005, the Jewish Film Institute and San Francisco Jewish Film Festival have presented an artist with the Freedom of Expression Award to honor the unfettered imagination, which is a cornerstone of a free, just and open society. In 2025, the Freedom of Expression recipient was multi-hyphenate Daveed Diggs, known for his versatile work across film, television, music, and stage. Previous honorees include Julie Cohen, Lisa Edelstein, Sergei Loznitsa, Kirk Douglas, Liz Garbus, Lee Grant, Agnieszka Holland, and Norman Lear.

Rules & Terms

☑️ ENTRY & SUBMISSION DETAILS
All submissions must be made through FilmFreeway. We do not accept submissions by email. We encourage filmmakers to submit by the Regular Deadline before fees increase. Entry fees are non-refundable.

☑️ PREMIERE STATUS
SFJFF prioritizes recently completed works, and premiere status is considered during the final selection process. In keeping with our commitment to showcase new independent and international Jewish-themed cinema, all submissions must have been completed within 15 months of the Festival dates.

Feature-length films are not eligible if they have been screened or broadcast in the San Francisco Bay Area before or during the Festival. This includes theatrical screenings, streaming, and television broadcasts. Please note that the San Francisco Bay Area includes San Francisco, the East Bay, Marin, San Jose, Contra Costa, and Napa/Sonoma Valleys. There is no premiere requirement for short films.

☑️ PREVIEW SCREENER FORMAT
Preview screeners must be provided in the form of a video link. We strongly encourage preview screeners to be submitted with English closed captions available. Screeners of foreign-language works are required to be subtitled in English.

☑️ ROUGH CUTS
The SFJFF accepts rough cuts with an expected completion date of May 1, 2026 or earlier. However, we cannot guarantee review of updated links once a project is submitted.

☑️ SELECTION PROCESS
All submissions will be viewed by at least two members of our Screening Committee, or one Programmer on staff. The Screening Committee is made up of industry professionals, filmmakers, academics, longtime festival screeners, and movie lovers. Final selections for the Festival are made by the entire Programming staff.

☑️ EXHIBITION FORMATS AND SUBTITLING
If selected, filmmakers are required to submit a DCP for theatrical screenings, along with an H.624 backup. Alternate arrangements may be made dependent on screening venue. DCPs with Open Captions and Audio Description files are strongly preferred. All non-English language films must be subtitled in English.

☑️ AUTHORIZATION & FINE PRINT
By submitting your film, you are affirming that you are authorized to submit this film to the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. It is the sole responsibility of the applicant to secure authorization and clearance from the copyright holders of any copyrighted material included in the submitted film. SFJFF and JFI is not responsible for copyright infringements and reserves the right to disqualify any film that uses unauthorized copyrighted material. If your film is accepted, your submission to the Festival also authorizes us to retain a copy of the submitted work in our non-circulating Festival archive and to use a two-minute promotional excerpt from it for festival promotion and on the web in perpetuity.

☑️ NOTIFICATION
You will be notified of the outcome by June 12, 2026.
Unfortunately, due to the high number of submissions we are not able to provide feedback of films not chosen for the Festival.

For further information please contact programming@jfi.org
7 Reviews
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  • Ben Pakman

    Thank you so much to the SFJFF team! We showed our short PARKWAY HOP to very warm reception. The staff and volunteers were totally accommodating and their intense passion for great movies and supporting filmmakers was evident at every moment. I hope I'll have the opportunity to return!

    August 2025
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  • Abby Ginzberg

    I am extremely grateful to the SF Jewish Film Festival for hosting the world premiere of my film, Labors of Love: The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Szold. It was an honor to be included in this year's wonderful and diverse programming and enabled the film to launch to wonderful audience feedback. Thanks to the staff, the sponsors and especially the audience for your warmth and support

    August 2025
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  • Andrea Kalin

    We're honored that Public Defender was featured in the Reality Bytes shorts program. The audience was fantastic, with insightful questions and high energy all around. Thank you, SFJFF, for embracing our film and supporting our local book drive for Friends of San Quentin Prison Library.

    September 2024
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  • Lex Gillespie

    What a great experience screening a sneak peek of my film "The Catskills" at the July 2023 festival! It was actually the second film I've screened there; "The Mamboniks" (2019) was the first. Lexi, Jay and the staff are wonderful and the events I attended were all first rate. The festival is super supportive of filmmakers, and it's been a true honor to screen there. Thank you, SFJFF!!!

    January 2024
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  • RALPH ARLYCK


    The SFJFF is a beautifully run operation. You can tell that it’s an event run largely by filmmakers because of where they put their emphasis. They structure the screenings and meetings and social events for maximum impact and enjoyment of the people who are presenting their work. This is true not only for the curators and top officers but of the entire staff. The Castro, Vogue and Piedmont venues are first rate. And the city, well it’s economically challenged these days -- but it’s still SF.
    -- Ralph Arlyck

    August 2023
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