The 27th annual Seattle Jewish Film Festival (SJFF) kicked off last night with a virtual opening-night screening of the acclaimed documentary Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen and will do so in person Saturday with a gala screening of director Vadim Perelman's Persian Lessons at AMC Pacific Place.

Once again a hybrid event, this year's festival is an exciting mixture of features, documentaries, shorts, television series, filmmaker Q&As, parties, and special events.

I spent a few minutes chatting with Stroum Jewish Community Center (SJCC)'s director of Arts + Ideas & Festivals, Pamela Lavitt, about this year's SJFF. The following are the edited transcripts of our conversation.

Sara Michelle Fetters: It's that time of year again! I imagine you have to be pretty excited.

Pamela Lavitt: Excited and nervous. We are thrilled many folks are venturing out and back into the movie theaters to "see and be seen" in person and on the big screen. We spent a lot of time planning inviting experiences, like bringing filmmakers to Seattle and having catered food events for our in-person weekends, but we're a bit nervous because we are out of practice.

It may be our 27th year, but it feels a bit like our first again! Relearning how to make the magic happen takes a lot of effort, coordination, curation, support, and planning, especially for a hybrid festival. We are excited to rebuild, reboot, refresh, and reengage our reemerging community.

SMF: The lineup for this year's festival is outstanding. How long did it take you to assemble? Were there any issues going with the in-person/hybrid format?

PL: It takes about four months to curate the lineup. When you are reviewing over 300 films with a committee, and even with many of them watching over 50 films — shout-out, you're all awesome! — it takes quite some time. But that is part of our process, and input from the screening committee is a hallmark of this festival and how the Arts + Ideas program builds community at the SJCC.

With the hybrid festival model, we had to rethink what we used to do, what we can do, what we want to do, what we can deliver and through what means (theaters, virtual platforms, Zoom, etc.). It adds a considerable level of complexity to planning and gauging what's best for the filmmaker and the audience.

With virtual screenings, we can deliver films to a wider audience than ever before. But filmmakers are starting to limit how far we share these stories based on geography and sometimes numbers of viewers. So the hybrid model offers the best of both worlds for the festivalgoer and for the film lover.

One of the things we decided to do this year was to offer greater flexibility for film viewing. All virtual films (save one) are available for two weeks: March 28 thru April 10. People have 48 hours for features and 72 hours for the TV series to watch from the time they push play.

Half of the festival programs can also be screened in person. These are more than just screenings: we have created experiences celebrating the importance of gathering together and how special that is right now. An array of culinary offerings, music, visiting filmmakers, and more are all part of our in-person screenings.

Planning this many months ago, we had no idea if folks would show up, honestly, so we tried to make the lure of not only the movie theater but the whole experience as exciting and valuable as possible. "See and be seen" is our theme this year — see yourself reflected on screen, see others, and see the community coming together. Get on the scene!

SMF: You also have a number of in-person guests this year. Were those difficult to schedule? Or were filmmakers excited to get back out there and interact with live audiences?

PL: Honestly, it has depended on the filmmaker and their geographic location. Certain filmmakers are excited to get back into the theatre with audiences, and others are not able to since, they live in Israel, Berlin, Italy, or other places.

But the virtual accessibility allows for their participation from wherever they are. Mano Khalil, director of Neighbours, is willing to get up at 3 a.m. his time to participate in the festival! Vadim Perelman, director of our in-person opening night film Persian Lessons, happens to be in Canada, and he reached out to us wanting to attend his screening. We are thrilled he can join us.

Originally, Lisa Hurwitz, director of The Automat, only wanted to screen her film in person at all festivals and attend as many as she could, but she and many other filmmakers have slowly adapted to virtual and/or the hybrid model. She has been screening at many festivals all over the country and the world, and has attended most screenings.

The Seattle screening was especially important to her and to us. Lisa used to work for the Stroum Jewish Community Center and graduated from Evergreen, so her being here to present her film is a homecoming for the festival, her production, and the documentary film community. Seattle's Hummie Mann, for example, composed the music and will attend the screening too, and our audience has responded extremely enthusiastically. Both the in-person experience of the Sunday brunch plus the film and the film-only tickets are on standby. But there is also still an opportunity to watch this fascinating documentary virtually.

SMF: But you also have a number of Zoom Q&As as well. I feel like this allows practically every film and event to have some sort of guest component. That has to be exciting, yes?

PL: Yes, weekend Q&As are in person, virtual films are mostly midweek and those Q&As are on scheduled or prerecorded Zooms, and all recordings go to our SJCC Arts + Ideas Seattle Jewish Film Festival YouTube channel, if folks miss them.

I was particularly excited to rope in an old acquaintance of mine, Dr. Eddy Portnoy, who is working on an exhibit about Jews and cannabis, who will talk about his incredible research on the subject dating back to Biblical times and medieval Cairo, to Abby Hoffman and bloggers today like Tok'n Jew. This Zoom conversation is included with tickets to the Israeli comedy Greener Pastures, a cannabis comedy.

What makes a festival is the engagement with filmmakers and experts who provide deeper insight to the subjects and creative processes.

SMF: One of the highlights on the schedule has to be your screening of the digital restoration of the once-thought-lost 1923 silent film The Ancient Law, with live musical accompaniment no less! Tell me more about this selection and what audiences can expect.

PL: Two years in the making! This was a rescheduled centerpiece from March 2020 and a collaboration with STG at the Paramount Theatre. The film is accompanied by a live score composed by violinist Alicia Svigals, known as a founder of the Klezmatics, and pianist Donald Sosin, renowned for silent-movie scores. They are joined by Laura DeLuca from the Seattle Symphony on clarinet. Prof. Cynthia Walk of the Sunrise Foundation for Education in the Arts, who restored the print and is a scholar on German cinema, will introduce the film and discuss its importance.

SMF: This year's "Gay Gezunt!" is a screening of director Adam Kalderon's award-winning sports melodrama The Swimmer. Why this film? What made it stand out?

PL: The Queer community members on our programming team really liked this film! I listen to and value our programming committee's feedback.

Adam Kalderon is a multitalented individual. He is a costume designer, art director, composer, and of course, director. Prior to The Swimmer, he has only made short films, and now he has this beautiful feature that is a unique adaptation of his personal story.

We wanted to celebrate an emerging filmmaker, and Kalderon's feature was the perfect opportunity to do this. The acting, cinematography, and personal story behind the film come together in a truly compelling, nuanced, and beautiful way. I think he is just at the beginning of his career — we are going to see big things from him! He is very committed to Queer filmmaking, storytelling, and creative expression.

SMF: You also have a "virtual opening night" film, the documentary Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen. Why should viewers want to give this Fiddler on the Roof documentary a look?

PL: Who doesn't love an opening night, so why not have two of them!?

This is a cinema-lover's film — besides the fact that Fiddler on the Roof is a universal story and one of the most successful Broadway shows of all time, playing around the world to audiences that see it as "their story." This documentary is about the film adaptation, the filmmaking, and the journey this musical took to get to that screen adaptation so many of us know and love.

This sacred, beloved musical — no one thought it could be brought to the screen — was by Norman Jewison (who, by the way, isn't Jewish) and had to "compete" with the Broadway hit, only to become a masterpiece that won three Academy Awards. That story is just as engrossing, as is the Fiddler story itself. We knew this film had to open the festival.

SMF: Any last thoughts?

PL: We love our screens, big and small, but haven't we all missed the thrilling experience of cinema in a theater? The storytelling and the art that lifts not only the human spirit but the energy of a room and our minds, and then the conversations afterward. We've missed that.

Cinema, and independent cinema especially, is worth returning to. We have to work doubly hard to build hybrid experiences, so I hope audiences will join us in person on the festival weekends and virtually whenever they can.

Do what's comfortable for you, but we'd love to see you on the scene!

The 2022 Seattle Jewish Film Festival runs both in person and virtually through April 10, 2022. For more information about tickets, virtual screening opportunities, and special events, please go to SeattleJFF.org.