Q&A moderated by the brilliant Thaïs Miller

Aunt Nora, filling the magnificent Castro Theater. Her spirit lives on.

Festival director and filmmaker, Jay Rosenblatt, whose films I’ve always adored.

Judith Helfand, director of Love and Stuff, a double header. It’s not everyday you share a screen with a mentor whose work has influenced and inspired your own.

Photojournalist Yoshi James! How magnificent to meet in person after serving on the Indie Memphis jury together!

Friend, photographer, and now local Jim Youll - thanks for the very warm welcome, and for the beautiful photos!

Thanks to the incredible directors of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and Jewish Film Institute, Jay Rosenblatt and Lexi Leban, brilliant moderator Thaïs Miller, Board President Ralph Guggenheim for bringing THE FAITHFUL to the SFJFF, and for the royal treatment!

The Faithful: The King, The Pope, The Princess OFFICIAL SELECTION of the SAN FRANCISCO JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL 2022

Thrilled to announce that The Faithful was chosen to screen at this year's San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the world’s largest and longest running Jewish Film Festival, which will present 71 films from 14 countries—narratives, documentaries, and shorts—that spotlight bold films and filmmakers that expand and evolve the Jewish story. I'll be attending and excited to finally meet (in person!) fellow filmmakers in residence of the Jewish Film Institute.

Our heartfelt gratitude to JFI and SFJFF's Lexi Leban, Jay Rosenblatt, Marcia Jarmel, Joanne Feinberg, Claudia Finkle, our gracious hosts, and to The Faithful's Faithful Producers and Collaborators Andre Valentim Almeida, Sara Theriault, Sarah Enid Hagey, Matt Mankins, Oliver David, Sound Designer and Mixer Andrew Kirwan and Colorist Paulo Cunha Martins and to all who have supported this film.

More info below, https://jfi.org/sfjff-2022

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The Faithful: The King, The Pope, The Princess

July 25 • 11:15am • Castro Theatre

Annie Berman, 2021, Documentary, USA, 90 minutes, English

Director Annie Berman (2022 JFI Filmmaker in Residence) expected to attend

Annie Berman’s essay film is a witty, frequently surreal reflection on three of the most photographed individuals—Elvis Presley, Pope John Paul II, Diana, Princess of Wales—of all time and the people who worship their images. Filmed over the course of 20 years, on numerous trips from Graceland to the Vatican to Kensington Palace and back, Berman’s fascination with documenting each icon’s adoring public soon morphs into an obsession of her own about how materialism, performance and ritual come together in the making and resurrections of each of these modern icons. Berman’s Jewish identity informs her outsider status in each setting, allowing her to approach scenes of ardent fandom and devotion to celebrity graven images as if they were forbidden fruit.