Feature Film

At the CJFF, our goal is to inspire movie-goers to expand their understanding of Jewish culture and to bring a wide variety of entertaining films, with a Jewish lens, to our community. We promote films that have a Jew-ish connection to life, culture, history both on-screen and behind-the-scenes. To qualify as a CJFF submission, films must meet the basic category requirements and resonate with our Jewish community.  Film must have a connection to the Jewish values or themes of – trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, community, kindness, positivism, role modeling, stewardship of the earth, any Jewish holiday or historical event.

Short Film

To qualify as a CJFF submission, Short Films must meet the basic category requirements and themes of the film festival. Film must have a connection to the Jewish values or themes of – trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, community, kindness, positivism, role modeling, stewardship of the earth, any Jewish holiday or historical event.  While Feature Films must be over 60 minutes, Short Film Submissions must be under 45 minutes including all intros and credits.

Student Filmmaker Competition

We’re looking for student filmmakers of all experience levels to share previously created or new narrative or documentary short films (an original motion picture that has a running time between 3 and 10 minutes, including all credits. Filmmakers must reside in the Chicagoland area/suburbs (this includes parts of Wisconsin and Indiana) or be participants in a JCC Chicago program (including Camp Chi, Springboard, etc.)

Submissions are accepted through Film Freeway:

Deadline: December 31, 2020 at 11:59pm