Going virtual for the first time, the San Diego International Jewish Film Festival isn’t missing a beat in presenting compelling dramas, suspenseful thrillers and thought-provoking documentaries. Now in its 31st year, the festival will throw in a few award winners and a bit of star power.
The documentary “Shared Legacies: The African-American Jewish Civil Rights Alliance” opens the festival, which begins Feb. 11. The film explores those shared legacies through the lens of the friendship between the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Heschel in the mid-1960s.
“ ‘Shared Legacies’ is about the common bonds between Black and Jewish communities,” said Chris Fink, chair of the festival, a program of the San Diego Center for Jewish Culture at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center. “We open with it because the film addresses contemporary issues. It’s especially important now with the heightened interest in Black Lives Matter.”