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Snitow-Kaufman Productions was formed in 1993 to produce film, video and educational media for the general public on social issues from race relations to globalization. We are a non-profit, tax-exempt organization based in Berkeley, California. |

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"Between Two Worlds"
“Between Two Worlds” is a personal essay film telling five riveting stories that go beyond political postures to reveal the passionate debates over identity and generational change inside today’s American Jewish community:
- An incident at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival rips the local Jewish community apart with charges of anti-Semitism and self-hatred, McCarthyism and witch-hunts. Who is entitled to speak for a polarized Jewish community?
- The debate over ethnic/religious continuity threatens to widen the generation divide. Massive efforts are made to increase the Jewish birth rate and stop intermarriage, but young Jews choose new, hybrid and re-invented Jewish identities despite the outcry of traditionalists.
- America’s leading Holocaust center starts to build a tolerance museum in Jerusalem – on a famous Muslim cemetery – and sparks a debate over the meaning and uses of history.
- Jewish neo-conservatives regularly complain that Jews earn like Episcopalians, but vote like African-Americans. We explore why American Jews have been on the left of the political spectrum – and weigh in on whether it’s intrinsic in Judaism itself or explained by historical circumstances.
- Israeli politics divide Jews in America and in Israel, and alienate a younger generation of American Jews that have been raised with liberal values and cannot abide Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands. What happens when Jews are torn between their support for the state of Israel and their anger at Israel’s violation of basic American Jewish ideals?
This film reframes intensely polarized debates over loyalty and dissent inside one American ethnic community, and it is a tool for discussion of the most provocative and current issues facing American Jews.
To preview, book or purchase the film – www.btwthemovie.org
Institutional, community group, and home video rates available |



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Thirst
2004, 62 minutes
Global corporations are rapidly buying up local water supplies.
Communities suddenly lose control of their most precious resource.
“Thirst”, a character-driven documentary with no narration,
reveals how water is the catalyst for explosive community resistance
to globalization. A piercing look at the conflict between public stewardship and private
profit.
Shot in Bolivia, India, Japan and the USA.
Cine Golden Eagle Award
The Chris Award, Columbus International Film Festival
First Place, EarthVision Environmental Film Festival
“A provocative look at the current and upcoming water wars. After seeing ‘Thirst’, it will be hard to ever take water for granted.” – San Francisco Chronicle
"See this film and be inspired to act." Peter Gleick, Pacific Institute
With Companion Study Guide
PBS "P.O.V.", 2004
www.pbs.org/pov/thirst
To preview or purchase the film – www.bullfrogfilms.com
Institutional, community group, and home video rates available
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Thirst: Fighting the Corporate Theft of Our Water
A Book By Alan Snitow & Deborah Kaufman, with Michael Fox. Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley & Sons, 2007, Cloth, 275 pages
Beginning where the documentary film leaves off, Thirst investigates eight recent high-profile controversies over the corporate takeover of water in the United States and illuminates how and why ordinary people are fighting back both here and abroad. Engrossing and alarming, these character-based stories focus on citizen battles to maintain public control of local water systems and on struggles to challenge the bottled water industry.
2008 Nautilus Book Awards Gold Winner – Conscious Media/Journalism
“A riveting and engaging account.”
Carl Pope, Sierra Club
“Passionate…every American should read it.” Maude Barlow,
United Nations Senior Advisor on Water
To purchase the book visit - www.amazon.com or
www.powells.com |

"Ezekiel’s Wheels”
2007, 15 minutes
Poet Shirley Kaufman gives a tour-de-force reading of her new work in the short film “Ezekiel’s Wheels”. The poem, a contemplation of loss, longing, and the nature of true seeing, was inspired by her experience of losing her sight. Emerging from eye surgery, Kaufman had visions like those of the exiled Biblical prophet Ezekiel. Apocalyptic fires in the sky, wheels within wheels, and a valley of bones are encountered on a journey that leads from destruction towards revelation. Kaufman, an American who has resided in Jerusalem since 1973, is the author of eight books of poetry, and is an award-winning translator.
World Premiere: Jerusalem Film Festival, 2007
U.S. Premiere: San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, 2007
For more information contact – secrets@igc.org |
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Secrets of Silicon Valley 2001, 60 minutes
A one hour documentary
film revealing the hidden downsides of the Internet revolution.
Secrets is also a funny and moving meditation on Americas
love affair with technology. Told without narration, the film chronicles
a tumultuous year in the lives of two young activists, Magda Escobar
and Raj Jayadev, grappling with temporary work, the digital divide,
toxic waste, and the growing gap between the haves and the have
nots in the New Economy.
“‘Secrets of Silicon Valley’ is a hit.”
– The New York Times
With Companion Study
Guide
PBS Independent Lens, 2001
www.secretsofsiliconvalley.org
To preview or purchase the film – www.bullfrogfilms.com
Institutional, community group, and home video rates available |

Blacks
and Jews
1997, 85 minutes
Co-Produced
with Bari Scott
An 85 minute feature
length documentary film made collaboratively by Jewish and
Black filmmakers - examining key contemporary conflicts between
the Black and Jewish communities. An invaluable tool for increasing
mutual understanding and building coalitions for social justice,
not just between Blacks and Jews, but among all groups.
"Provocative and absorbing...'Blacks and Jews' will undermine stereotypes, inspire discussion and help repair a wrongly damaged relationship." Roger Ebert
"This 85 minute film will ignite you!" Mandy Patinkin
With Companion Study
Guide
Sundance Film Festival, 1997
PBS P.O.V, 1997
www.newsreel.org/films/blacks.htm |
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Blacks
and Jews: Ambivalent Allies
1994, Four 1 hour shows
Co-Produced with Bari Scott and KPFA/Pacifica Radio
A four hour radio series
looking at ethnic identity, stereotypes, racism and anti-Semitism,
the Civil Rights Movement, and the potential future cooperation
and conflict between the two ethnic groups. A cultural journey through
music, storytelling, poetry and interviews throughout the U.S. With
Cornel West, Michael Lerner, Henry Louis Gates, Letty Cottin Pogrebin,
Anna Deavere Smith, Steven Spielberg, and Patricia Williams.
Available from Pacifica
Program Service 800-735-0230 |
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“Snitow and Kaufman bring a fair-minded skepticism to everything they film.” – The New Yorker |
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Alan Snitow's films include the award-winning "Thirst", "Secrets of Silicon Valley", and "Blacks and Jews." Snitow was a producer at the top-rated KTVU-TV News, the Bay Area Fox affiliate, for 12 years. Before that, he was the News Director for eight years at the Bay Area’s Pacifica Radio station, KPFA-FM, winning the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Gold Award for Best Local Newscast. Snitow was a Board member of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, the Film Arts Foundation, and President of the Board of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. He is currently a Board member of the California Media Collaborative, and a member of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. He is a graduate of Cornell University. |

Deborah Kaufman's films include the award-winning "Thirst", "Secrets of Silicon Valley", and "Blacks and Jews." She founded and for 13 years was Director of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the first and largest independent Jewish film showcase in the world. Kaufman has been a Board member of the California Council for the Humanities and Amnesty International USA. She has been a consultant, programmer, lecturer, and activist with a variety of human rights, multicultural and media arts organizations. Kaufman is a graduate of University of California Hastings College of the Law and a member of the California Bar.
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Snitow-Kaufman Productions, a 501c3 tax-exempt organization, is supported by foundation grants, public funding, and individual donations. All contributions are tax-deductible. Past funders have included: The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Nathan Cummings Foundation, The Park Foundation, The Panta Rhea Foundation, The California Council for the Humanities, The Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation, the Fund for Documentary Film of the Foundation for Jewish Culture, and the Soros Documentary Fund.
Contributions of any size are welcome and will be acknowledged. Make checks payable to “Snitow-Kaufman Productions” and send to: Snitow-Kaufman Productions, 2600 10th St. #603, Berkeley, CA 94710. |
Snitow-Kaufman
Productions
2600 10th St. #603
Berkeley CA 94710 USA
Tel: 510-841-1068
Fax: 510-841-9141
Email: secrets@igc.org |
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