San Diego's first Jewish Film Festival began in a gym with a projector balanced on a ladder. Entenmann's cookies were served to a small crowd of about 100 at each of three films. Now 20 years later, the event has grown into a 12-day festival filling more than 16,000 seats at five theaters and featuring 51 films, making it the third-largest Jewish Film Festival in the country following Boston and San Francisco.
The 20th anniversary festival runs Feb. 10-21 at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center's David & Dorothea Garfield Theatre in La Jolla and four other venues in San Diego County.
