JUMP STREET FILMS ANNOUNCES INAUGURAL FUND FOR JEWISH AUSTRALIAN SCREEN NARRATIVES, LAUNCHES SLATE

Jump Street Films has launched an inaugural fund to support the development and production of Jewish Australian feature films. The privately supported fund will exclusively go towards stories that advance the depiction of Jewish Australians on screen, by Jewish Australian creatives, with emphasis on authenticity and visibility.

Company director Jamie Bialkower initiated the fund due to the lack of Jewish narratives being financed in Australia, the lack of support that Jewish artists are receiving at structural and institutional levels, and to counter antisemitism through representation of Jewish stories on screen.

Jump Street Films is calling for entries from both emerging and established creators and expects the funding capacity to grow in coming months. Bialkower also wants to provide opportunities for Jewish Australian crew at all levels of production, ensuring that professional development is a key pillar of the initiative. 

The fund will initially support three projects: 

SONG OF SONGS

Over the seven days of mourning following her grandmother’s death, Miriam forms a forbidden connection with a young Rabbi that sets in motion the unravelling of a complex family reckoning with their identities. The debut feature from acclaimed multidisciplinary artist Anita Lester has been developed with support from Screen Australia, with LevelK on board for international sales. Ashley Zukerman is set to star amongst an all-Jewish cast, with Shekhar Kapur as Executive Producer.

SHOSHANNA

A Hasidic woman grapples with a burgeoning desire for the woman she hires to help care for her ailing husband in Justin Olstein’s debut feature. Winner of the Australian Writers’ Guild Monte Miller Award for Best Feature Screenplay and shortlisted for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, Israeli actors Yael Abecassis and Shlomi Elkabetz are attached to star and Elkabetz will co-produce alongside Galit Cahlon and lead producer Clea Frost. M-Appeal have boarded for international sales. 

THE WHITE PIGEON

Anita Lester’s second feature follows Australian painter Lola Cohen, whose controversial exhibition leads her to accept an invitation to spend a month in Israel’s Golan Heights with renowned American Jewish artist Ivan Moshinsky. As Lola enters the orbit of her invisible mentor, the arrival of Ivan’s son Rene sparks an unlikely love triangle, leading to a poignant exploration of opportunism, conflict and unattainable love, underscored by the enduring power of art. The film will shoot between Australia and Israel.