Deborah Kaufman

Is art’s role to provoke or placate? What happens when it no longer reflects current societal views? These questions and many more were the subject of hot debate when Victor Arnautoff’s thirteen-panel mural “The Life of Washington” became an object of local controversy, then a media firestorm. On display since San Francisco’s George Washington High School opened in 1936, it offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide. (The Iroquois dubbed him “Town Destroyer.”) But some present-day students, parents, and observers found those depictions racially offensive, calling for the work to be removed or destroyed. Would doing so be a “redaction of history,” “identity politics gone off the rails”—or a justified blow to a lingering American “colonized mentality” as well as ongoing “traumatization” of young minds?

Is art’s role to provoke or placate? What happens when it no longer reflects current societal views? These questions and many more were the subject of hot debate when Victor Arnautoff’s thirteen-panel mural “The Life of Washington” became an object of local controversy, then a media firestorm. On display since San Francisco’s George Washington High School opened in 1936, it offers a view of the Founding Father both celebratory and critical, referencing his involvements in slavery and Native American genocide. (The Iroquois dubbed him “Town Destroyer.”) But some present-day students, parents, and observers found those depictions racially offensive, calling for the work to be removed or destroyed. Would doing so be a “redaction of history,” “identity politics gone off the rails”—or a justified blow to a lingering American “colonized mentality” as well as ongoing “traumatization” of young minds?

The once free-spirited city of San Francisco is now a 'Company Town,' a playground for tech moguls of the 'sharing economy' and social media. Billionaire venture capitalists virtually control the city's government. Skyrocketing rents and evictions have driven out ethic and middle class communities. But a grassroots backlash threatens the power of tech. The feature-length documentary, 'Company Town,' is the story of an intense election campaign that will determine the fate of the city at the epicenter of the digital revolution. The whole world is watching as similar revolts against Uber, Airbnb, and other multi-billion dollar companies erupt around the world.

'Between Two Worlds' is a personal exploration of the community and family divisions that are redefining American Jewish identity and politics. The filmmakers own families are battlegrounds over loyalty to Israel, interpretations of the Holocaust, intermarriage and a conversion to Islam, and a secret communist past. Filmed in the United States and Israel, this first person documentary begins with a near riot at a Jewish Film Festival in San Francisco, shows an agonizing battle over divestment from Israel on a university campus, and reveals how hard it is for minorities in America to maintain ethnic identity in the face of generational change. Who speaks for a divided community at the crossroads? 'Between Two Worlds' has the exhilarating energy and fierce commitment of Jewish conversation itself.

The control over public water supply is significant policy issue around the world. Documentarians Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman take a close look at the global business trend of privatizing water supplies.

This documentary attempts to go beyond the sensationalized media coverage and the stereotypes to examine several key conflicts from the point of view of both Black and Jewish activists.

This documentary attempts to go beyond the sensationalized media coverage and the stereotypes to examine several key conflicts from the point of view of both Black and Jewish activists.

This documentary attempts to go beyond the sensationalized media coverage and the stereotypes to examine several key conflicts from the point of view of both Black and Jewish activists.