Film Forum

J Street is the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy Americans, working within the Jewish community and the American political system to foster thoughtful, values-driven engagement on Israel, rooted in empathy and shared humanity. J Street believes in creating space for nuanced conversation and reflection, guided by the conviction that only a negotiated resolution between Israelis and Palestinians can secure a just, democratic, and peaceful future for all.

The New Israel Fund (NIF) is the leading organization advancing and defending democracy in Israel. Widely credited with building Israeli progressive civil society, NIF has provided over $300 million to more than 900 organizations since our inception in 1979.

T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights brings the Torah’s ideals of human dignity, equality, and justice to life by empowering our network of over 2,300 rabbis and cantors to be moral voices and to lead Jewish communities in advancing democracy and human rights for all people in the United States, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Albi is a cultural institute and film fund dedicated to supporting Israeli and Palestinian storytellers whose work reflects complexity, shared humanity, and the realities of entanglement across lines of power and identity. Through film production, impact campaigns, and artist support, Albi helps bring nuanced narratives to audiences around the world, fostering dialogue beyond binaries. Albi is the overall impact partner for HOLDING LIAT.

Brandon Kramer is a Washington, DC-based filmmaker and co-founder of Meridian Hill Pictures with his brother Lance. Brandon directed THE FIRST STEP (Tribeca, AFI DOCS); CITY OF TREES (Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, PBS, Netflix); and the Webby Award-winning independent documentary series The Messy Truth (CNN). Brandon is a Film Independent Fellow, a DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities Fellow, a regular collaborator with Kartemquin Films in Chicago, and has served as a media teaching artist for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Brandon holds a bachelor’s degree in film and cultural anthropology from Boston University.

Lance Kramer is a Washington, DC-based filmmaker and co-founder of Meridian Hill Pictures. Lance produced THE FIRST STEP (Tribeca, AFI DOCS); CITY OF TREES (Full Frame, PBS, Netflix) and the Webby Award-winning series The Messy Truth. Lance is a Film Independent Fellow and has been selected to participate in the Film Independent Fast Track program, Sundance Creative Producers Summit, Impact Partners Documentary Producers Fellowship cohort, was named to the DOC NYC “40 Under 40” list, and received the DC Mayor’s Arts Award, the highest honor given to working artists in the Nation’s Capital. Lance is a former Board Member of Docs in Progress, a member of the Documentary Producers Alliance, and currently serves on the board of the Foundation for the Augmentation of African Americans in Film (FAAAF).

Rabbi Rachel Timoner is the senior rabbi of Congregation Beth Elohim (CBE) in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where her passions are community building, social justice, spiritual life, and lifelong learning. In order to develop the community’s bonds and its capacity to talk about difficult issues, Rabbi Timoner has engaged her congregation in two long-term study and dialogue series, first about systemic racism and then about Israel. She launched several social justice initiatives at CBE, including a Dismantling Racism community organizing team, a Refugee Task Force and, in partnership with New York City Councilmember Brad Lander, #GetOrganizedBK, through which thousands of New Yorkers work together to defend democracy and human dignity after the 2016 election. Previously, she served as associate rabbi of Leo Baeck Temple in Los Angeles, where she was a beloved teacher of Torah, a community organizer, and a leader in Reform California which achieved major statewide victories in immigrant rights, affordable housing, and police reform. She received a B.A. from Yale University, worked for fourteen years in social justice in the San Francisco Bay Area, and was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2009, where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. Rachel is married to Felicia Park-Rogers and they have two sons, Benji and Eitan.

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