The Maine Jewish Film Festival (MJFF) starts its first full day of programming on Sunday, March 10 with the Women Filmmakers Forum sponsored by the Davis Family Foundation, at Portland’s Nickelodeon Theater. The day begins with a free continental brunch at 11:00 a.m. followed by a panel discussion “The Celluloid Ceiling: Fact and Fiction”. The panel includes screenwriter Wendy Kout whose feature film Dorfman in Love, opens the festival the night before. The Maine Jewish Film Festival runs March 9-16, 2013; tickets and full schedule details are available online at mjff.org.

Among her credits Kout has written and developed projects for major Hollywood studios and producers and was Executive Producer of the hit ABC show Anything But Love. On the panel she will be joined by Molly Bernstein, co-director of the feature documentary Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay, the Women Filmmakers Forum Focus Film that screens following the panel at 1:00pm. Bernstein’s film on Ricky Jay, widely regarded as the world’s foremost magician, had its world premiere at the recent New York Film Festival. Other panelists are Gabriela Böhm, producer/director of In Raquel’s Footsteps, a drama-doc on the 19th c sex trafficking of women to Argentina and Nina Zale, producer of the doc Beyond the Boundaries,about an adaptive skiing program in Colorado created for disabled Israeli military. The filmmakers will be joined by Boston-based entertainment attorney Sandra Forman, whose practice includes all aspects of fiction and non-fiction production and distribution. Following the panel, Forman is hosting a free legal roundtable for independent filmmakers, inviting them to bring their questions for a shared consultation. Executive Director of the MJFF, Louise Rosen, said, “It’s clear there’s still a long way to go before some real parity is achieved. But we’re proud that more than one fourth of the films we’re presenting have women in the key production roles. This Forum is intended to provide a way for Maine’s media community – students, emerging filmmakers, seasoned professionals and anyone interested in film – to learn from these women filmmakers and gain insight into the state of the industry. And with the support of the Davis Family Foundation, we can offer this as a free event.”

Tickets are required for all free events. For full festival schedule details, film trailers and to purchase tickets, visit www.mjff.org

The festival runs from March 9 – 16, taking place at the Nickelodeon Cinema in downtown Portland at 1 Temple Street and other locations around Portland and the state including USM’s Abromson Center, The Frontier in Brunswick, Colby College and a post-festival special screening of Dorfman in Love at the Bangor Opera House on Sunday, March 17.

The Maine Jewish Film Festival is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide a forum for the presentation of films to enrich, educate and entertain a diverse community about the Jewish experience. Portland is the smallest city in the nation to boast an independent, professional Jewish film festival.