Woody Guthrie documentary set for U.S. premiere in San Francisco

Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls: Another Side of Woody Guthrie will make its U.S. premiere at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival on July 18 and July 28. The documentary explores the folk icon’s Jewish influences, including his relationship with Yiddish poet and lyricist Aliza Greenblatt.

Why it matters: - The film spotlights a lesser-known part of Woody Guthrie’s legacy and adds a Jewish-American lens to one of the most familiar figures in U.S. folk music. - The U.S. premiere lands during the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations, giving the film a built-in cultural moment. - The documentary is also set to travel beyond San Francisco, with screenings planned at festivals, theaters and other venues in the U.S. and abroad over the next several months.

What happened: - PerlePress Productions and Menemsha Films announced the U.S. premiere of Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls: Another Side of Woody Guthrie. - The premiere will take place at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, where the documentary is featured as the Local Spotlight Film. - The film will screen twice in the festival run: at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco on Saturday, July 18, and at the Piedmont Theatre in Oakland on Tuesday, July 28. - Steven Pressman, the film’s producer and director, said he was excited for the premiere and described Guthrie as a quintessential American artist whose music still reflects the nation.

The details: - Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls focuses on Jewish influences on Guthrie’s life and music. - The film highlights Guthrie’s close relationship with his mother-in-law, Aliza Greenblatt, a prominent Yiddish poet and lyricist. - Guthrie, who lived from 1912 to 1967, is best known for writing “This Land Is Your Land” and for songs about Dust Bowl refugees in the 1930s. - Arlo Guthrie appears in the documentary and says his father saw something special in Jewish tradition and respected his grandmother as a writer, thinker and person. - Pressman said the project began when he discovered Guthrie had written songs about Hanukkah, borscht, bagels, lox, the Holocaust and Jewish history. - Pressman is a former newspaper and magazine journalist who focuses on documentary films about lesser-known stories in Jewish-American history. - His first film, 50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus, premiered on HBO in 2013 and received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Historical Programming. - The Toronto Globe and Mail called the film an “eye-opening documentary” when it premiered internationally in June at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival.

Between the lines: - The film’s pitch is less about Guthrie as a dust bowl-era icon and more about the cultural crosscurrents that shaped his songwriting. - By centering Aliza Greenblatt and Guthrie’s Jewish-themed material, the documentary reframes a familiar American artist through a narrower but more revealing story. - The festival rollout suggests the film is targeting both Jewish audiences and broader documentary viewers interested in American music history.

What’s next: - The documentary will continue screening at film festivals, movie theaters and other venues in the coming months. - The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival appearances are likely to serve as the film’s main introduction to U.S. audiences.

The bottom line: - Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls aims to show that Woody Guthrie’s story includes more Jewish influence than many viewers may expect.