Cinewest Productions

Producer-Director Isaac Artenstein founded Cinewest Productions over 20 years ago to create and distribute documentaries focusing on the Americas and the Southwest including Break of Dawn, an award-winning film set in 1930s Los Angeles which premiered at the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals and aired on Telemundo, PBS’s American Playhouse and the BBC.  Artenstein was also producer on the hit comedy A Day Without a Mexican. 

Cinewest is also responsible for internationally distributed documentaries such as Ballad of an Unsung Hero and collaborated on the Academy-Award nominated In the Name of the People, narrated by Martin Sheen. Their other documentary credits include Growing Up Weston focusing on four generations of California photographers and Tijuana Jews, a history of the Tijuana Jewish community following a personal journey. Among their other productions are "Border Brujo" and "Christmas at the Reservation, featuring acclaimed performance artists Guillermo Gómez Peña and James Luna. 

Our company has recently completed two episodes of  The Frontier Jews Series: “Challah Rising in the Desert: The Jews of New Mexico” and “To the Ends of the Earth: A Portrait of Jewish San Diego” and are at work on “The Journeys of Harry Crosby,” a portrait of 92 year old pioneer photographer and historian of the Baja California Peninsula, and “A Long Journey: The Hidden Jews of the Southwest” in collaboration with New Mexico Public Television, and airing nationally on PBS.