Jay Rosenblatt isn’t taking any chances in the wake of his first Academy Awards nomination.

“我宁愿满足外,”老圣Francisco filmmaker told The Chronicle in an email. “I am still trying to be super safe and cannot risk getting sick before the Oscars.”

So, a few minutes after participating in a Q&A at the Castro Theatre after his short film “When We Were Bullies” screened at theBerlin and Beyond Film Festival(the film received German funding), Rosenblatt settles in the outdoor seating area at a nearby cafe for a socially distanced interview.

Just a few days earlier, he had been at the annual luncheon for Oscar nominees, chatting withLin-Manuel MirandaandSteven Spielberg(Rosenblatt’s wife, Stephanie Rapp, wanted to meet Spielberg, who has worked with the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, where Rapp is program lead). He still had to secure his tuxedo rental, one of the many things on his to-do list leading up to the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 27.

Rosenblatt, who is also the longtime program director at theSan Francisco Jewish Film Festival,has been making short films for three decades. His nomination is for “When We Were Bullies,” a 34-minute film that has struck a chord, about a bullying incident Rosenblatt was involved in when he was in fifth grade in 1960s Brooklyn.

Rosenblatt and classmates surrounded one child who was perpetually picked on and watched as others physically abused him. Although Rosenblatt threw no punches, he has always felt a sense of guilt. In the film, he returns to the scene of the crime and tracks down classmates who were a part of the incident to hear their recollections.

Utilizing collage and other typical Rosenblatt methods, it is a moving experience that instills a sense of self-reflection.

Q:How does it feel to be nominated for your first Oscar?

A:It feels surreal. I’ve been making filmsfor a really long time.Since 1990, I’ve made about 30 films. … The documentary branch (of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) does the nominating, so I felt very honored by my peers that they picked this one.

Q:Why do you think it resonated with your peers?

A:When some people in the branch saw it, they wrote me. They wanted to share their stories with me; they felt compelled. What it brings up for them is their own childhood. A couple of people told me about their kids currently being bullied, which was very moving. Some of the responses were very personal.

Q:You were a mental health counselor for several years, including at the California Pacific Medical Center and MarinHealth Medical Center. How did your training inform your approach to this film?

A:I went into counseling with a strong desire to help people heal, and I have that same motivation with filmmaking. They’re very psychological; they’re about the emotional parts of ourselves. Not to sound too pompous, but they have a healing element.

When I say healing, what I mean is to stimulate, catalyze conversation that leads people to explore their inner self and hopefully in that process lead to some resolution of things that were painful in their life. When they see it on the screen, maybe they can relate to it.

Q: Do you think human beings are born to bully? Is it in our DNA?

A:I think we are hardwired to pick up vulnerability. I think that is somewhat of a survival mechanism. This is kind of our more reptilian side, like having to harm someone else to elevate yourself or to be complicit because you’re afraid that you might be next. I think it’s really unfortunate.

But I also think we do have higher selves that transcend that at times. I mean, you see it with (President Volodymyr)Zelenskyyin Ukraine: The higher self, the hero, the courage to stand up to a big bully.

I asked the question in the film, “Why didn’t I say stop when I saw this happening? What prevented me from just getting involved in a way to help the person who was being bullied?” I don’t know how to answer that … and I wonder how I would react to certain situations now. I don’t think you really always know how you’ll be until it happens.

Q: What do you think of bullying in the social media era? It’s so easy to bully now, and people are taking full advantage of that. It just seems like almost like a meaner world in a lot of ways.

A:I agree with you so much. I’ve gotten a few really negative nasty comments, and I feel it’s a product of that anonymity on social media. You can say whatever you want. The ironic thing is, I feel like some of those emails were trying to bully me.

Q:What’s the way forward? Is there a way that we can heal ourselves?

A:On a positive note, I think teachers and parents are much more attuned to bullying. There’s training for that. When I was growing up in the ’60s, none of that was happening.

But we have such big issues we’re facing. The fact that there’s a political party that denies climate change, which I see as the existential threat to humanity, and we just had four years of a bully-in-chief. I haven’t lost hope completely, but it’s quite depressing.

“When We Were Bullies”(未评级)首映在9 p.m. March 30, on HBO and HBO Max.