For the Allentown Jewish Community Center's Film Series for 2003 and later, see http://www.allentownjcc.org/
Purchasing tickets for the Allentown Jewish Community Center's Film Series
Most advance tickets are $9 for adults and $5 for students.
By Phone: Call the Allentown JCC front desk at 610-435-3571.
In Person: Go to the Allentown JCC front desk, 702 N 22nd St, Allentown, PA 18104.
At the Door: Ticket prices at the door are higher and subject to availability.
For directions to each theater, see directions.html
2007 Stockholm Jewish Film Festival
May 10-13, 2008
For the official film series web site, see http://www.stockholmjff.org/
JELLYFISH (LES MÉDUSES) (MEDUZOT)
Israel/France, 2007, 78 min, drama/comedy, Hebrew with English subtitles, directed by Etgar Keret, written by Shira Geffen
Tel-Aviv, today. At her wedding reception, Keren breaks a leg. And bang goes
the Caribbean honeymoon. A strange little girl comes out of the sea and follows
Batya like a shadow until Batya's life changes forever. Joy is a maid from
the Philippines. She works for a tough old lady and unintendedly reconciles her
with her daughter. This is a composite film, made of scraps of humanity, like
so many messages in a bottle, verging on the absurd. A portrait of a messy
world in which everyone scrape by as best they can, looking for love, for
something to remember or to forget. Such is life in Tel-Aviv.
http://www.trigon-film.org/en/movies/Jellyfish
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/jellyfish-trailer/811188237
http://www.etgarkeret.com/
http://www.laweekly.com/film+tv/film/etgar-kerets-jellyfish-an-israeli-movie-with-neither-politics-nor-religion/18750/
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-et-jellyfish25apr25,1,2234357.story
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/24/DD37109T21.DTL
http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0814,how-my-cinematographer-broke-my-heart,396129,20.html
http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=jellyfish&mode=filmmaker
FLIPPING OUT
Israel, 2007, 84 min, documentary, Hebrew and English with English subtitles, directed by Yoav Shamir
Military service is compulsory in Israel for all Jewish men and women.
After their years of service, they are granted a discharge bonus, which many of
them use to fly to India to recover from their experiences. Approximately 90
per cent will use drugs during their stay, and each year some two thousand of
them will need professional help due to this drug use. The psychotic break with
reality they experience is commonly referred to as "flipping out."
http://www.nfb.ca/webextension/flipping-out/
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TRQaj1qrbRg
http://www.itvs.org/international/filmmakers/flippingout.html
http://www.cinephil.co.il/Index.asp?ArticleID=328&CategoryID=68
HIS WIFE'S LOVER (ZAYN VAYBS LUBOVNIK)
USA, 1931, 80 min, comedy, Yiddish with English subtitles, directed by Sidney M Goldin
His Wife's Lover stars the popular comedian of the Yiddish theatre Ludwig Satz in his only film performance.
Directed by Sidney M. Goldin (The Cantor's Son, East and West, and Uncle Moses) and billed as
the "first Jewish musical comedy talking picture," His Wife's Lover revels in its role reversals and love triangles.
Written by a female author -- Sheyne Rokhl Simkoff under the pen name Shin Ra-Chell -- about which little is known,
the film explores, at its core, issues of gender and proscribed roles for men and women.
Simkoff is particularly astute in highlighting the struggles of immigrant and working-class women.
http://www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm/Catalogue/films/hiswifeslover.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Wife%27s_Lover
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/his_wifes_lover/
THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION (O ANO EM QUE MEUS PAIS SAÍRAM DE FÉRIAS)
Brazil, 2006, 104 min, drama, Portuguese with English subtitles, directed by Cao Hamburger
It's 1970 and young Mauro (Michel Joelsas) is pretty much like any other
Brazilian preadolescent. OK, he's pretty much like every Brazilian in 1970,
crazy for the soccer, for heroes Pelé and Tostao, and for the imminent World Cup,
the greatest sports championship on the planet, so when his pensive,
stressed-out parents tell him they're going on vacation without him and he's
being dropped off to stay with his grandfather, Mauro's only sort of OK with it
after his father says he'll be back in time so they can watch Brazil in the Cup together.
http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=13174
http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0807,oppenheimer,79095,20.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0857355/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10008965-the_year_my_parents_went_on_vacation/
http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/movies/15vaca.html
A SLIM PEACE
United Kingdom, 2007, 60 min, documentary, English, Hebrew, and Arabic. directed by Yael Luttwak
Can the united struggle of 14 women of widely varying backgrounds to reduce the width of their waists advance peace in the Middle East?
That's the question filmmaker Yael Luttwak asks in her new movie, "A Slim Peace."
http://www.aslimpeace.com http://homepage.ntlworld.com/discodog/slimpeace/sp_index.html
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/05/03/slim_peace/
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117933618.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/-yael-luttwak/my-road-through-tribeca_b_47855.html
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/392227/A-Slim-Peace/overview
http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=22010&lan=en&sid=0&sp=0
http://slimpeace.org/
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xOMRScN3Hlw
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/the-fabulous-picture-show-ecoute-le-temps-28-jul-07-part-2/32294886
SEVEN JEWS FROM OUR CLASS (SIEDMIU ZYDÓW Z MOJEJ KLASY)
Poland, 1992, 40 min., documentary, Polish with English subtitles, directed by Marcel Łoziński
The Jewish students of a Polish class were separated to places over the world during the purge of 1968.
The students return to their classroom and discuss their lives with their 85 year-old teacher.
http://www.culture.pl/en/culture/artykuly/os_lozinski_marcel
http://www.docudays.org.ua/eng/page.php?72
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0262759/
KREDENS
Poland and Denmark, 2007, 28 min., documentary, Polish and Danish with English subtitles, directed by Jacob Dammas
Somewhere in Warsaw, Poland, there is a 150-kilogram German-made kredens
(credenza) that holds the 80-year-old history of a Polish-Jewish family in its
sturdy cupboards. The kredens -- left behind when filmmaker Jacob Dammas's family
was forced to leave Poland in 1968, along with 20,000 other Polish Jews -- was too
heavy to take with them. Defying his mother's words, "there are doors in life
that must be shut and they should stay shut," Dammas returns 39 years later to
the apartment his mother and grandfather used to live in. There he finds an
older Polish-Catholic man who invites him in for a few drinks, but soon tells
him that he gave the kredens away to a neighbor. Dammas follows the trail of
the kredens in this humorous and beautifully rendered wild goose chase for the
lost piece of family history.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EMSMJkwQxmU
http://www.graniza.net/?author=3
http://hotdocsaudience.bside.com/2008/films/kredens_hotdocs2008
THE BUBBLE (HA BUAH)
Israel, 2007, 117 min., Hebrew with English subtitles, directed by Eytan Fox
Three young Israelis, two guys and a girl, share an apartment in Tel Aviv's
hippest neighborhood. Trying to put aside political conflicts and focusing on
their lives and loves, these progressive 20-somethings are often accused of
living in a sort of escapist bubble.
http://www.thebubble.msn.co.il/eng/index.asp
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0476643/
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou4UFIiY1wk
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=N6-jPxBVl38
MAKING TROUBLE
United States, 2006, 85 min., English, directed by Rachel Talbot
Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women is a laugh-out-loud,
impeccably researched documentary that explores six legendary American Jewish
women comics. Director Rachel Talbot, with the Jewish Women's Archive as
producer, has created a tribute to Molly Picon, Fanny Brice, Sophie Tucker, Joan
Rivers, Wendy Wasserstein and Gilda Radner, women whose comedy defied cultural
expectations and changed the rules. Get ready to duck when the zingers fly and
guffaw at this hilarious, insightful documentary--an exhilarating mix of
contemporary performance, interviews and rare archival footage. What is it that
makes funny Jewish women so funny...and so Jewish? Is it a nose wrinkled just
so, accompanied by a devilishly sexy grin or a jolting and sarcastic punch line?
Is it the acerbic humor of generations of immigrant and first-generation women
who fought for a place in America with their brains and their wit, and at the
same time needed to make a living? Making Trouble celebrates three generations
who, for all of the reasons above, successfully went from vaudeville and the
Yiddish theatre to Broadway, from Ziegfeld's Follies to Saturday Night Live.
Our wacky guides on this comedic journey are four of today's leading Jewish
comedians -- Judy Gold, Jackie Hoffman, Cory Kahaney and Jessica Kirson -- who meet
in New York's Delicatessen in a scenario straight out of Woody Allen's Broadway
Danny Rose. The witty foursome's repartee crackles with jokes and their sheer
delight at the comedic acumen and legacy of their predecessors. Fasten your
seatbelt and hold onto your ribs!
http://www.makingtrouble.com/
http://sfjff.org/festival_2007/film/497/
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-6qnpWNO8GI
2007 Stockholm Jewish Film Festival
May 5-8, 2007
A LOVE TO HIDE (UN AMOUR À TAIRE)
2005, France, 102 min, French with English subtitles, filmed in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Jean and Philippe, two young gay lovers in occupied France in 1942, risk their
lives to hide a childhood Jewish friend, Sarah, whose family has been killed by
the Gestapo.
http://lonestarverve.blogspot.com/2006/11/out-on-dvd-love-to-hide.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0444518/
http://www.frameline.org/festival/30th/programs/love_to_hide_a.html
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=342069
http://www.tlavideo.com/details/product_details.cfm?id=234046&c=-1&v=0&sn=2478&enable=true
http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=11643
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=25684
A HEBREW LESSON (HA'ULPAN)
2006, Israel, 123 min, English subtitles
A Hebrew Lesson is a humorous, smart and exciting mosaic of a mixture of
immigrants of various nationalities and their teacher. It is a film whose
characters won't let you go even days after having seen it. Chin left her
daughter in China and came to Israel to make a living there. She cleaned Ehud's
house, and they fell in love. Sasha never considered immigrating to Israel, but
four years after his wife left Russia with their daughter, he understood that
life without his child would be worthless. He abandoned a thriving business,
only to find himself in Tel Aviv's worst neighborhood. Marisol grew up as a
Jewish princess in Lima, Peru and came to Israel to learn something about life.
An unplanned pregnancy alters her plans. These and other characters meet in a
Hebrew language Ulpan, where their personal stories melt with the complexities
of Israeli reality.
http://www.edenproductions.co.il/detailProduction.asp?pID=14&fromPage=productions
http://professionals.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/eng/Programme/programme_schedule/film.aspx?id=0c2abe30-a7e3-49d6-9288-30f0df73274a
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=392640
Allentown Jewish Community Center's 2006 Film Series
For the official film series web site, see http://www.allentownjcc.org/
THE TRIBE: BARBIE'S 5000 YEAR HISTORY
Sunday, March 11, 2006, 7 pm, Brith Sholom, Bethlehem
2005, USA, DVD, English, 16 min
Written by Bethlehem native Ken Goldberg and his wife Tiffany Shlain who is also the animator and filmmaker.
Peter Coyote narrates this unorthodox, unauthorized history of the Jewish people and the Barbie doll.
Weaving together archival footage, graphics, animation, Barbie dioramas, and slam poetry, the film
effectively questions and sheds light on what it means to be an American Jew in the 21st Century.
http://www.tribethefilm.com/
http://www.myspace.com/tribethefilm
THE ASHKENAZIM
Sunday, March 11, 2006, 7 pm, Brith Sholom, Bethlehem
Israel, 2005, DVD, 52 min, Hebrew with English subtitles
The Ashkenazim is a humorous and moving film about young Israelis in search of
their Ashkenazi roots. These women and men seek to reconnect with their Jewish
European heritage which they feel was suppressed in order for their ancestors to
acclimate to their new Israeli and Middle Eastern environment. The Ashkenazim
follows the lives of a group of young women and men as they reconnect to their
Ashkenazi roots. Assaf Galay forms "Ashkenazi Identity" to promote a cultural
revolution in Israel. Tammy Ben-Tor creates an electro- Yiddish sexy cabaret.
Itamar Handelman Ben Canaan, always ashamed of his Ashkenazi roots, falls in
love with Olga, a new immigrant from Russia, and with her returns to the life
style of his European ancestors. What makes these Israelis look back with
longing at their Ashkenazi history and can they bring some of their forefather's
lost Jewish European culture to the Middle East?
http://www.go2films.com/film_info.asp?id=20
http://www.nfct.org.il/movies/The_Ashkenazim_e.htm
Ladino Festival, Cervantes Institute of Stockholm, Nov 13, 2006
THE LAST SEPHARDIC JEW
Spain, 2003, 90 minutes, documentary, Spanish with English subtitles, directed by Miguel Ángel Nieto
Eliezer Papo, a young rabbi from Sarajevo who teaches Ladino in Jerusalem,
embarks on a lyrical journey tracing the roots of Sephardic Spanish, a forlorn
language, from Salonika to Sarajevo, through Curaçao, Istanbul and Toledo,
the spiritual capital of Biblical "Sepharad".
http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/21667/edition_id/440/format/html/displaystory.html
http://www.teleimages.com/program.php?id=7&pn=456
http://www.seattlejewishfilmfestival.org/viewevent_merged.php?short=4&main=5
http://www.americansephardifederation.org/sub/events/film_review-9.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladino_language
http://home.earthlink.net/~benven/ladino.html
http://www.sephardicstudies.org/quickladino.html
2006 Stockholm Jewish Film Festival
May 6-9, 2006
For the official film series web site, see http://www.stockholmjff.org/
LIFE (JAI)
Mexico, 2004, 9 minutes, drama, Spanish with English subtitles
A touching and emotional short film that depicts the reaction of two Mexican
children to the sight of numbers tattooed by the Nazis on the arms of their
elderly immigrant grandparents.
William's comments: A sweet short film about not forgetting the Holocaust.
http://www.247show.com/watch-videos-online.cfm/cid/28/sid/374 (2 minute video clip)
http://www.interfilm.de/festival2005/timetable_eng.php?id=20787&p_ID=432
http://www.umass.edu/sephardimizrahi/past_issues/051023.html
ONLY HUMAN (SERES QUERIDOS)
Spain, 2004, 89 minutes, comedy, Spanish with English subtitles
Leni Dalinsky and her fiancé Rafi are standing in an elevator.
Rafi is about to meet Leni's family for the first time, and he's sweating,
so he decides to change his shirt. Leni looks at him worriedly, then presses
the stop button on the lift, and suggests they make love: "we're too
anxious, we need to relax". Thus we're introduced to the crazy world of the
Dalinskys in Only Human, the best Spanish comedy since... well, maybe the best
Spanish comedy, actually, ever.
William's comments: One of the best comedies that I have seen in a while.
http://www.futuremovies.co.uk/review.asp?ID=330
http://www.timeout.com/film/81708.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376177/
http://es.movies.yahoo.com/s/seres-queridos/index-4335.html
PROTOCOLS OF ZION
USA, 2005, 93 minutes, documentary, English
When writer/director Marc Levin had an Egyptian cab driver tell him in all
seriousness that no Jews had been killed on 9/11 because they had all been
warned to stay home from work that day, he decided to take a further look into
why anti-Semitism seemed to be on the upswing since that terrible day.
Levin's research continued to bring him to an oft debunked piece of early
twentieth century Russian propaganda called the "Protocols of Zion."
William's comments: Marc Levin is like a Jewish Michael Moore.
http://www.protocolsofzionmovie.com/
http://www.reelingreviews.com/protocolsofzion.htm
http://worldfilm.about.com/od/documentaryfilms/fr/protocolsofzion.htm
http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/film_review.asp?ID=1799
http://www.popmatters.com/tv/reviews/p/protocols-of-zion-060411.shtml
http://www.austin360.com/movies/content/shared/movies/reviews/P/protocolsofzion/index.html
ZERO DEGREES OF SEPARATION
Canada, 2005, 85 minutes, documentary, English, Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles
"Even George Orwell in his wildest dreams could not imagine this," says Ezra,
stopped at a checkpoint in the occupied territories. For Ezra, an Arab Jew,
travel is relatively easy, but he harasses and questions the soldiers at every
opportunity. His Arab boyfriend Selim is under house arrest in their flat in
East Jerusalem. Meanwhile Edit, whose parents fled "elimination" in Argentina,
cannot share their hopes as she sees Israel through the eyes of her Palestinian
girlfriend, Samira.
William's comments: This film shows a one-sided view of the problems that Palestinians have in Israel.
It provides a soap box for "self-hating" Jews, and it shows defensive measures that Israel has taken without
mentioning the actions that lead to those measures.
http://www.zerodegreesofseparation.com/
http://www.sidf.co.uk/films/film.php?fid=73
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454990/
http://www.cornerhouse.org/film/info.aspx?ID=2068&page=0
AWAKE ZION
USA, 2004, 60 minutes, documentary, English with English subtitles
Did you ever wonder why Jews and Rastafarians both use the Star of David and
make references to Zion? Awake Zion is a documentary that explores the
connections between reggae culture and Judaism. Through the themes of music,
roots and culture, it aims to expose the senselessness of hate or intolerance
by highlighting kinship as opposed to difference.
William's comments: A strange and amusing film featuring a Hassidic reggae rapper,
Rastafarians in Jamaica who enter a Jewish synagogue for the first time and are
amazed that Jews use their symbols, English that can't be understood without subtitles,
and a cast that is high on marijuana.
http://www.awakezion.net/
http://www.92y.org/shop/event_detail.asp?productid=T%2DMM5FM42
http://www.sfindie.com/docfest05/films/awake_zion.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafarian
EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED
USA, 2005, 106 minutes, adventure/comedy, English, Russian and Ukrainian
A young Jewish American man endeavors to find the woman who saved his
grandfather during World War II in a Ukrainian village, that was ultimately
razed by the Nazis, with the help of a local who speaks weirdly funny broken
English.
Trivia: Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of the novel on which the movie is
based, has a cameo as the leaf blower in the cemetery at the beginning of the film.
The polka band that greets Jonathan (Elijah Wood) at the train station
is Eugene Hutz' band "Gogol Bordello".
William's comments: About a quarter of the dialog is in Russian.
Make sure that you have a copy with English subtitles.
The copy that I saw in Sweden had Swedish subtitles.
This film is like two films glued together.
The first half is a comedy/adventure, very funny at times, with product placement for Ziplock bags,
while the second half is a Holocaust story.
The last quarter of the film is a bit confusing.
Apparently the film is missing some of the subplots from the novel that explain the end.
http://wip.warnerbros.com/everythingisilluminated/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404030/
http://movies.about.com/od/everythingisilluminated/a/everyls090705.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/everything-is-illuminated-film
http://www.culturevulture.net/Movies12/Everything.htm
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050922/REVIEWS/50919003/1023
http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2004/Art/1007/opin1.php/ (Prague Post article critical of the portrayals of Ukranians)
http://www.gogolbordello.com/ (Eugene Hutz's (young Alex) band Gogol Bordello)
http://homepage.mac.com/gogolbordello/iblog/B1231179855/C500651121/E20050914195551/index.html (Interview with Eugene Hutz)
http://www.veryverygay.com/elijahwood/ewivvg.html (Elijah Wood parody site)
USHPIZIN (HOLY GUESTS)
Israel, 2005, 90 minutes, comedy/drama, Yiddish and Hebrew
"Ushpizin" is a delightful tale with wonderful messages about faith, hope and
charity, all three of which prove essential ingredients for the Moshe Bellangas'
(writer Shuli Rand, "The New Land") happy life. Although this tale is steeped
in its religion, it is often surprisingly modern and full of earthy humor.
Bellanga is saddened that he must return home to his beloved wife Mali (Michal
Bat-Sheva Rand) and tell her that he has no money on the day before the Succot
holiday is about to begin. They take to heart some words of wisdom from the
Rabbi about the power of prayer, however, and lo and behold, Moshe's friend Ben
finds him an abandoned succah and the local charity slips 1,000 US dollars under
their door. But their final blessing is a visiting friend from Moshe's past,
Eliyahu Scorpio (Shaul Mizrahi, "Not Without My Daughter"), who along with his
own friend Yossef (Ilan Ganani) become the Bellangas "Ushpizin."
Shuli Rand (Moshe) was a successful actor until he left the trade to join the
religious life. He and Michal Bat-Sheva Rand (Mali) are married in real life.
All of the people seen on screen are religious. There were no actors pretending to be religious.
William's comments: Some of the reviews start by saying "you don't have to
be ultra-orthodox to enjoy this". That is a good hint that you probably really
do have to be ultra-orthodox to have a chance of enjoying it. I found this film
tedious to watch.
http://www.ushpizin.com/
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1808670681&cf=info
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426155/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/reviews/review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001308023
http://www.reelingreviews.com/ushpizin.htm
http://www.apple.com/trailers/picturehouse/ushpizin/
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Calendar/Film?Film=oid%3A320918
http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Reviews/U/Ushpizin/2005/12/02/1333894.html
http://www.somethingjewish.co.uk/articles/1805_ushpizin_review.htm
http://www.entertainyourbrain.com/ushpizinrev.htm
http://www.aish.com/sukkotsukkah/sukkotsukkahdefault/The_7_Ushpizin_Guests.asp (Article explaining the Ushpizin tradition)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meah_Shearim (Wikipedia article about Mea Shearim)
http://www.israel-music.com/adi_ran/the_last_one/ (CD with some of the songs used in the movie)
Allentown Jewish Community Center's 2004 Film Series
For the official film series web site, see http://www.allentownjcc.org/
THE BURIAL SOCIETY
Sunday, February 1, 2004, 1:30 pm
The 19th Street Theater, 527 N. 19th Street, Allentown
Canada, 2002, 35 mm, 95 minutes, English. 2003 Leo Awards (British Columbia,
Canada) selected as the Best Feature Length Drama with Rob LaBelle nominated as
Best Actor. Awarded Best Cinematography, Milan International Film Festival, 2003.
Writer/Director, Nicholas Racz received the award for the Best Canadian
Screenplay at the 2003 Vancouver International Film Festival.
Mild-mannered Sheldon Kasner is bored with his life. As a loan officer at the
Hebrew National Bank, he is a most unlikely criminal. Suddenly, when a $2M
money-laundering scheme goes awry and mobsters start looking for him, Sheldon is
forced to flee the big city to a small-town and try to start a new life.
So what's a frightened, isolated Jew to do? He goes to synagogue where he
decides to offer his services to a struggling Chevrah Kadisha, the Jewish burial
society that prepares bodies for interment. Having sought and found refuge
within the mysterious world of this ancient religious society, Sheldon finds
himself captivated by this unusual and powerful world and the three old men who
run it. They also find themselves pinning their hopes for survival on this
unlikely stranger. Meanwhile, Sheldon sets in motion a complex scheme involving
the theft of the $2 million. This is a quirky and at times gripping Canadian
thriller starring Rob LaBelle, David Paymer (from TV's "Line of Fire"), and
Seymour Cassel.
Rated R for language.
William's comments: The film was lighter than I expected for the subject
matter, almost black comedy. The end is not clear. You need to pay attention
to the opening sequence to hope to understand the end.
http://www.theburialsociety.com/
http://www.iofilm.co.uk/fm/b/burial_society_2002.shtml
http://www.rickmcginnis.com/movies/burialsociety.htm
http://www.evalu8.org/staticpage?page=review&siteid=1542
http://www.viff.org/viff02/filmguide/filmnote.php?FCode=BURIA
http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/data/production/prod_863.asp?lang=en&c=1
THE HOLY LAND
Sunday, February 8, 2004, 1:30 pm
The Roxy Theater, 2004 Main St., Northampton
Israel, 2002, 35mm, 96 minutes, English, Yiddish, Hebrew & Arabic w/Eng. Subtitles.
Grand Jury Prize, Best Film, Slamdance Film Festival, 2002;
Best Film, Avignon/New York Film Festival, 2002. Writer/director Eitan Gorlin was
nominated for IFP Independent Spirit Award as "Someone to Watch" 2003.
THE HOLY LAND is the much-talked about story about a yeshiva student,
a Russian prostitute and the owner of the infamous "Mike's Place" in Jerusalem.
At the suggestion of his teacher, "Mendy," a young rabbinical student struggling
with his developing sexual urges, seeks out a brothel. There he meets two new
friends - Sasha, a captivating nineteen-year-old Russian prostitute and Mike,
a former American war photographer, another client of Sasha's, who invites him
to visit his bar. The characters he encounters at Mike's Place, where Arabs,
Christians, Jews and people from all over the world hang out together listening
to Hendrix and Dylan, drinking booze and smoking grass, are based on customers
who frequented the real Mike's Place which was bombed in April, 2003.
THE HOLY LAND is a sophisticated coming of age love story that explores the
underbelly of real life in Jerusalem after the sun goes down. It ultimately
asks the question: "Is there a line that once you cross it, there's no turning back?"
Mature themes, full nudity and sexual content.
William's comments: The film is entertaining, but it has a sad ending
and lots of nudity, including scenes inside a strip club.
Just a week after Janet Jackson's superbowl performance ../mj.html#janet,
we've all seen our share of nudity.
Eitan Gorlin first visited Israel at the age of 17
and bartended at the real "Mike's Place" in Jerusalem.
He wrote the novella "Mike's Place, A Jerusalem Diary" and the movie "The Holy Land" about his experiences.
Mike Viggoda is a Canadian war photographer turned bar owner who came to Israel during the first Gulf War.
Mr. Gorlin based the characters in the novella and the movie on actual customers who frequented the bar.
Prostitution is legal in Israel, although it is illegal to engage in prostitution
in an organized manner, see http://www.worldsexguide.org/israel.html
and http://israel.worldsexarchives.com/
and http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/israel.htm
The film follows Mendy and is partially a coming of age story.
The film also shows how stress has brought Israeli society nearly to the breaking point.
Everyone is being used, whether they realize it or not.
Sasha uses Mendy for his American passport.
Mike uses Razi and Mendy to smuggle drugs, while in return,
Razi uses Mike to smuggle explosives.
http://www.theholylandmovie.com/
http://www.offoffoff.com/film/2003/holyland.php
http://www.indiewire.com/movies/movies_030710holy.html
http://www.reelmoviecritic.com/20038q/id2017.htm
http://www.calendarlive.com/cl-et-turan1aug01,0,7716551.story
http://www.ritzfilmbill.com/editorial/synopses/holyland.shtml
http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com/movie-1123889/
http://www.cavupictures.com/
http://www.mikesplacebars.com/
TWO MINUTES FROM FARADIS
Sunday, February 15, 2004, 1:30 pm
Whitaker Lab Auditorium, Lehigh University, Bethlehem
Co-sponsored by the Philip & Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies
Israel, 2002, video, 50 minutes, Hebrew & Arabic w/Eng. subtitles.
Produced by Riki Shelach Productions, Ltd. with the Israeli Cable programming company (Channel 3).
Received the "Banff Rockie Award" for Best Drama 2003 at the Banff festival in Canada.
A very funny satiric look at the Israeli-Arab conflict. A precocious seventeen
year-old Israeli teenage girl from Zichron-Yaakov tries unsuccessfully to rebel
against her ultra-liberal parents. Just as she's about to give up, she meets
the son of the family maid, an Arab hunk who lives two minutes away in the
village of Faradis and discovers a perfect way to get at her parents.
The film takes a fresh and comic look at suspicion and prejudice on both sides.
William's comments: The movies was funny. It was originally shown on Israeli TV.
It was funded a few years ago during a lull in violence.
Due to the economic conditions, it is hard to fund movies.
http://www.iffphila.com/film_festival_Benny,%20Benny%20and%20Two%20minutes%20from%20Faradis.html
http://www.lehigh.edu/~inber/programs.html
AVIV - A F***ED UP GENERATION
Sunday, February 15, 2004, 1:30 pm (after Two Minutes)
Israel, 2002, video, 72 minutes, Hebrew w/Eng. subtitles.
Directed by Tomer Heymann.
Nominated for Best Documentary by the Israeli Film Academy, 2003.
Popular Israeli singer Aviv Geffen swept a nation off its feet while crying out
for a better world, a world devoid of armies and wars, principles of love, and
the freedom to dream and to express weakness, fear and pain using his image as
part of his message. The grandson of Moshe Dyan, Aviv grew up in a liberal
intellectual family, refused to serve in the Army and as the last person to hug
Itzhak Rabin on the night he was assassinated, he has become a spokesperson for
a generation of young Israelis longing for peace.
Some language may be offensive.
William's comments: Ruth Knafo Setton http://www.lehigh.edu/~inber/setton.html
and another woman about her age were panelists in the discussion after the movie.
Both have spent a lot of time in Israel.
Aviv has very enthusiastic fans, but his singing style didn't really do anything for me.
I noticed that most of the fans were teenage girls, although both panelists
said that they liked him. The panelists also commented that the English subtitles
to his songs didn't convey the simplistic poetry of the Hebrew words.
Aviv is recording an album in English with British musician Steven Wilson.
The Israeli population is so small that even a top artist can't earn a living.
An English record will open up a much wider market.
Aviv has tried to find a Palestinian singer for joint performances
but not has found any volunteers. The fact that a singer like Aviv
can lead protests about the government without fear of arrest or
threats by police illustrates the difference between Israel compared
to the surrounding Arab countries.
Israel still has a lot of smokers.
Aviv and other people in the video smoke heavily.
I'm not sure if it is good for singers to smoke.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=8825
http://www.lehigh.edu/~inber/programs.html
http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_04.24.03/film/hotdocs2.html
http://www.poff.ee/teatab.html?op=artikkel&artikkel_id=290
http://www.avivarchive.co.il/
http://www.nomansland.demon.co.uk/BLACKFIELD/BFindex.html
PURITY: Breaking the Codes of Silence (TEHORA)
Sunday, February 22, 2004, 1:30 pm
Lithgow Auditorium, Trumbower Hall, Muhlenberg College, Allentown
Co-sponsored by the Institute for Jewish Christian Understanding
Israel, 2002, video, 63 min., Hebrew, w/Eng. subtitles.
Director Anat Zuria won the Mayor's Award for Best Documentary Film at the Jerusalem International
Film Festival, 2002; the Best Director Award at the Prague One World Film Festival, 2003,
and a Special Prize and Audience Award at the Yamagata International Documentary Festival, 2003.
Identity. Who defines it? How much are you who you say you are, and how much
who others say you are? In traditional Jewish society, an important component
of a woman's identity revolves around the mikveh, the ritual bath, that restore
her to purity after any flow of bodily fluids and after childbirth. For modern
women with a more individualistic sense of identity, the mikveh culture can
represent an intrusion on personal space and power. "Purity" explores these
issues through the experiences of several Israeli women and their families.
William's comments: The movie could have been much shorter.
The preview at http://www.amythosfilms.com/images/videos/Tehora.mpg tells the story in only 30 seconds.
Anat Zuria, the director, has said that she has never met a woman who told her
how much she loved the laws of taharat hamishpacha. In light of her views,
it is not surprising that this documentary follows several women who argue
against the laws and none who support them. Whether you consider this
as a daring feminist rebellion or as yet another attack on Jewish religious practices,
the movie weakens it case by being so one-sided.
http://www.amythosfilms.com/Purity.htm
http://www.jewishmediaresources.com/article/656/
http://www.tzemachdovid.org/amechad/intentions.shtml
http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/newscontent.php3?artid=8644
http://www.wmm.com/Catalog/pages/c612.htm
http://www.iffphila.com/film_festival_Purity.html
http://www.nfct.org.il/movies/Purity_e.htm
http://www.sfjff.org/sfjff23/movies/movie.php?PrgramOrder=03c
http://www.movie-times.net/cgi-local/store/commerce.cgi?product=TEHORA
http://www.nrc.nl/beeld/artikel/1070431875749.html
THE SECRET
Sunday, February 22, 2004, 1:30 pm (after Purity)
Israel, Poland, 2001, video, color, 52 min.
English, Hebrew, Polish, w/Eng. subtitles. Direction: Ronit Kerstner
THE SECRET explores the phenomenon of Catholic Polish citizens who discover
that their parents have kept their true identity from them: they are actually
Jewish. With their Jewishness, repressed and repudiated for decades by their
parents, the children grow up under Communist rule knowing nothing of their
heritage. Through accidental discovery or deathbed confessions their true
identity is revealed. These "new Jews" often find themselves severed from
everything that is familiar. For them, nothing will ever be the same.
Officials estimate an astounding 20,000 cases in Poland alone.
Ronit Krown Kerstner profiles some of them, including determined young men and
women who have formed an organization to learn about Judaism. Most shockingly,
she also interviews a middle-aged priest, who found out he was a Jew at age 35,
twelve years after he had entered the priesthood. Many of these new found-Jews
have also become estranged from their disapproving families after making the
decision to practice Jewish customs and rituals. That's not easy to do in a
country with few Jews and strong vestiges of anti-Semitism. A sad story of troubled
souls who only now are beginning to find themselves and their place in the world.
William's comments: For more on this subject, see notes below from the
movie "FAREWELL TO MY COUNTRY" at #farewell and pictures from my 2003 trip
to Krakow at ../poland/poland.html.
Note how some of the people still use the euphemism "of Jewish descent".
http://www.sfjff.org/sfjff22/programs/program.php?PrgramOrder=10
http://www.jewishfilm.com/jz30.html
MANHOOD
Sunday, February 29, 2004, 1:30 pm
Tompkins Center, Cedar Crest College, Allentown
Co-sponsored by Cedar Crest College
United States, 2003, DVD, color, 82 minutes, English. Directed by Bobby Roth.
Opening Film at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, 2003.
John Ritter's last feature drama.
Bobby Roth's MANHOOD, is a darkly funny, compelling family drama that probes
the depths of Jewish masculinity in America. Jack (Nestor Carbonell) is a
reformed womanizer who is a single parent to his teenage son, Sam.
When his sister Jill (Janeane Garafolo) turns up distraught, on the brink of
separation from her husband Eli (John Ritter), Jack agrees to take her son
Charlie for a month. In accepting this responsibility, he discovers a depth of
emotion that years of skirt chasing did not provide. The teenagers are
initially wary of each other, but shared interests lead to a family bond.
Jill, for the first time steps out of her timid self, but Eli will not let go.
This stylish black comedy peopled by oddball characters asks thorny questions.
How do Jewish men rid themselves of the potent mixture of internalized
anti-Semitism and patriarchal hegemony? How do Jewish boys develop a positive
masculinity that is playful and not hurtful? How do Jewish men show love for
their sons? MANHOOD is a brilliant look at the intersection of sex, love, and
family, and how they shape a man's life.
This film contains some violence, sexual language and situations.
William's comments: The review from the 2003 Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival
says that "director Bobby Roth weaves an impossible tale of comedy,
jealousy and truth", but this movie is actually based on Roth's family
and is dedicated to his sister.
Roth made the movie as a labor of love for only $70,000.
Most of the actors were his friends and did not charge their usual rates.
Roth's son played the role of Nick, Jack's cousin.
The film reflects some of Roth's bitterness, especially relating to women and psychiatrists.
While most of the characters are flawed, Jack's ex-wife and Jack's sister are the worst.
Jack's female therapist and Eli's doctor at the hospital both behave inappropriately.
The review from the 2003 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival says that "'Manhood' an odd,
disappointing choice for fest opener". Some people at the discussion after the movie asked
whether this was an appropriate film for a Jewish film festival.
The director was Jewish, the characters of Jack and Jill are Jewish, Jill works as a secretary at a temple,
Jill tangos with the temple's heimishe rabbi in a daydream, people use a few Yiddish words like "mensch",
and there is a Jewish service, but the Jewish characters are highly assimilated and Judaism does not
play a significant role in their lives. Jack probably goes into a synagogue only for
weddings and funerals, and even then, Jack's ex-wife invites him to a Christmas dinner,
so Jack probably didn't even go to a synagogue for his own wedding. While this is a Jewish film,
I think that a Jewish film festival that could show only a limited number of film could find
movies with stronger Jewish themes.
The film has a number of other themes:
The family relation between Jack's father, Jack, and his son.
The question of whether children inherit the problems of their parents.
Making and breaking links (for example, the way that Jack shuts his son and himself off after the divorce).
Family ties (for example, Jill trusts Jack to take care of her son, and the relationship between her son and
Jack's son).
Menschkeit (comparison of Jack and Eli).
The four men (Jack, Eli, Sam and Charlie) under one roof as different aspects of a single person.
http://www.fliff.com/artman/publish/article_270.shtml
http://www.jewishsf.com/bk030711/etff26a.shtml
http://extras.journalnow.com/permanent/riverrun/rr_premiere.html
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hp&cf=prev&id=1808458750
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/7249956.htm
http://www.movie-times.net/cgi-local/store/commerce.cgi?product=MANHOOD
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Manhood-10002364/reviews.php
http://www.independentfilmsociety.org/film/2002/jackthedog.html
SECRET PASSAGE
Sunday, March 21, 2004, 1:30 pm
Prosser Auditorium, Haupert Union Building (The HUB)
Moravian College, Main Street Campus, Bethlehem
Co-sponsored by Moravian's Office of the President, the Office of
Institutional Diversity and the Chaplin's Office
United Kingdom, 2001, video, 100 min., English.
SECRET PASSAGE is a striking period piece featuring star acting turns by
Katherine Borowitz as Isabel, her real life husband, John Turturro, as Paolo
Zane, Tara Fitzgerald as Clara, and Hannah Taylor Gordon as Clara's daughter,
Victoria. The Inquisition of 1492 forces Jewish sisters Isabel and Clara to flee
Spain for Holland. When Clara's husband is killed helping other Jews escape
the Inquisition, the sisters flee again, this time to Venice. There Isabel
negotiates their final escape with the Turks, who agree to give the family safe
passage to Turkey if Isabel uncovers and hands over the secrets of Venetian
glass-making. To this end, she and Clara infiltrate Venetian society, but
Isabel's plans go awry when the romantic and headstrong Clara falls in love
with a mercenary Venetian nobleman.
William's comments: I missed this film. I had to travel for work ../ameast04/ameast04.html.
http://www.delux.lu/pages/films/secretpassage.html
http://www.palmbeachjewishfilm.org/2003/pb_secretpassage.htm
http://www.filmfund.lu/filmfund.lu/cu/mg/fc/list/00063/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286058/
http://www.liberation.com/cinema/archives/tournages/20011107secret.html
http://www.filmweb.pl/Secret,Passage,film,opis,aa=36221,fbinfo.xml
MOMENTS
Sunday, March 28, 2004, 1:30 pm
Kirby Hall (Department of Govt & Law), Lafayette College, Easton
Co-sponsored by the Lafayette Hillel
Israel, 2002, video, 62 min., Hebrew w/English subtitles.
17 short films, about 3 minutes each.
This is a joint initiative of the New Foundation for Cinema & Television,
the Jerusalem Film Festival and TelAd/Channel.
MOMENTS, a collection of short films by different artists premiered at the 2002
Jerusalem Film Festival. "We felt we had to do something about the situation,
because we filmmakers have no weapons besides our camera, and so it should be ...
The films cover a wide range of genres, techniques and issues. This variety
is a faithful reflection of the sometimes unbearable complexity of our feelings
and interpretations, as Israeli citizens, to [sic] the present reality."
"In the Name of Defensive Shield" by Anat Even;
"Kheira's Smile" by Ariella Azoulay;
"Security Groove" by Idan Alterman;
"Hatikva" by Rafi Bukai;
"Status Quo" by Gur Bentvitch and Nir Miterraso;
"72 Virgins" by Uri Bar-On;
"Crazy" by Uri Barabash;
"The Situation is Tough" by Amos Gitai;
"Mouth of the Abyss" by Oded Davidoff and Shlomit Altman;
"You For A Mother" by Tha'ir Zouabi;
"The Journey" by Eyal Zayid;
"Survival and the Art of the Joystick" by Tsipi Houri;
"Congratulations" by Eyal Halfon;
"3 Minutes To Four" by Eliav Lilti;
"From Now To Now, Excerpt" by David Perlov;
"Longing" by Dina Tsvi Riklis;
"Nira and Sausan - Mothers" by Nira Sherman and Sausan Quoud
William's comments: Many of these shorts show frustration with the current situation in Israel.
http://www.nfct.org.il/movies/Moments_e.htm
http://www.mjff.qc.ca/en/film_details.cfm?filmid=99
YOSSI & JAGGER
Sunday, March 28, 2004, 1:30 pm (after Moments)
Israel, 2002, video, 65 minutes, Hebrew/ English subtitles.
Audience Choice Award for Best Feature at the 2003 Boston Jewish Film Festival.
Best Feature, Torino International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, 2003.
Best Actor, Ohad Knoller, Tribecca Film Festival, 2003.
Yossi (Ohad Knoller), a serious, conservative, young Israeli commander, and the
irresistibly handsome and playful Jagger (Yehuda Levi) are two male soldiers who
carry out their secret love affair amid the heterosexual goings-on of a co-ed
platoon stationed on a remote army base on the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Few directors capture the humor, sexual tension, joy, pain, and capacity for
self-deception of young people in love as well as popular Israeli director Eytan
Fox. Fox skillfully and subtly grounds this true-life romance in the context of
social and political realities and pressures, and without flag-waving or
ideological posturing, tells the story of young people trying to survive and
find happiness in a troubled time and place.
No nudity but sexual language and content.
William's comments: Israel is more liberal than the United States and
allows open gays in the military.
http://www.yossiandjagger.com/
http://www.outuk.com/cgi-bin/llgff/filmdetail.pl?link_ref=1050
http://bangitout.com/tribeca2003/yossi.html
http://www.filmforum.com/films/yossi.html
http://www.reelpride.com/final/d2_yossi.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0334754/combined
http://www.hollywood.com/movies/detail/movie/1708998
http://www.mygayweb.com/feature/?ID=36
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hp&cf=prev&id=1808467156
http://www.chlotrudis.org/movies/reviews/2003/yossi.html
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/YossiJagger-1125740/
http://www.xenixfilm.ch/d/spielfilm/s00060.htm
http://www.schnitt.de/filme/artikel/yossi_und_jagger.shtml
http://www.filmz.de/film_2003/yossi_jagger_eine_liebe_in_gefahr/
http://yachad.israel-live.de/msd/2003/yossi-jagger.htm
http://www.guidasicilia.it/ita/main/news/speciali.jsp?IDNews=8472
Allentown Jewish Community Center's 2003 Film Series
For the official film series web site, see http://www.allentownjcc.org/
NOWHERE IN AFRICA
Sunday, February 3, 2003, 1:30 pm
The 19th Street Theater, 527 N. 19th Street, Allentown
Germany, 2001, 35mm, color, 141 min., German & English w/Eng Subtitles.
Winner of the Mayor's Award in the Category of the Jewish Experience for
Best Feature at the Jerusalem Film Festival, 2002. Winner of five 2002
Golden Lola (German Film) Awards, including best film, director and
cinematography. Written and directed by Caroline Link.
Based on Stefanie Zweig's autobiographical novel and shot on location in
Kenya with superb cinematogrpahy, Nowhere in Africa is a magnificent
big-screen family saga. On the eve of World War II, the German-Jewish
Redlich family flees the Nazis to British-colonized Kenya. Daughter
Regina, the story's narrator, adapts quickly to the hardscrabble life in
this breathtakingly beautiful country, finding a friend in the farm's cook.
Her mother, played by the radiant Juliane Köhler (Aimée & Jaguar),
clings to her bourgeois comforts, but in time shows her true grit.
Regina's beloved father ultimately suffers even more than his wife.
When the war ends, the family, having endured crop failures, the
death of their families in Europe, and marital crises, must finally
choose between their homeland and the country that saved their lives.
William's comments: Beautifully photographed. It reminded me of "Out of Africa".
http://www.nowhereinafrica.com/
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808441964&intl=us
http://www.hollywood.com/movies/detail/movie/1613822
ALL MY LOVED ONES
Sunday, February 9, 2003, 1:30 pm
Prosser Auditorium, Haupert Union Building (The HUB)
Moravian College Main Street Campus, Bethlehem
Co-sponsored by Moravian's Office of the President, the Office of
Institutional Diversity and the Chaplin's Office
Czech Republic/Slovakia/Poland, 2000, video, 91 minutes, Czech w/English
subtitles. Matej Minac, Director. Winner of a Czech Lion Award
for Best Supporting Actor (Jiri Hubac) and Audience Awards at the Pilsen
Film Festival and the Washington Jewish Film Festival, 2000.
Inspired by recollections of the director's mother, a Holocaust
survivor, this film tells the heartbreaking story of the family of
Jewish doctor Jakob Silberstein in 1930's Czechoslovakia. Unfazed by
shifting political winds, Dr. Silberstein moved from Prague to an
idyllic countryside villa with his wife, children and eccentric, amiable
brothers. He naively believed that decency would prevail over any
threat. The Silbersteins enjoyed a normal life until Nazi brutality
intruded. Only then did they come to the wrenching decision to entrust
young David to the care of English stockbroker Nicholas Winton in an
attempt to save at least one Silberstein. Winton did succeed in rescuing
David and more than 600 other Czech children, delivering them safely to
England in the now legendary Kindertransport. Sensitive ensemble
performances make this a moving tragedy with some buoyant human moments.
William's comments: sad and touching
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/AllMyLovedOnes-10001827/reviews.php
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1808419051&cf=info&intl=us
http://www.ajcseattle.org/filmfest/5761/descriptions/allmylovedones.html
http://www.jccstl.org/jff/film-2.html
OCHO CANDELAS
Saturday, February 15, 2003, 7:30 pm
Kirby Hall (Department of Govt & Law), Lafayette College, Easton
Co-sponsored by the Lafayette Hillel
USA, 2002, Doc., video, 70 minutes, English & Spanish w/Eng. Subtitles.
Director: Sandro Halphen. Producer: Ishai Setton.
A story of faith and community, Ocho Candelas follows a group of
Jewish converts living in the beautiful seaport of Veracruz, Mexico, and
explores the emerging face of Judaism in a multi-cultural world. Mixing
Jewish faith and tradition with Mexican beauty and folklore, Ocho
Candelas delicately weaves through the different lives of the Jewish
population of Veracruz. It begins with the story of the Spanish Marranos (Jews
who were converted to Christianity by force) who
migrated to Mexico four centuries ago and takes us to the present day,
looking at the new Jews-by-choice movement in Mexico. The film shows us
a solid community seeing a future with hopeful eyes.
William's comments: Mr. Setton was raised near Allentown,
and this is his first feature length film.
The film is an interesting story about communities that are not widely known about outside of Mexico.
The film focuses on interviews of people in the community of Veracruz.
It might have made its point better with fewer interviews.
The spoken Hebrew does not have an accent. I was always surprised
during my trips to South America that their Hebrew did not have a Spanish accent.
In scenes during services, the people all bring their own prayer books,
and some are home-made from binders.
In the subtitles, the transliteration of Hebrew words (like the holidays)
used Spanish instead of English. Note the use of "J" in the transliterations
where English uses a "Y". The person who did the subtitles was probably
a native Spanish speaker.
The name of the city "Veracruz" means "True Cross", which shows the
Spanish/Catholic influence. Also, one of the Jewish people talked about
"bearing a cross", which again shows the depths of the Catholic influence.
http://www.ochocandelas.com/
http://www.golemproducciones.com/prod/ochocandelas.htm
http://www.anatomyofafight.com/mexico/mexicoprem.htm
ASESINO
Israel/Argentina, 2002, video, 56 minutes, Spanish & Hebrew w/Eng. Subtitles.
Directed by Nurit Kedar, Art of Cinema Award, 2002, and
Grand Prize for Best Script, 2001, Jerusalem Film Festival
On a Sabbath eve in 1978, Marcus Weinstien and his wife Clara were
eating. The door opened suddenly and soldiers entered. One aimed a gun
at Clara's head. "Filthy Jew", they shouted at Marcus, "We know where
your son is, but you'll take us to him". Sarah Ross survived Auschwitz
but lost Daniel, her only son, in Argentina. Ann-Marie and Mario managed
to survive the brutal torture of the Generals' concentration camps.
These are merely some of the thousands who knocked on the doors of the
Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, desperately seeking assistance.
Ignoring their plight, Israel sold weapons and military equipment to the
Junta. 30,000 young people disappeared, including 3,000 Jews. In 1983
the military government in Argentina was overturned; all military
officials involved in torture and murder were given amnesty. But the
mothers of Plaza de Mayo, Jews and non-Jews, still protest and search
for their lost children.
William's comments:
In a few scenes, women wore cards with names of missing people and
walked around a circular monument. The monument is in a square (Plaza de Mayo)
adjacent to the Casa Rosada (which means "Pink House", named because it is pink)
which is the equivalent of the White House. The presidents of Argentina
officially live there, although I think that they try to spend as little
time as possible there. Marching around the monument would be like protesters
in the US marching around the driveway of the White House.
When I was in Buenos Aires, the sidewalk had white stencil outlines of bodies
with names of journalists who had been abducted. Someone asked during the panel discussion
after the film if the government still kidnaps people. At least until the economic
crisis last year, I am pretty sure that it was still doing so.
In the panel discussion after the film, someone else asked if the people of Argentina are anti-semitic.
I never had the feeling that the people were anti-semitic, but I suspect
that many government officials and police are.
The bombings in Buenos Aires of the Israeli Embassy in 1992 and
of the Jewish Community Center in 1994 are still
unsolved. http://www.ict.org.il/spotlight/det.cfm?id=261
I suspect that part of the reason is involvement of police and high officials
in Menem's government. Some people suspect that Menem took a multi-million dollar bribe.
Menem denies the bribe and reminds his accusers that he pushed Argentina to join the American-led
coalition in the 1991 Gulf War. Argentina was the only Latin American country to join the coalition,
and the bombings could have been retribution from an Iranian terrorist group.
In June 2003, newly elected president Nestor Kirchner decided to release
additional previously secret files. http://www.jta.org/story.asp?id=030609-amia
I think that Argentina and neighboring Uruguay are both over 99% catholic.
In Montevideo, Uruguay, the streets were empty on Sunday mornings when
everyone was in church. Montevideo is a lot like Philadelphia, so it would
be like being in Philadelphia at 10 am on a Sunday without a single car
in the street or a person on the sidewalk.
In one scene, people talked about going to Punta Del Este.
It is a vacation city in Uruguay close to Montevideo.
The name means literally "Point of the East" because it is the
eastern most tip of Uruguay. It has a nice beach and a few casinos.
I found that the people were friendly. For example, the sidewalks of the
main streets in Buenos Aires are as crowded with people as New York City,
but it is safe to make eye contact and even talk with strangers as you
walk past. The same thing in New York City would probably start a fight.
Buenos Aires has an area with Jewish psychologists that I think originally
were students of Freud who left German. People make jokes about how
everyone in Buenos Aires has a therapist. There is no stigma in going
to a psychologist or even a Jewish psychologist.
Argentina has a strong European influence. South America has three main populations: the
original Indians, Europeans, and blacks (who were imported as slaves).
Buenos Aires is mostly European. Most of the Europeans are
Spanish, but there are also large numbers of Italians and a few Germans.
Argentina fancies itself a European country rather than a South American
country. A few years ago, Argentina wanted to join NATO. The European
governments had to explain very slowly that the "NA" in NATO stands for
"North Atlantic" and that Argentina is on the South Atlantic.
Argentina considers that the Falkland Islands (which Argentina calls only
by the name "Malvinas") is part of Argentina. They still study all of the
battles from their 1982 war with England. The islands are harsh and
desert-like and support only a few farmers who much prefer British rule
to Argentinian rule.
http://www.jff.org.il/eng-html/asesinoen.htm
http://www.movie-times.net/cgi-local/store/commerce.cgi?product=ASESINO
Pictures of Buenos Aires ../argentina/argentina.html
A TRUMPET IN THE WADI
Sunday, February 23, 2003, 1:30 pm
Whitaker Lab Auditorium, Lehigh University, Bethlehem
Co-sponsored by the Philip & Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies
Israel, 2001, video, 97 minutes, Hebrew & Arabic w/Eng. Subtitles.
Winner of Best Feature Film Award at the Haifa International Film
Festival in 2001 and an Israeli Academy Award for Best Drama.
Respected directors Lina and Slava Chaplin bring Haifa author Sami
Michael's Israeli classic novel to the screen.
This is a touching love story between two outsiders in Israeli society.
Alex is a talented trumpet player and new immigrant from Russia, Huda is
a young beautiful Arab woman from Haifa who speaks Hebrew and is very
much involved in Israeli society. She is attracted to Alex, who lives in
her attic. Huda's family is deeply disturbed by the romance because of
the complicated political situation and their obvious differences. Huda
must make a very difficult decision. Beautifully acted by Khawlha
Hag-Debsy as Huda and Alexander Sederovich as Alex, this graceful,
lovely film shines with an integrity that even the events of the past
year cannot dim.
William's comments: I enjoyed this film as a love story while watching it,
but on second thought, it has some anti-semitic threads. The women comment
that Alex is short and hairy, which reminded me of the Koran, Sura 5:60,
which says that Jews who incur Allah's wrath will be transformed into monkeys.
Alex, a Jewish man, learns Hebrew from Huda, an Arab woman, which is fine in
our society but would be considered degrading in an Arab society.
Alex's parents are silly Jewish caricatures, especially Alex's mother.
Alex's mother does not like the way that the Israeli government is providing
for her, and she does not like Huda until Huda says that she and Alex would
take in her and her husband. For a second time, an Arab helps where Jewish
society has failed.
On the other hand, Mary and her suitors do not portray complimentary
views of Arab society.
http://www.wolfentertainmentguide.com/pub/specialdisplay.asp?record=1725
http://www.jccstl.org/jff/film-7.html
THE GREY ZONE
Sunday, March 2, 2003, 1:30 pm
The Roxy Theater, 2004 Main St., Northampton
USA, 2002, 35mm, 108 minutes, English. Directed by Tim Blake Nelson.
Based on actual events, THE GREY ZONE is the powerful story of
Auschwitz's twelfth Sonderkommando - one of the 'Special Squads' of
Jewish prisoners placed by the Nazis in the excruciating moral dilemma
of helping to exterminate fellow Jews in exchange for a few more months
of life. Written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson, and performed by a
first rate ensemble cast including Steve Buscemi, David Arquette, Harvey
Keitel and Mira Sorvino, this film chronicles the Sonderkommandos'
struggle to organize the only armed revolt ever to take place at
Auschwitz. As the rebellion is about to commence, the men discover a
young girl who has miraculously survived a gassing. They become obsessed
with saving her, even as doing so endangers the uprising which could
save thousands. From inside the working organs of the infamous death
camp, this film looks at the terrible lengths we are willing to go to in
saving our own lives, as well as the sacrifices we will make to save the
lives of others.
William's comments: Director Tim Blake Nelson's parents escaped from Nazi Germany in 1938.
This film is based the first-hand account "Auschwitz: A Doctor's Eyewitness Account"
by Dr. Miklos Nyiszli, a Hungarian Jew who saved his own life by working as chief pathologist
under Josef Mengele.
http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com/movie-1116453/reviews.php
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1807537267
http://www.aboutfilm.com/movies/g/greyzone.htm
http://www.movieforum.com/features/festivals/tiff01/reviews/greyzone.shtml
http://www.auschwitz.dk/Nyiszli.htm
http://endeavor.med.nyu.edu/lit-med/lit-med-db/webdocs/webdescrips/nyiszli807-des-.html
THE FORTUNATE FEW
Sunday, March 9, 2003, 1:30 pm
Kline Auditorium, Allentown Jewish Community Center, 702 N. 22nd St., Allentown
USA, 2002, Doc., video, 11 minutes, English. Written, edited and
directed by Noah Berlow. Mayfair Film Festival, 2002.
Undertaken as a research project for a German history course, this brief
documentary tells the remarkable story of Holocaust survivor Jack Werber,
who survived 5 1/2 years in Buchenwald and saved over 700
children (including Eli Weisel) right under the noses of the Nazis.
William's comments: Mr. Berlow is hoping to make a feature-length movie about Jack Werber.
http://crewvieproductions.com/
http://www.ithaca.edu/students/nberlow1/
Jack Werber's autobiography Saving Children: Diary of a Buchenwald Survivor and Rescuer
is available at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1560002506/stavarnet/002-7913910-7413661
THE ARENA
Israel, 2001, Doc., video, 48 minutes, Hebrew w/English subtitles.
Directors Moish Goldberg and Yonatan Gurfinkel.
This is the story of Kings of Israel Square, now called Rabin Square.
History has been made there. Fights have been fought, protests raged,
celebrations and mourning have all been a part of this historic property.
Many questions arise: Should it be torn down? Used for more
practical purposes? Who uses it? Why have it? History is viewed through
this public venue which comes alive with new emotions, personal stories,
national dramas. This is the place which absorbs and experiences but
cannot speak for itself.
William's comments: The Square encompasses several square blocks of open space
in the middle of otherwise developed Tel Aviv and can accommodate gatherings
of several hundred thousand people. Israel has no other comparable square,
and throughout the world, there are only a handful of comparable squares.
The square is frequently the site of political rallies, from the far left
to the far right. Few other countries in the world, and probably no other
countries in the Middle East, would permit rallies that frequently
protest against the government. Around 2000, the Tel Aviv city council
tried to turn the square into a municipal parking lot.
The video shows the successful effort to preserve the square.
http://www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm/arena.html
http://www.israelfilmfestival.com/film_info/
IT'S ABOUT TIME
Israel, 2001, video, 54 minutes, Hebrew w/English subtitles. A film by
Ayelet Menahemi and Elona Ariel. Wolgin Award for Best Documentary,
Lipper Award for Best Screenplay, Jerusalem Intl. Film Festival 2001.
From the moment of birth, man is timed. For Israelis, time ticks double
speed, pursued by a glorious past, an uncertain future and a dubious
present. This film is about time in a country in which Middle Eastern
time coexists with Western time, where Jewish time rubs shoulders with
secular time. A country in which the ticking of uncertainty threatens
adults and challenges youth. This is a very human story about people
wondering if they have used time to its fullest, or if they could have
done it any other way. Do you have time to see this film?
William's comments: This film shows the conflicts between the slow
pace of Eastern time and the fast pace of Western time and the contrast
of several thousand years of Jewish presence in Israel and the relatively
short fifty years of existence of Israel as a state.
The film has lighter scenes with a stand-up comic talking about time
and with an Israeli couple that compares the Greek husband's Eastern
view of time with his German wife's Western view of time.
The film has periodic cuts where a person tells you how much time is left.
It saved me from looking at my watch as often.
The film is in color. Just the picture above happened to be black and white.
The last few minutes of the film show how everything in Israel comes to a stop
during the sounding of the siren on Holocaust
Remembrance Day. http://www.geocities.com/bnirenberg/yomhashoa.html
and http://www.torah.org/features/secondlook/newoldantisem.html
and http://www.israel-embassy.org.uk/web/pages/holocday.htm
http://www.karunafilms.com/Time/Synopsis.htm
http://www.isratim2003.com/english/docu_zmani.php
http://www.movie-times.net/cgi-local/store/commerce.cgi?product=IT'S
FAREWELL TO MY COUNTRY
Saturday, March 22, 2003, 7:30 pm
Moyer Hall, Muhlenberg College, Allentown
USA, 2002, Doc., video, 99 minutes, English & Polish w/English subtitles.
Written, produced & directed by Andrzej Krakowski; interviews featured
include Bronek Drozdowicz of Fogelsville.
Both will be with us for our post-screening panel discussion.
In 1968 Poland expelled the last remaining Jews from what once used to
be the largest Jewish settlement in the world, effectively ending an
over one thousand-year history. FAREWELL TO MY COUNTRY tells the stories
of some of the last to leave, including the director's father. Even
though it is a highly personal account of the last Jewish emigration
from Poland, which took place some 35 years ago, this film is really
about any emigration, anywhere in the world. It is about the pain of
being singled out as a minority and being a target of overpowering
government oppression. What happened in Poland in 1968 is still
happening around the world today; as long as intolerance exists,
it will never cease.
William's comments: The film shows recent interviews in English with
a few short archival news clips in Polish from the 1960's. The stories are true,
but some of the people on film are actors because the actual person was not fluent
enough in English or could not come to the filming. Andrzej, Bronek, and the lady
who played Sabina were panelists in the discussion after the movie.
The lady who played Sabina knew her in Warsaw. All three of the panelists had taken
part in the March 8, 1968, student protest. The three panelists and about a half-dozen
people in the audience had left Poland in 1968.
The panelists had only a slight European accent, but as in Polish, they did
not voice final consonants in words.
The Islamic conquest of southern Europe, the Crusades, and especially the Inquisition
pushed the Jewish population north from the Mediterranean through Europe so that by
the 19th century, Poland had a large Jewish population. http://www.heritagefilms.com/POLAND.html
In 1900, Warsaw was one-third Jewish, some cities were over half Jewish,
and a small number were almost entirely Jewish.
Some details of Jewish settlements are at http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Poland.html
In the 1940's before the start of the war, Poland had about 3.5 million Jews.
The Nazis exterminated about 99% of the Jews in Poland during the war.
Most of the survivors lived in areas of Poland under Soviet control.
Many of the survivors emigrated during anti-semitic campaigns in 1945-1948, 1956-1957,
and 1968. http://www.3bh.org.uk/IV/main/IV%20Archive/IV341/IV341%2015.htm
By the end of 1968, Poland had issued about 30,000 emigration documents
revoked the citizenship of another 15,000.
Only 3,000 Jews, less than 10% of the survivors of the war, remain in Poland.
During that time, people were categorized, not as "Jewish" but "of Jewish descent".
Many emigrated to Israel, and there are now more Poles in Israel than Jews in Poland.
The number of Jews in Poland is uncertain because some Jews tried to hide their identity
and only tell their children that they are Jewish during deathbed confessions.
Poland has a hotline for people to call with information about what to do if you
suddenly discover that you are Jewish.
In the late 1940's, Poland became a Soviet satellite and adopted a series of
anti-Semitic measures. Some of the tension eased after Stalin's death in 1953,
but it resumed under Gomulka in 1956. http://www.heritagefilms.com/POLAND3.htm
The anti-Semitic campaign began growing after the Six-Day War in 1967.
The state-run Polish news broadcast how the Egyptian army was overrunning Israel during
the span of a few days, then was silent for a day, and then broadcast how Israel had won.
Poland viewed it as a conflict by proxy between the US and the Soviets rather than
as a Jewish conflict, but it strengthened the push to make Poland a homogeneous country
with no minorities.
On March 8, 1968, the Polish government blocked a student play on the grounds
that it might offend the Soviets, even though the play had been around for years.
Polish police violently broke-up pro-democratic student protests about the play.
The three panelists for the discussion were at the protest.
The Polish news call the protesters Zionists and placed a picture of Sabina,
a Jewish ballet student at the protest, on the front page of the newspaper.
Anti-semitism increased. Many Jews lost their jobs, and Jewish students on
academic deferrals lost their positions and were drafted into the army.
Andrzej, the producer of the film, was a film student in Hollywood at the time.
The Polish government revoked his citizenship. Andrzej said that being exiled
to Hollywood was better than being exiled to Siberia. The Polish government
recently decided that they way that it revoked citizenships in 1968 was not legal,
and people who left or had their citizenship revoked might be able to get it back.
Poland recently presented Andrzej with a Polish passport while he was making a
film in Poland, mainly so that they could advertise it as a Polish film.
Andrzej said that he has no plans to use the passport.
If Poland decides to restore all revoked citizenships, people living in countries
that do not permit dual citizenships could have problems.
In 1968, people who emigrated with documents received a paper that stated, in three language,
that that person was not a citizen of Poland. The document was good for only 24 hours.
Bronek compared it to a note from an insane asylum declaring that you were sane.
Bronek left Poland in 1968, traveled through Europe, and then moved to Brazil where he had some relatives.
He then went to the US to study in Ithaca, and after a few moves, ended up in Pennsylvania.
The expulsion of Jews from Poland in 1968 was in the news in the US,
but the US was more focused on Vietman.
The person in the film who was a poet and chose to remain in Poland ran for
President of Poland a few years ago.
I have pictures and Polish history from a 2003 trip to Krakow at ../poland/poland.html.
http://www.laemmle.com/series/jewdocs/farewell.html
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/FarewelltoMyCountry-10002232/reviews.php
GOD IS GREAT, I'M NOT
Saturday, March 29, 2003, 7:30 pm
Tompkins Center, Cedar Crest College, Allentown
France, 2000, video, 95 minutes, French w/English subtitles.
As the sparklingly expressive star of the Oscar-nominated AMÉLIE,
Audrey Tautou won the hearts of audiences around the world. She's back, with
another charming performance in a very contemporary romantic comedy that
reaches across cultural boundaries, as Michèle, a high-strung Parisian
supermodel who falls in love with François, a Jewish veterinarian.
Their improbable relationship turns into a series of hilarious and ironic
situations when she decides, despite François' protests, to convert to
Judaism and teach him about his religion. A son of Holocaust survivors
living in Israel, François doesn't need reminders that he's Jewish.
With a remarkably light touch, director Pascale Bailly explores Jewish
identity and interfaith coupling by deftly converting her characters'
differences and eccentricities into a stream of lighthearted social
satire that makes us laugh out loud. Brief nudity and sexual content.
William's comments: After the film, we debated whether it was
a comic love story that happened to have Judaism and conversion as backdrops
or a story about conversions lightened by a comic love story.
I think that it was primarily a comic love story.
It had some funny scenes and was one of the funniest movies in the series.
I did not find François an appealing character.
He starts arguments with Michèle in just about every scene where they are together.
François is not religious. He says that does not believe in anything.
He is Jewish only because he was born to Jewish parents.
The movie makes him seem silly when he does not allow Michèle to place
a mezzuzah on his door and when he is sensitive to anti-semitic terms,
but France has enough anti-semitism that his concerns could be legitimately justified.
The film also contrasts Michèle's seeking for faith with
François's lack of faith.
Michèle's seeking could be a sign that she has no faith, either.
She explores various faiths by going through the superficial motions without gaining any deep understandings.
Taking conversion classes for Judaism is the closest that she comes to making a spiritual connection,
and the film is not clear whether she stops taking the classes after she breaks up with François.
The ending of the film leaves open whether Michèle converts and
whether François and Michèle get back together.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/GodIsGreatImNot-1113265/reviews.php
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1807865775
http://www.jccstl.org/jff/film-1.html
Allentown Jewish Community Center's 2002 Film Series
The information below is from the JCC's 2002 flyer filmseries2002.doc
TIME OF FAVOR
Sunday, February 3, 2002, 1:30 pm
The 19th St Theater, 527 N. 19th St, Allentown
TIME OF FAVOR
Israel, 2000, 35mm, color, 100 min, Hebrew w/English subtitles.
Director: Joseph Cedar.
Winner of six Israeli Academy Awards including Best Picture.
Time of Favor is a timely, gripping thriller.
Pini, a brilliant, young settler, takes the teachings of his
charismatic rabbi literally, and masterminds a violent plan to assume
Jewish control of the Temple Mount by blowing up the Dome of the Rock mosque.
Menachem is Pini's best friend and rival for the rabbi's daughter, Michal,
whose father has planned for her to marry Pini.
Menachem is an army officer in the Hesder Yeshiva program, which combines
yeshiva studies with service in a combat unit.
When he discovers Pini's plot, Menachem's allegiances are put to the test.
William's comments: A thriller, as the synopsis says.
For more information about the film see http://www.civictheatre.com/film/films/timeoffavor.html
For a review from City Pages see http://www.citypages.com/filmreviews/detail.asp?MID=3039
For a review from Kino International see http://www.kino.com/timeoffavor/
For a review from Upcoming Movies see http://www.upcomingmovies.com/time-of-favor.html
Welcoming remarks from guest panelist Rachel Feinmesser of the Israeli Consulate in Philadelphia.
I'M ALIVE AND I LOVE YOU
Sunday, February 10, 2002, 1:30 pm
The Roxy Theater, 2004 Main St, Northampton
I'M ALIVE AND I LOVE YOU
France, 1998, 35mm, 95 min, French w/English subtitles.
Director: Roger Kahane.
Winner of five Audience Awards including Cannes, 1998.
It's March 1944 in occupied France.
Julien, a railroad worker, checks the axle-bearings underneath a sealed
boxcar filled with Jews bound for the death camps.
He finds a scrap of paper with an address and a
few words in it: "I'm alive and I love you. Sarah."
The address on the message eventually leads Julien to Sarah's
four-year-old son, who escaped the Nazi raids that claimed first
his mother and then his grandparents.
Jérôme Deschamps gives a quietly remarkable performance
as the railway worker who through his growing attachment to
the little boy becomes involved with the French Resistance.
A gentle, heart-warming testament to the power of live and
morality. I'm Alive and I Love You is based on a true story.
For a review from the Miami New Times
see http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2000-12-07/film.html/1/index.html
For a synopsis from the Palm Beach Film Festival 2000
see http://www.palmbeachjewishfilm.org/2000/pb_IM%20ALIVE.htm
TREMBLING BEFORE G-D
Saturday, February 16, 2002, 7:30 pm
Moyer Hall, Muhlenberg College, Allentown
TREMBLING BEFORE G-D
Israel, United States, 2000, documentary, video, color, 94 min,
English, Hebrew, Yiddish w/English subtitles.
Director: Sandi Simcha Dubowski
2001 Sundance Film Festival; 2001 Berlin Film Festival;
Teddy Award, Best Documentary;
The Mayor's Prize for the Jewish Experience at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
"A man who lies with a man as one lies with a woman,
they have both done an abomination; they shall be put to
death, their blood is on them." Leviticus 10:13
Director Sandi Simcha Dubowski's taboo-shattering,
award winning film is a measured and powerful documentary that,
for the first time, brings to light the subject of homosexuality
within the Orthodox Jewish community.
Built around intimately told personal stories of Hasidic and Orthodox Jews
who are gay or lesbian, the film portrays a group of people who face a
profound dilemma - how to reconcile their passionate love of Judaism
and the Divine with the clear-cut Biblical prohibition that
forbids homosexuality. Trembling Before G-d strikes
at the very essence of religious identity and tradition in a
modern world. What emerges is a loving and fearless testament
to faith and an affirmation of the universal struggle to belong.
Panelists include special guest Scott Fried, a Jewish educator who
travels throughout the US and Israel lecturing on the topics of
HIV, tikkun olam (repairing the world through social action),
G-d, homosexuality, and the value of every person.
Scott is a gay man who is friendly with many of those
who are interviewed in this documentary.
This film's web site is http://www.tremblingbeforeg-d.com
For a review from http://www.aish.com see http://www.aish.com/societyWork/arts/Trembling_Before_G-d.asp
For reviews from Rotten Tomatoes see http://www.rottentomatoes.com/movie-1110904/
For a Jan 28, 2002, interview with director Sandi Dubowski on NPR's FreshAir
see http://freshair.npr.org/dayFA.cfm?todayDate=28-Jan-2002
FINBAR LEBOWITZ
Sunday, February 24, 7:30 pm
Whitaker Lab Auditorium, Lehigh University, Bethlehem
Cosponsored by the Philip and Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies http://www.lehigh.edu/~inber/programs.html
The panel discussion after the films will include
Rabbi Jonathan Gerard of Temple Covenant of Peace http://uahc.org/congs/pa/pa010/ ,
and Dr. Ruth Knafo Setton http://www.cc.lehigh.edu/~inber/setton.html , of the Berman Center.
Refreshments will follow.
FINBAR LEBOWITZ
USA, 2000, video, 25 min, English
Director: Roma Mark; Producer: Jennifer Smith
Winner, Best Comedy and Best Producer at the Polo Ralph Lauren
Columbia University Film Festival, 2000.
Finbar O'Leary is 17 years old, gawky, and the 'head' of his dysfunctional,
fatherless family. He's also in love with an "older, intellectual" woman.
The problem is that she's Jewish.
In this funny, short, sweet film, Finbar decides to do something with the
girl of his dreams.
William's comments: As the synopsis says, it is short and funny.
For a synopsis from the Irish Reels Film Festival 2001
see http://www.911media.org/events/irishreels/programwed.html#finbar
For a review from Scott's Movies see http://www.scottsmovies.com/shorts01i.html
For a synopsis from the Palm Beach Film Festival 2000
see http://www.palmbeachjewishfilm.org/2000/pb_PACKING.htm
WOULD I LIE TO YOU?
France, 1997, video, 96 min, French w/English subtitles.
Director: Thomas Gilou
Nominated, Cesar Award 1998 (France's National Film Awards);
one of France's highest grossing films in 1997.
We laughed so much that we brought it back!
A box-office smash in in France, this romantic comedy is set in the
North African-Jewish "schmate" (garment) district in Paris.
In a Cinderella story of mistaken identity, Eddy Vuibert (played by
Richard Anconina) is a down-and-out gentile.
When the observant North Africans who take him in discover he
knows nothing about Judaism, they assume his lack of knowledge
is because he's Ashkenazi (Eastern European-Jewish).
Suddenly, Eddie finds himself employed, surrounded by "family"
and in love with the boss' daughter.
A hilarious and ribald tale with outstanding local color.
If you are in need of some comic relief, don't miss this light-hearted tale!
Brief nudity and sexual content.
William's comments: This film is like a Jewish garment worker's version of the Godfather.
A few people walked out during the showing due to the sexual content.
This film's web site (in French but with pictures and a sound clip) is http://www.laverite-lefilm.com
For a synopsis from the Cinemania Film Festival see http://www.cinemaniafilmfestival.com/page.asp?intNodeID=3524
JIHAD FOR KIDS
PROMISES
Sunday, March 3, 2002, 1:30 pm
Kirby Hall (Dept. of Govt. & Law), Room 104, Lafayette College, Easton
Seating limited to 134
A brief panel discussion led by Dr. Ilan Peleg http://www.rrc.edu/faculty/peleg.htm ,
and refreshments, will follow.
JIHAD FOR KIDS
Israel, 1998, documentary, video, 7 min,
Hebrew w/English subtitles
Produced by Peace for Generations
In actual footage from children's programming taped in
1998 from Palestinian television, we see and hear what
Palestinian children are being taught.
For a synopsis from Das Junge Jüdische Web in Deutschland (in German but with a picture and a link
to an English version of the script) see http://www.jjwd.de/special/jihad/jihad4kids.htm
For an article from The New York Post see http://www.matckh.org/articles/Jihad_for_kids_on_PLO-TV.htm
For an article from WorldNet Daily see http://memri.org/news/worldnetdaily1.html
For an article from WTVT FOX 13 see http://www.wtvt.com/investreptr/jihad.html
For a video from Arutz Sheva http://www.israelnationalnews.com/
see http://www.israelnationalnews.com/english/video/Gallery/fGallery.htm
PROMISES
United States, Israel, PA, 2001, video, color, 106 min,
documentary, Arabic, English, Hebrew w/English subtitles
Direction: B. Z. Goldberg, Justine Shapiro, Carlos Bolad
Jerusalem Film Festival, Audience Awards;
Golden Gate Award, 2001, San Francisco International Film Festival.
The award-winning Promises documents the lives of seven
Israeli and Palestinian children who live within a 20-minute radius
of one another during a period of relative calm from 1997 to 2000.
Through first hand interviews these highly articulate and endearingly
honest children aged between 11 and 13 tell their stories of growing up
amid conflict and violence. With the need for dialogue more critical
than ever, the story veers in a surprising direction when several
Jewish and Arab children come together. It is in the poignant segment
that the film truly lives up to its title.
This film's web site is http://promisesproject.org
This film's distributor is Cowboy Pictures http://www.cowboypictures.com/
For reviews and comments from offoffoff see http://www.offoffoff.com/film/2001/promises.php3
LAFAYETTE HILLEL INVITES YOU TO BRUNCH!
Prior to the Sunday screening, the Lafayette Hillel invites those attending to
come as their guests to a Bagel Brunch at 12:00 noon at the Lafayette Hillel
House, 524 Clinton Terrace, Lafayette College campus, Easton.
Non-students are asked to call the Hillel House for directions and to reserve
by Friday, March 1st, 1:00pm: 610-252-0984.
PACKING FOR TWO
AUTUMN SUN
Saturday, March 9, 2002, 7:30 pm
Tompkins Center, Cedar Crest College, Allentown
PACKING FOR TWO
USA, 1999, English, video, 12 min
Grand prize, Angelus Award for Filmmaking Excellence;
Audience Award, Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival.
A widow packs for a trip to Florida with a little help
from her husband in this touching and comic short.
For a synopsis from Atom Films see http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/content/atom_512
For a synopsis from the Palm Beach Film Festival 2000
see http://www.palmbeachjewishfilm.org/2000/pb_PACKING.htm
AUTUMN SUN
Argentina, 1996, video, 103 min, Spanish w/English subtitles
Winner of 5 Silver Condor Awards in 1997 including
Best Film, Best Actor and Actress, and Cinematography from the
Argentinian Film Critics Awards.
Autumn Sun is a tender love story set in Buenos Aires.
Clara Goldstein is a lovely, middle-aged Jewish woman
comfortable with her own solitude.
Due to an impending visit from her American brother,
Clara feels compelled to feign a relationship with a Jewish man
to appease her family.
When the man who answers her ad in the personals turns out to
be Gentile, she initiates a crash course in Judaism,
and unintentionally sets in motion a surprisingly
meaningful relationship,
This beautiful, humorous film brings us a heartfelt
story of two mature people, taking a chance at a meaningful
relationship in the autumn of their lives.
Brief sexual content.
For a review from the Austin Chronicle see http://www.austinchronicle.com/film/pages/movies/58.html
For a synopsis from the 4th Annual Seattle Jewish Film Festival
see http://www.ajcseattle.org/filmfest/film_description/autumn_sun.htm
ONE DAY CROSSING
SOBIBOR, OCTOBER 14, 1943, 4 P.M.
Saturday, March 16, 2002, 7:30 pm
Kirby Hall (Dept. of Govt. & Law), Room 104, Lafayette College, Easton
Seating limited to 134
A short panel discussion with Dr. Peter Pettit,
Director of the Institute for Jewish Christian Understanding http://www.muhlenberg.edu/cultural/ijcu/ ,
and Dr. Bob Weiner, Lafayette, and refreshments will follow.
ONE DAY CROSSING
USA, 2000, video, 25 min, Hungarian w/English subtitles
Director: Joe Stein; Starring Erika Marozsan
Nominated for an Academy Award, Best Short Feature, 2001
In the middle of the Holocaust, a young Jewish Hungarian woman,
posing as a Christian, tries to save her family from the Nazis.
A powerful beautifully photographed and acted film about one
parent's sense of honor, another's sense of protectiveness,
switched identities, and survival.
William's comments: This film shows what it was like in Budapest
the day that the Nazis took over. The filmmaker had a relative in Budapest
who was not able to save her child.
This film's web site is http://www.onedaycrossing.com
For a synopsis from the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival 2001
see http://www.hrw.org/iff/ny/oneday.html
For a transcribed chat from March 27, 2001, with the director and screenwriter after their nomination
for Academy Awards see http://chat.yahoo.com/c/events/transcripts/special/032101crossing.html
For pictures of Budapest, see ../austria/budapest/budapest.html
SOBIBOR, OCTOBER 14, 1943, 4 P.M.
France, 2001, documentary, video, 95 min, Hebrew and French w/English subtitles
Director: Claude Lanzmann
The title notes the place of the only successful uprising in
a Nazi extermination camp. This latest documentary by Claude Lanzmann,
the acclaimed director of Shoah (1985), artfully merges the
Warsaw and Minsk of today with an extraordinary 1979 interview with survivor Yehuda Lerner.
Taken from the Warsaw ghetto at 16, he escaped from eight different camps over the
course of six months, only to be one of the 250,000 people sent to the death camp Sobibor.
Lerner describes how he and his fellow inmates planned and carried out an
uprising whose success depended on German punctuality.
This remarkable film is a tribute to those who died at Sobibor, as well as to
those who survived.
William's comments: Mr. Lerner has an incredible amount of luck and chutzpah
to have escaped eight from death camps eight times and then to have talked his way out
of being immediately killed when he was recaptured.
The film ends with a long list of shipments of people taken to the Sobibor death camp.
For a review from offoffoff see http://www.offoffoff.com/film/2001/sobibor.php3
For a synopsis from Upcoming Movies see http://www.upcomingmovies.com/sobibor.html
THE LAST ENEMY
Thursday, April 11, 2002, 7:00 pm
Whitaker Lab Auditorium, Lehigh University, Bethlehem
Sponsored at NO CHARGE by the Philip & Murial Berman Center for Jewish Studies http://www.lehigh.edu/~inber/programs.html
THE LAST ENEMY
Israel/England, 1999, documentary, video, 58 min,
Hebrew, Arabic, English
Director: Nitzan Gilady
Audience Award, 1999 Leipzig Documentary & Animation Film Festival
A short panel discussion with playwright Jim Morrione will follow the film.
Three Palestinians, three Israelis, two Jordanians and one
Israeli-Arab together on one theater stage?
In this film, we follow the making of The Last Enemy,
American playwright Jim Morrione's new play, based on the conflict
in the Middle East.
The main purpose was to bring actors from the different countries together
in an intense working process and create a tight union during rehearsals.
Old and new problems occur both on and off stage, but the context
of the play brings it out of the "reality" of the region and
into the staged "fiction," capturing the essence and the
subtleties of the Middle East conflict.
William's comments: I think that the playwright meant well,
and telling his story in a movie makes him feel good,
but the snippets of the play captured in the movie had the sophistication
of a grade school class play, and even if the actual play as a whole was better,
I doubt that it had any effect on resolving the larger conflict.
For a review from the 10th Oslo International Film Festival from November, 2000,
see http://www.pluto.no/filmfestival/oiff2000/english/program/last_enemy.html
For a synopsis from artechock (in German and English)
see http://www.artechock.de/arte/text/filminfo/l/la/laenem.htm
Last year's series was recognized with the Tri-State Jewish Community Center Association's Best Program/Model of Professional Excellence Award in May, 2001.
Once again the JCC's Film Committee has sought out the best of the films currently featured in the major Jewish Film Festivals throughout the world - films that you would not otherwise have an opportunity to see. The Committee hopes you will find them engaging, entertaining and thought-provoking. Enjoy the films!
Shalom,
The JCC Film Series Committee:
Steve Fogel (Chair)
Dr. Ruth Knafo Setton http://www.cc.lehigh.edu/~inber/setton.html
Sam Smith
Sarina Berlow (Director of Adult Programming & Jewish & Israeli Film Series)
Allentown Jewish Community Center's 2001 Film Series
EGOZ
Saturday, February 3, 2001, 7:30 pm
Whitaker Lab Auditorium at Lehigh University in south Bethlehem.
Israel, 1999, video, 120 min, Hebrew w/English subtitles.
Inspired by the true story of the "Egoz," an illegal
immigrant ship carrying Jews from Morocco to Israel,
this film depicts a Jewish family in Casablanca in the
early 1960's. As political tensions mount, tough
decisions must be faced as the family is torn in
three directions - France, Israel and Morocco.
Sensitive direction and beautiful cinematography
by acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Eli Cohen.
William's comments: You travel along with the group through
the desert and on the sea.
http://www.lfjcc.org/egoz.html
INTO THE ARMS OF STRANGERS
Sunday, February 11, 2001, 1:30 pm
Roxy Theater, Northampton
USA/UK, 122 min, 35 mm, English
Written and directed by Mark Jonathan Harris.
Narrated by Judi Dench.
It is one of World War II's least known stories: in 1938
and 1939, the Nazis permitted some 10,000 Jewish children
and adolescents to escape to England. This extraordinary
documentary gives coherent voice to those who endured this
remarkable experience. The tragic horror of the holocaust is
brought home to us on a human scale from the vantage
point of children. One viewer wrote, "No other holocaust
documentary has had a greater impact on me. As a grownup
'child' and now as a mother, I will think about this film for
a very long time to come."
http://www2.warnerbros.com/intothearmsofstrangers/
http://movieweb.com/movie/intothearms/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/IntotheArmsofStrangersStoriesoftheKindertransport-1100106/
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hp&cf=prev&id=1808404554
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?PID=1975287&frm=sh_google
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?isbn=158234101X
MR. MANI
Saturday, February 24, 2001, 7:30 pm (parts 1&2)
Sunday, February 25, 2001, 1:15 pm (parts 3, 4 & 5)
Kirby Hall, Lafayette College, Easton
Mr. Mani by A.B.Yehoshua is a series of five segments, each
tracing a slice of the Mani family. It begins in 1982 Israel
with a conversation between a young, unwed pregnant girl and
her mother. What is fascinating is Yehoshua presents
the tale as a directly quoted conversation, revealing only
the comments of the daughter. By leaving out the role of
the mother, the reader in essence assumes that position
as the daughter talks directly to them as if we were her mother.
http://www.america.net/~boo/html/mr._mani.html
http://www.babelguides.com/view/work/17099
http://www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap0702/sacrifice.htm
WOULD I LIE TO YOU
Sunday, March 4, 2001, 1:30 pm
Cinema Paradiso, Easton
See the synopsis in the 2002 film series listing filmseries2002.html#wouldilie.
COCKFIGHT
Sunday, March 18, 2001, 1:30 pm
Empie Theater, Baker Center, Muhlenberg College, Allentown
Israel, 2000, 13.5 minutes, Hebrew w/English subtitles, directed by Sigalit Liphshitz,
distributed by Sam Spiegel Film and TV School
Jerusalem 4 Yad Harutzim St. P.O.B. 10836 Jerusalem, 91103 ISRAEL Tel: 972-2-6731-950 Fax: 972-2-6731-949
Honorable mention for short films in the Wolgin Awards for Israeli Cinema.
On a hot summer day, an Israeli Jewish chicken breeder and
a Romanian guest worker is driving his livestock to market.
He arrives at a Palestinian Authority roadblock.
As the farmer, Marziano, attempts to get through, he confronts Nabil,
the PA Commander in Charge, a former employee of the chicken breeder, Marziano.
William's comments: I felt sorry for the chickens.
http://www.reel-il.de/il_html/film_cockfight.shtml
http://www.palmbeachjewishfilm.org/2000/pb_ALLERD.htm
http://www.jewishfilm.com/jz21.html
AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED
Israel, 1999, 50 minutes, Video, Hebrew w/English subtitles,
distributed by Cinema Factory in Tel Aviv
Assaf Dayan stars in Ayelet Bargur's powerful dramatic study of
an Israeli family in crisis. It is Sunday morning. Like most
Israeli soldiers on leave, Lt. Ziv Gonen is returning to his
army base. His father drops him off near the bus stop where
he is to catch a ride to the base. Minutes later, a terrorist
bomb explodes at the bus stop. The family agonizingly waits to
hear from Ziv. Will they ever see Ziv again?
William's comments: A day in the life of a soldier's family.
http://www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm/asifnothing.html
http://www.palmbeachjewishfilm.org/1999/pb_ASIFNOTHING.htm
GLOOMY SUNDAY
Sunday, March 25, 2001, 1:30 pm
Roxy Theater, Northampton
Germany, 112 min, 35 mm, English subtitles,
by Rolf Schübel with Joachim Król and Ben Becker
Honorable Mention for the Mayor's Award in the Category of
the Jewish Experience at the 2000 Jerusalem Film Festival.
Restaurant Szabo in contemporary Budapest: Hans, an elegant
old German celebrating his 80th birthday, collapses and
dies at the sounds of an old song played in his honor.
Flash back to the late 1930's, and the same Hans is a
regular at the restaurant of the Jew Laszlo Szabo and
his lover Ilona. The restaurant is a symbol of Laszlo's
harmonious life. This perfection is not even marred when
Ilona falls in love with Andras, the restaurant's new
piano player. This highly charged dramatic romance
conjures both an intensely personal and political tale.
http://www.german-cinema.de/magazine/1998/01/prodreport/2-produkt_E.html
http://www.xs4all.nl/~josvg/cits/sb/sb911film.html
http://www.kinoweb.de/film99/GloomySunday/film01.html
http://www.wdr.de/tv/kulturweltspiegel/19991003/6.html
KIPPUR
Sunday, March 31, 2001, 7:30 pm
Tompkins Center, Cedar Crest College
Israel, 2000, 35mm, 117 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles.
Official Selection, Cannes and Telluride Film Festivals in 2000.
This powerful film, directed by Amos Gitai (Kadosh, 1999)
is a searing, autobiographical chronicle of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
http://www.fredcamper.com/Film/Gitai.html
http://www.frenchculture.org/cinema/releases/gitai-kippur.html
http://www.filmfestivals.com/cannes_2000/official/kippurus.htm
http://www2.indiewire.com/people/int_Gitai_Amos_001004.html
CONTEMPORARY TRENDS IN ISRAELI CINEMA
Sunday, April 1, 2001, 1:30 pm
Moyer Hall, Muhlenberg College, Allentown
Contemporary Trends in Israeli Cinema is a film program with Amy Kronish,
illustrated with film clips, including the short film "Second Watch".
Amy Kronish is the former Curator of Jewish and Israeli Film at
the Jerusalem Cinematheque-Israel Film Archive and also a noted
author and commentator on Jewish and Israeli film.
http://www.artfilm.sk/news99/kronish.html
http://www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm/scndwtch.html
KING OF THE JEWS
Wednesday, April 18, 2001, 7:00 pm
Kirby Hall, Lafayette College
USA, 2000, 16mm, 18 min, English
Filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt puts found footage to brilliant use in this
visually arresting 18-minute short. A childhood trip to Radio City
to see "King of Kings" and a young Jewish boy's shock at learning that
Jesus was a Jew inspired this meditation on Jesus Christ and spiritual
transcendence that recounts the historical origins of Christian anti-Semitism.
William's comments: It is like learning about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.
http://www.Jayrosenblattfilms.com/king.html
http://www.palmbeachjewishfilm.org/2000/pb_ALLERD.htm
http://www.jewishfilm.com/jz19.html#Kingofthejews
AMERICAN LIVES: JEWISH STORIES
USA, 2000, Video, 47 min, English, directed by Michelle Brafman-Helf,
distributed by Ventana Productions 202-261-2465
Three intimate narratives focus on the challenges and joys of
being Jewish in America. At a Jewish summer camp in Wisconsin,
three teens contrast their diverse Jewish lives with this
"unique community in the woods." A young Boston woman expresses
the tension she feels between her solid Jewish upbringing and her
love for a Catholic man. Finally, a Baltimore mother recounts
her journey back to Judaism and her quest to integrate her
secular and spiritual lives.
William's comments: A lot of interviews.
http://www.jewishfilm.com/jz19.html#Americanlives
TIMBRELS & TORAHS
USA, 2000, Video, 30 min, English, directed by Judy Montell and Miriam Chaya
Celebrating aging in a youth-obsessed culture, this film
introduces "Simchat Hochmah" or "Celebration of Wisdom,"
a new rite of passage ceremony for Jewish women making
the transition from mid-life to their elder years.
Weaving imagery of the ritual and personal stories, three
remarkable women take the viewer through the steps of this
ritual and its impact upon their lives and communities.
William's comments: People considering the Simchat Hochmah would enjoy this film.
http://www.timbrelsandtorahs.com/
http://www.jewishsf.com/bk001027/ebtimbrel.shtml
http://www.sfjff.org/cgi-bin/sfjff_resource.pl?titleID=1234
http://williambader.com -
Revised May 13, 2008 02:01:12 AM.
