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These are the films that played during the 14th Annual Vancouver Jewish Film Festival. They are listed in alphabetical order.
A Bomb in the Basement - Israel's Nuclear Option
Northwest Premiere
Documentary, Israel, 2001, video, 79 minutes
Director: Michael Karpin
Hebrew, French w/English subtitles
A Bomb in the Basement is the first documentary film to tell the story of the development of the Israeli nuclear option. It focuses on the cooperation between France and Israel to build an Israeli nuclear option, and the American administrations unsuccessful attempts to stop Israel from building the bomb. The nuclear project was the most complex, costly and secret ever carried out by Israel. Israels creator, David Ben-Gurion, first began to contemplate Israels ultimate deterrent in the early years of statehood. The lessons of the Holocaust and fears for Israels survival persuaded Ben- Gurion that the state must have a defensive measure in the form of the ultimate deterrent as life insurance for the country.
"The film ... strings together details that have mostly been published before outside Israel and includes a riveting interview with Peres...Broadcast on Israeli television, it marks the first time the electronic media here have dealt with the issue candidly and comprehensively...." - Dan Ephron, Boston Globe
A Bridge of Books
Documentary, USA, 2001, video, 13 min
Director: Sam Ball
English
Opened in 1997, the headquarters of the National Yiddish Book Center is a lebedike velt a lively world full of books, people, programs and exhibitions. The Center was founded in 1980 when current President Aaron Lansky discovered thousands of of priceless Yiddish books - books that had survived Hitler and Stalin - were being discarded and destroyed. Since then, the Center has recovered over 1.5 million Yiddish books, with the number growing every day. Director Sam Ball takes us on a fascinating tour of what has been called "the greatest cultural rescue effort in Jewish history."
A Dream of Mother
Documentary, Israel, 2000, video, 27 min
Director: Chava Schein (Hadassah College)
Hebrew and Ethiopian w/English subtitles
A Dream of Mother is the story of Dasesh, a 19-year-old Ethiopian girl living in Israel with her father and stepmother. For five years since their separation, Dasesh has been dreaming of the arrival of her biological mother from Ethiopia and is anxious to be re-united with her. When she finally arrives, Dasesh finds her and her mother's worlds are vastly different.
A Match Made in Seven
World Premiere
Documentary, Canada, 2002, video, 46 min
Director: Ilan Saragosti
English
This fast-paced documentary centres on Vancouvers first-ever SpeedDating event, the adrenaline-pumped seven-minute matchmaking game that has taken the Jewish world by storm. Four young Jews two men and two women between the ages of 30-35 bring us into the main event for a truly voyeuristic dating experience. In the weeks leading up to the SpeedDating, we follow their intense search for a Jewish partner, and track their results after the big event.
Alois Brunner: The Last Nazi
Canadian Premiere
Documentary, USA, 2001, video, 60 min
Director: Monika Koplow
English
Narrated by Jay Bushinsky
Alois Brunner is the most notorious Nazi war criminal still alive! On March 2, 2001, he was tried and convicted in absentia in Paris, France, for crimes against humanity. Brunner is responsible for the deaths of more than 128,000 European Jews, and 200 Americans, whom he sent to death camps all across Europe during World War II. Alois Brunner has been living in Syria since 1959, where he has been advising the various governments in Damascus on intelligence matters. Alois Brunner: The Last Nazi tells the story of how Alois Brunner escaped justice, who protected him, and why.
Birthright Israel
Documentary, Canada, 2001, video, 44 min
Director: Leonard Pearl/Rena Godfrey/Isaac Szpindel
English
In an unprecedented effort to stem the tide of assimilation and reconnect young Jewish people to their heritage, the birthright Israel program was initiated by North American philanthropists, Charles Bronfman and Michael Steinhardt, and Jewish communities worldwide. Birthright Israel offers Jewish young adults between the ages of 18-26 who have never been to Israel, a free 10-day trip to that country. Participants come from all over the world and from a wide range of religious and cultural Jewish backgrounds. Birthright Israel focuses on the Canadian participants in this trip. In 2000 and 2001 more than two thousand Jewish young adults from across Canada traveled to Israel to participate in the program. This documentary captures their life-changing experiences, gained friendships and spiritual epiphanies encountered by the participants as they reconnect to their culture, people and religion.
Café Noah
Documentary, Israel, 1996, video, 26 min
Director: Duki Dror
Hebrew and Arabic w/ English subtitles
After its independence in 1948, Jewish musicians from Baghdad and Cairo have immigrated to Israel. They were masters in Arabic music, but their music was not valued in the new homeland. The Arab-Israeli war was conflicting with their cultural identity as Arab-Jews. Cafe Noah was the one place were their music continued.
Case of Jonathan Pollard, The
World Premiere
Documentary, USA, 2000, video, 78 min
Director: Eran Preis
English
The Case of Jonathan Pollard depicts a complex and controversial man - imprisoned spy Jonathan Pollard - who broke the law of his country in order to obey his personal moral code, and ended up trapped in a web of betrayals. It follows the story of his spying, arrest, sentencing for life, the harshness of prison life, the struggle to free him, his alienation from his family and supporters. Keeping an intimate and personal perspective on the man who is often regarded as a hero or as a self-righteous traitor, the film strives to understand Pollards character, idealism and motivation, and on the impact of his act. The documentary re-constructs the case and Pollards personal history, character, motivations and evolution, through interviews with family members, friends, activists, journalists, experts and government representatives. Archival material of media interviews and relevant events and verité-style footage of rallies complement the information. The artistic dimension is built on re-enactment footage by an actor and on expressive and abstract visuals.
Cohen's Wife
Drama, Israel, 2000, 35mm, 24 min
Director: Nava Heifetz (Ma'ale School)
Hebrew w/English subtitles
Rivki Cohen, a young ultra-orthodox woman, opens the door to a strange man seeking Tsedaka. She is raped. Now she is awaiting the Rabbinical Court's decision to see whether her husband, Motle, must divorce her since according to the Jewish Halacha, Cohen's wife, who was raped, is henceforth forbidden to her husband.
Company Jasmine
Canadian Premiere
Documentary, Israel, 2000, video, 56 min
Director: Yael Katzir
Hebrew w/English subtitles
In recent years, the IDF has started to include women in positions that were previously the sole domain of male soldiers. The success of the women in these positions resulted in the opening of a course for women officers. It is a prestigious and difficult course for a new generation of energetic, beautiful, and motivated women. These cadets must contend with the desire to be the equals of men, and deal with significant questions: their identity, in their own eyes and in those of society; femininity and the military; battle-readiness and command. This is the story of Company Jasmine, which focuses on five cadets: Tal, Efrat, Yafit, Noa and Sivan, and their commanding officer, Rotem. The film accompanies the cadets throughout their 17-week course on exercise, orientation, on the shooting range; command exercises and show s how these women must cope with high pressure within a competitive framework. It explores their need to support and assist each other, accept discipline and authority, face fears of being demoted along with their moments of relaxation and on leave. Documentary filmmaker Yael Katzir is a former office in the Israel Defense Forces. All the women who worked on the production and post-production of this film have served in the IDF. "Why did i have tears in my eyes at the end of the film It shows what women can do and how much things have changed since my generation was in service" - Mrs. Leah Rabin "Fascinating and deeply moving. A very important film. It speaks the voice of many women" - Dr. Sylvia Bijaui, Gender Studies, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Cowboy, The
USA, 1968, 16mm, 12 minutes
Director: Abe Wexler
Yiddish
The Cowboy offers the final word on Mother and the Wild West. Screened as part of "Two Jews on a Train" spotlight.
Doda Diya
Canadian Premiere
Documentary, Israel. 2000, video, 25 min
Director: Moshe Churi
Hebrew, Arabic w/English subtitles
Doda Diya, a widow who leads a simple life, had waited 40 years to fulfill her biggest dream: returning to Djerba, a tiny island off the south of Tunisia where she grew up, to celebrate a memorial event for a righteous woman along with hundreds of Jews. Doda takes her nephew, Director Moshe Churi, with her because she believes, like everyone else, that anyone who prays there will get married within the year. A colourful film, full of love of life and common people.
Expecting
Drama, Israel, 2001, 16mm, 19 min
Director: Sigalit Liphshitz (Sam Spiegel Film School)
Hebrew w/English subtitles
Special Mention, Jewish International Film Festival 2001. Expecting is a blunt, but funny take on two sisters who couldn't be more different. One sister wishes she were pregnant. The other might be. Things come to a head when their pregnancy tests get mixed up.
Facing the Forest
Drama, Israel, 1999, video, 96 min
Director: Dany Wachsmann
Hebrew w/English subtitles
Cast: Gal Zayad, Yisrael Poliakov, Oved Zaituvi, Tamara Dayan
Alex, a graduate student, takes a job as a fire spotter in Israel's Carmel Forests while intending to finish his thesis on the Galilee at the time of the crusaders. One morning he discovers a dead body in the woods, and next to the body, an ancient coin. When the police arrive, the body has disappeared. Alex investigates the coin, and discovers that he has made a great historical find. But he soon comes to believe his own life is in danger when he realizes some people there don't like him snooping around. A compelling mystery based on a story by the acclaimed Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua.
Fig Trees (The Sixth Room)
Canada, 2001, video, 6 minutes
Directors: John Greyson/Dave Wall
English
An excerpt from a video opera in-progress, Fig Trees (The Sixth Room) recounts four stories of martyrdom, as sung to a court of the Spanish Inquisition. Screened as part of "Two Jews on a Train" spotlight.
Ghetto: The Heart of Memory
(Ghetto: il cuore della memoria)
North American Premiere
Documentary, Switzerland, 1999, video, 60 min
Director: Mateo Bellinelli (La Terza Luna)
Italian w/ English subtitles
The first traces of Jews in Venice go back to at least the year 1395 CE, when the city Senate noted "many Jews exercise medicine with success in Venice. A long calle, one of the narrow Venetian streets with houses ever higher and with increasingly cramped spaces, was home to some 5000 Jews. In just a few decades, five wonderful synagogues were erected in the ghetto, jammed between houses and almost hidden by them. They were designed by such fine architects as Baldassare Longhena, and decorated by expert artisans and sculptors such as Andrea Brustolon. Italian Actor Moni Ovadia narrates and reads from historical documents that refer to the Jews of Venice. In one particularly moving scene, he performs in Italian the famous Shylock speech from The Merchant of Venice.
Gloomy Sunday (Ein Lied von Liebe und Tod)
Drama, Germany/Hungary, 1999, 35mm, 112 min
Director: Rolf Schübel
German w/English subtitles
Cast: Joachim Król, Stefano Dionisi, Ben Becker, Erika Marozsán
Don't let the title fool you. This film is anything but gloomy. The film begins in the present. A wealthy businessman has returned to a Budapest restaurant for the first time in years. After his meal, he requests a song only to collapse of a heart attack as it is played. The film takes us back fifty years. László (Joachim Król) and Ilona (Erika Marozsán) run the same restaurant in pre-war Budapest. Hoping to improve business, they hire a pianist, the somber but talented András (Stefano Dionisi). Ilona soon finds herself torn between the two men. A regular, Hans (Ben Becker), a German camera salesman, also takes an interest in Ilona. She rejects his advances, but they all become friends. After the Nazis occupy Budapest, Hans returns to the scene, but now as an SS officer. Despite their previous camaraderie, tensions rise to dangerous levels when the friends are reunited. Integrated into the plot is the melody, Gloomy Sunday, composed by András for Ilona. The haunting ballad makes the restaurant famous, but it also seems cursed when people begin committing suicide to it. Avoiding clichés and melodrama, Gloomy Sunday is an affecting romantic drama; and the ironic twist ending is one you won't soon forget.
Good Morning Cinderella
Documentary, Israel, 2001, video, 24 min
Director: Liora Belford (Hadassah College)
Hebrew w/English subtitles
Cast: Liron Levo, Liat Glick-Levo (Kippur - 13th VJFF)
It seems that everyone has Ayelet's life figured out for her: whom she should marry, where she should work, and with whom she should live.
Greatest of the Greatest - Abraham Tuschinski
North American Premiere
Documentary, Netherlands, 2001, 35mm, 75 min
Director: Get Poppelaars
Dutch w/English subtitles
He was a poor Jewish tailor from Poland who found himself in Rotterdam on his way to America. In pursuit of his own American dream, Abraham Tuschinski opened a cinema palace there, meant to capture all the excitement he felt for the new film industry. More theatres followed, with the Tuschinski Theatre in Amsterdam as the finest jewel in the Dutch film king's crown. Director Ger Poppelaars puts the life story of the perfectionist showman Tuschinski in the context of his time. He reconstructs the successful all-in-one shows in the cinema, complete with live acts and an orchestra. Using archival footage and interviews with people involved, he also depicts the eventful personal life of Tuschinski, who became a prime target of the Nazis during the occupation of Holland.
Gutman
Documentary, Israel, 2000, video, 21 min
Director: Shuli Eshel
English
Nahum Gutman, 1898-1980. Painter, writer, illustrator and sculptor, Gutman was among the founding fathers of the renewed Hebrew culture in modern Israel. This is the story of the artists life and work, shedding new light on the man and his creative insights. Filmmaker Shuli Eshel widens the spotlight on Nahum Gutmans legacy and makes clear why he is considered in Israel, more than a painter and writer, he is a cultural institution, a cultural hero.
Hit and Runway
Drama, USA, 2001, 35mm, 88 min
Director: Christopher Livingston
English
Cast: Michael Parducci, Peter Jacobson (Showtime), Judy Prescott, Kerr Smith, Hoyt Richards
- Winner, Best Screenplay, 1999 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival
- Winner, Best Screenplay, 1999 US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen.
Alex Andero (Michael Parducci), a testosterone-driven dreamer who works in his family owned Greenwich Village café, fantasizes about making it big as a Hollywood screenwriter. Alex spends his evenings at a screenwriting class but feels he is making little progress - the truth is, he cant write. Alex, finds his solution in Elliot Springer (Peter Jacobson) a brilliant but uptight, gay Jewish playwright who is as chronically honest as he is socially inept. Although completely opposed to the idea or collaborating on a script he considers to be nothing more than fluff, Elliot succumbs when he realizes that Alex can help him get the one thing he wants most, a date with Joey ("Dawsons Creeks" Kerr Smith), the cute struggling actor who works for Alex at the café. While their two universes collide in a cramped New York City apartment as they battle it out over plot lines, sexuality, artistic integrity and a looming deadline, Alex and Elliot learn more about themselves than either had bargained for. Will the screenplay survive their growing friendship and will the friendship survive their screenplay
"Hit and Runway is a little gem, a sparkling comedy with serious undertones about friendship, self-discovery, and artistic integrity." - Kevin Thomas, L.A. Times
In Search of Peace Part One: 1948-1967
Documentary, USA, 2001, 35mm, 111 min
Director: Richard Trank
English and Hebrew w/English subtitles
Narrated by: Michael Douglas, Edward Asner, Anne Bancroft, Richard Dreyfuss, Miriam Margolyes, Michael York
Chronicles the first two decades of Israels existence, offering new insights on the origins of the Middle East conflict. The film weaves together historical narrative, anecdotes, and dramatic personal stories, drawing on interviews with the leaders who helped make that history. Combining a rich tapestry of rare archival film and photos, In Search of Peace not only examines events in Israel, but their impact on other places as well - the Arab refugee camps, the General Assembly of the United Nations and from there to the world capitals of Moscow, Paris, London, Buenos Aires, Cairo and Washington D.C. The film offers a unique global perspective on one of the most important events of the Twentieth Century and one of the seminal events in the 3,500-year history of the Jewish People. This is the latest from Moriah Films, producer of The Long Way Home, which won the 1997 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.
"Stirring, often tragic yet hopeful..." - Kevin Thomas, L.A. Times
Je me souviens ("I Remember")
Documentary, Canada, 2002, video, 47 min
Director: Eric R. Scott
French w/English subtitles
A provocative examination of fascism and anti-Semitism in Quebec during the 1930's and 1940's. The film follows the story of Esther Delisle, a French- Canadian doctoral candidate at Laval University, in Quebec City, who writes a controversial thesis exploring the pro-Fascist and anti-Semitic writings of French-Canada's nationalist leaders of those times. Published in 1993 under the title, The Traitor and the Jew, Delisle's research provoked intense debate. Interweaving rare archival footage and candid testimony by eyewitnesses and scholars, the film presents, for the first time, this chapter of Quebec history. Appearing in the film are former senators Jacques Hébert and Jean-Louis Roux, ecologist and educator Pierre Dansereau, historians Irving Abella (None is Too Many) and Robert O. Paxton (Vichy France), and Guy Bouthillier, president of Quebec's Saint Jean-Baptiste Society.
Jean-Claude Golberg: Portrait of an Artist in Brooklyn
World Premiere
Documentary, USA, 2001, video, 16 min
Director: Stephen Blauweiss
English
This film explores the work of painter Jean-Claude Goldberg, who was a hidden child in France during the Holocaust. After the death of his mother in the mid-1990s, Jean-Claude became better acquainted with the remnants of the Jewish community to which his mother had belonged. As he says, I discovered a new world - the world of the people who escaped the war, the survivors of the Holocaust. His increasing fascination with Jewish subjects led him to leave behind Paris and a 40-year career in commercial art and move to Brooklyn in order to be near the vibrant Orthodox Jewish communities that reside there.
The Komediant - 100 Years of Yiddish Comedy Theatre
Documentary, Israel, 2000, 35mm, 85 min
Director: Arnon Goldfinger
English and Yiddish w/English subtitles
Featuring: Mike Burstein, Lillian Lux, Susan Burstein-Roth, Fyvush Finkel, Shifra Lerer
- Winner, 1999 Israeli Academy Award for Best Documentary. Pesach'ke Burstein, the dancing-singing comedian, was born in a small Jewish town in Poland in the late 19th century. At 14, he ran away from home to join a travelling troupe of Jewish actors, and from that day hence, the theatre became his life. Young Pesachke gained his reputation armed with an engaging ability to whistle. In 1924, Pesachke arrived in New York and quickly became a leading figure of the Yiddish theatre in its Golden Era. There on stage, he met a 16- year-old, up-and-coming actress, Lillian Lux. After marrying, the newlyweds took off on an acting tour to Europe, which happened to end in August 1939, and were fortunate to leave before the outbreak of war. After the war, the Bursteins became the parents of twins, Mike and Susan, who, by the age of seven, were appearing regularly on the stage under the names Motele and Zisele. Years later Mike Burstein became a popular entertainer in Israel and Holland and played main roles on Broadway. Laced with rare archival clips, the saga of the four Bursteins sheds light on the short, stormy, and charming history of the popular Yiddish theatre. The Bursteins and other past celebrities of the Yiddish theatre tell bittersweet stories and anecdotes spanning the heyday of Yiddish theatre, down to its tragic decline, in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
"Absolutely wonderful!" - Mel Brooks
"This marvelous film chronicles a time that was a part of all of our lives." - Carl Reiner
"Elegantly constructed, with real cleverness and aplomb vividly and even caustically as gripping as any dramatized version could be the range of Goldfinger's coverage and research is astonishing" - Robert Koehler, Variety
King Solomon and the Bee
Animated, Israel, 2001, video, 13 min
Director: Noam Meshulam
English
Delightful animated version of the famous story of the Bee that stings King Solomon.
Late Marriage
Drama, Israel, 2000, 35mm, 100 min
Director: Dover Kosashvilli
Hebrew and Georgian w/English subtitles
Cast: Lior Louie Ashkenazi, Ronit Elkabetz, Moni Moshonov, Lili Kosashvili, Aya Steinovits Laor
- Winner of 9 Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Lior Ashkenazi), Best Actress (Ronit Elkabetz) and Best Screenplay. A ferociously funny portrait of family strife. Zaza's traditional Georgian parents are determined to find him a suitable Jewish bride - preferably a rich, beautiful virgin - despite the fact that he's already in love with Judith, a Moroccan divorcée with a 6-year-old daughter. First-time director Kosashvili deftly balances laugh-out-loud humour with unsettling family conflict, and even manages a graphic bedroom scene that's as tender as it is erotic. As his tyrannical parent's antics become more outrageous, Zaza is faced with having to choose between respect of the strict confines of family and tradition, or the love of his life.
"...it's a little gem: funny, humane, sexy and moving. A gorgeously sensual comedy turns dark...This is a pitch-perfect family tragicomedy." - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
"It's knife-edge stuff... and you end up feeling that signing on for life in the Foreign Legion would be preferable to living with this family - Philip French, The Observer
NOTE: mature content.
Lez-be-eet
Canada, 2001, S8mm, 2 minutes
Director: Ms. Moustache
English
Lez-be-eet is a loving and funny call to be seen and heard. Screened as part of "Two Jews on a Train" spotlight.
Life, Death and Soccer (La Vie, La Mort et Le Foot)
Drama, Belgium, 2000, video, 6 min
Director: Sam Garbarski
French w/English subtitles
Two rabbis wonder if there are soccer games in heaven.
Louba's Ghosts (Les Fantomes de Louba)
Drama, France, 2001, 35mm, 107 min
Director: Martine Dugowson
Cast: Elsa Zylberstein (Man is a Woman - 11th VJFF), Camille Japy, Jean-Philippe Ecoffey
French w/ English subtitles
From the director of the French box office hit Mina Tannenbaum, comes this evocative account of jealousy and revenge. The captivating Elsa Zylberstein stars as Louba, the tortured and haunted daughter of Jewish Holocaust survivors. Although her parents survived the deportations, Louba finds herself alone after her Mother is killed accidentally and her father abandons her. A Catholic foster family in the French countryside takes her in. She attempts to make a new life for herself but is betrayed by her young lover Charlie, and Jeanie, her flirtatious stepsister. Louba again feels alone. Twenty years later their paths cross in modern Paris.
"This is one of those rare and rewarding films that goes places you don't expect, so the less you know going in, the better. But by all means go...As the film inexorably builds to a devastatingly open-ended conclusion, it never lets the viewer off the hook with pat psychology or easy villains. It's an approach that actively involves the audience, and it pays off with a haunting portrait of one of the Holocaust's uncounted victims. You won't easily forget Louba." - Michael Fox, Jewish Bulletin
Love Inventory (Reshimat Ahava)
Documentary, Israel, 2000, 35mm, 93 min
Director: David Fisher
Hebrew w/ English subtitles
- Winner, Wolgin Prize for Best Documentary, Jerusalem Film Festival 2000
- Winner, Israel Academy Award for Best Documentary
David Fisher lost his parents one after the other, leaving him and his four siblings with a 50-year-old mystery. For two years he's been searching for his sister, who was taken as a day-old infant from his mother's bed in the maternity hospital. His parents, both Holocaust survivors, arrived in Israel broken-hearted and penniless, leaving five children to pay the price of healing their shattered lives. Now Fisher brings his family together on a mission that takes them to places that their parents hoped they would never reach. "It's a painful process through which this film brings my family back to its roots and me back to the really important things in life There were several way-stations on my journey: pain, humour, tears, enormous comfort, love. My own love inventory keeps growing larger and larger. Now my wife and our children are involved too. To find you, I had to go looking" - Director David Fisher.
"Undisputably the highlight of the 2000 Jerusalem Film Festival, David Fisher's Love Inventory is a riveting documentary, both thematically and technically, that renders the lines between fictional and nonfictional cinema almost irrelevant." - Emanual Levy, Variety
"Love Inventory had me completely enthralled... It is all so personal and unblinking we empathize as if we were related to them ourselves. I can't remember the last time I was so sorry a movie had to end." - John Stackpole, Audience Magazine
Mamadrama: The Jewish Mother in Cinema
Documentary, Australia, 2001, video, 73 min
Director: Monique Schwarz
English
The Jewish mothers that I know and love are sexy, smart, and strong, but I have never seen this mother in Hollywood movies, and I set out to find out why, - Filmmaker Monique Schwarz
Mamadrama combines film clips, cultural commentary, interviews with Hollywood and Israeli filmmakers and footage from Schwarzs earlier films in an exploration of the image of the Jewish mother in film beginning with early silent and Yiddish films up through contemporary movies. Hollywood directors Paul Mazursky, Paul Bogart, Larry Peerce and actress Lainie Kazan reflect on their Jewish mothers. Critics Patricia Erens, J. Hoberman, Michael Medved, Amy Kronish and Sharon Rivo discuss the changing image of the Jewish mother on screen. Israeli filmmakers Avram Hefner and Zepel Yeshurun and actress Gila Almagor illustrate the uniqueness of Israeli filmic images. Mamadrama includes selections from Come Blow Your Horn, Goodbye Columbus, Next Stop Greenwich Village, Jazz Singer, Portnoys Complaint, Wheres Poppa, Torch Song Trilogy, a compilation of rare Yiddish films and recent Israeli features.
Mandela - A Righteous Man
Documentary, South Africa, 2001, video, 18 min
Director: Ingrid Gavshon
English
Mandela A Righteous Man tells the story of President Nelson Mandela through the eyes of different Jews whom he met during his struggle to liberate South Africa from the shackles of Apartheid. With never-before seen footage, A Righteous Man shows a personal side to Nelson Mandela. The film was commissioned by the Kushlick Kaplan Foundation for the South African Jewish Museum, Cape Town 2000.
My dear Clara
Documentary, Canada, 2001, video, 44 min
Director: Gary Beitel
English
When Clara Greenspan left Montreal for Warsaw in June of 1938 she could not have known how her personal destiny would soon become intertwined with the events about to unfold in Europe Set in Canada, Poland, Russian, and Germany, between 1938 and 1947, My dear Clara interweaves love letters, personal diaries, family photographs, official correspondence and rarely seen archival footage. The film tells the dramatic story of a Polish Jewish refugee's struggle for survival alongside his Canadian wifes unflinching battle to change her governments immigration policies.
"Montreal filmmaker Garry Beitel returns with the fascinating 44-minute My dear Clara...Beitel has adeptly brought together archival footage, interviews and correspondences." - Matthew Hays, Montreal Mirror
Obsessed with Jews
USA, 1999, video, 9 minutes
Director: Jeff Krulik
English
Obsessed with Jews takes us on an impassioned tour of Neil Keller's collection of memorabilia of famous Jews. Screened as part of the "Two Jews on a Train" spotlight.
Ocean Avenue
USA, 1999, 16mm, 20 minutes
Director: Shari Rothfarb
English
An older woman undergoes a transformation as she searches for her lost daughter in the streets of Brooklyn. Screened as part of the "Two Jews on a Train" spotlight.
On the Fringe
Documentary, Israel, 2000, video, 52 min
Director: Noam Dmaski
Hebrew w/ English subtitles
A few months ago, Shmuel Greenfield gave his parents, residents of Mea Shearim, the worst kind of news. Greenfield had decided to join the army. In recent years, many Haredi youngsters have found themselves torn between a religious lifestyle and their wish to join the army, to acquire an education and profession and to find their niche within Israeli society. About two years ago, something unexpected happened. Almost half-heartedly and in secret, the Rabbis permitted a few dozen young men to join the army on an experimental basis. Should they succeed, others would follow. The yeshivas are observing this with fear and trepidation. On The Fringe closely observes the stories of four young Haredi men who have chosen to enlist, and raises important issues surrounding the often-confrontational relationship between secular and non-secular Jews in Israel.
Once
Documentary, Israel, 2001, video, 12 min
Director: Ellen Flanders
English, Yiddish w/English subtitles
Once is a film about language, loss, and the construction of memory through language. Through voiceovers and fragmented footage, the characters in Once tell how they have come to study language in an attempt to relocate themselves at particular junctures in their lives. They describe their desire to learn Yiddish, a language they have speculative connections to or memories of. Their distance from the language and its intrinsic power to link them to an identity seems to increase their appetites for this language lost. Yiddish, while providing the elements of language, also represents a loss for, and only draws them further from, notions of home. Once is a film that places language at the center of images, at times allowing the spoken word to dominate while we are suffused with metaphoric imagery.
Once We Grow Up (Quand on Sera Grands)
Drama, France, 2000, 35mm, 92 min
Director: Renaud Cohen
French w/ English subtitles
Cast: Mathieu Demy, Amira Casar (Would I Lie to You), Maurice Benichou, Louise Benazeraf, Marie Payen
- Winner, Best Actor, 2001 Paris Film Festival
- Winner, Public's Prize, 2001 Angers Film Festival
At thirty, Simon is juggling with life and its problems. He is torn between his job as a journalist at "Tobacco Monthly", his non-Jewish girlfriend with whom he can't seem to have a child, and his friends Fabrice, Léa and Roché. On the family side, Simon should be sorting things out with his psychiatrist father but he mainly takes care of his Grandma who is losing her mind and making life impossible for everyone around her. When he meets his pregnant neighbour Claire, a fellow North African Jew who is being neglected by her husband, Simon's life takes an unexpected turn. A delightful, bittersweet comedy.
The Optimists
Documentary, Israel/USA, 2000, video, 90 min
Director: Jack Comforty
Hebrew, Bulgarian and English w/English subtitles
- Winner, Jewish Experience Documentary, 2000 Jewish International Film Festival
- Co-winner, Peace Prize, 2001 Berlin International Film Festival
In March 1943, 8,500 prominent Jews in Bulgaria were to be the first from that country to be deported to the death camp at Treblinka. Bulgaria was allied with Germany. Yet another European Jewish community - this one inheritors of the distinctive culture of the Jews of Medieval Spain - seemed destined for quick annihilation. And yet, after waiting several hours at deportation centers, these targeted Bulgarian Jews were simply told to go home. Ultimately, despite Nazi pressures, the entire 50,000-member Jewish community of Bulgaria was spared the Holocaust. Theirs was the only Jewish community to survive intact in Nazi Europe. The Optimists takes its title from the name of a group of Bulgarian jazz musicians who brought to Bulgaria the American Big Band sounds of the Thirties and Forties. Several of the people interviewed in the film played in this band before and after the war. Israeli filmmaker Jacky Comforty is the son of Bulgarian Jews; his paternal grandparents and extended family were among those rounded up for the train ride to Auschwitz.
Rita
Canadian Premiere
Documentary, Israel, 2000, video, 50 min
Director: Shiri Shachar Hebrew w/English subtitles
Rita is a dynamic Persian Israeli singer of international acclaim. Inspired by her husband, musician Rami Kleinstein, Rita has attained respect on the concert stage and in television drama in Israel. This documentary gives fresh insight into Rita's career and her remarkable life.
Russian Doll
Canadian Premiere
Drama, Australia, 2001, video, 90 min
Director: Stravos Kazantzidis
English, Russian w/English subtitles
Cast: Hugo Weaving (Lord of the Rings, Matrix), Natalia Novikova, David Wenham (Moulin Rouge), Rebecca Frith
- Winner, Best Screenplay, 200 Australian Film Institute. Harvey (Hugo Weaving), a self-doubting private investigator, is hired to solve an adultery case but discovers the cheater with his fiancée. Lost and dejected, Harvey quits his job and wallows in booze and the occasional odd blind date. Meanwhile, Katia (Natalia Novikova), a stylish, sexy Jewish woman from St. Petersburg, arrives in Sydney after answering an ad from an international matchmaking agency only to find her prospective groom dead on arrival. Stranded in Australia with no one to turn to, Katia meets Ethan (David Wenham), a married man and Harveys best friend. Ethan is soon scheming to figure out a way to keep Katia in the country without his wife Miriam (Rebecca Frith) discovering the affair. He comes up with the perfect solution: he offers Harvey enough money to start writing the novel he has always dreamed of, if he agrees to marry Katia! A thoroughly charming romantic-comedy.
"Novikova is utterly charming...Russian Doll is a breezy pleasure." - Cary Darling, Miami Herald
"A romantic comedy that treads familiar Green Card terrain with considerable charm ..." - Dennis Harvey, Variety
Sadeh Magnetti:
Sandak (The Godfather) and Demonstrations
TV Drama, Israel, 2001, video, 2 x 45 min
Director: Sharon Amrani
Hebrew w/English subtitles
A sneak peek at two episodes from an exciting new series that will be broadcast in Israel in the fall of 2002. The series portrays the intimate side of a traditional Sephardic family from Jherba, a small island off the coast of Tunisia. They struggle to maintain a Jewish life within a modern, mostly secular, Ashkenazi-Israeli society. The first episode, The Sandak, presents the dramatic confrontation between the father, Shimon, and his very religious eldest son, Efraim, who is trying to recapture his Sephardic and rabbinic roots. In another episode, the father Shimon, who made aliya in the 60's as a young man with Yechiel, his father, a highly respected rabbi from Jherba, built himself up from nothing to become one of Israel's most successful building contractors. Tensions rise when two of his sons join together to stop one of his ambitious building projects.
Shalom Y'all
World Premiere
Documentary, USA, 2002, video, 60 min
Director: Brian Bain
English
A feature-length documentary film that explores the history, culture and politics of the Jewish experience in the southern region of the United States. At the centre of the story is Brian Bain, a third-generation, southern Jew from New Orleans in search of his cultural roots. Travelling in an old Cadillac like the type his grandfather drove as a hat salesman on the same roads, Brian takes the viewer on a 4200 mile visual, emotional, and educational journey through diverse landscapes - the Gulf Coast; coastal low-country, the Piedmont and its industrial cities; sprawling sunbelt metropolises, rolling hills, and the Delta flatlands. Along the way he meets historians; storytellers; musicians; a small-town store owner; an African-American, Jewish police chief; the town that once claimed to be the Catskills of the South; a golden gloves boxer; and much more. From barbecued matzo balls to Civil Rights, with humour and affection, the film tells the story of a thriving culture blending the Old World with the New South.
Silent Song
Canada, 2001, 16mm, 6 minutes
Director: Elida Schogt
English
The elegant and elegaic trilogy of Zyklon Portrait, The Walnut Tree and Silent Song, examine the personal impact of memory and history, sixty years after World War II. Screened as part of the "Two Jews on a Train" spotlight.
Sobibor, October 14, 1943, 4 p.m.
Documentary, France, 2001, 35mm, 95 min
Director:Claude Lanzmann (Shoah)
Hebrew, French, German w/English subtitles
In this unique document, Claude Lanzmann confutes two cliches: that the Jews had no inkling of what awaited them in the gas chambers, and that they went to their deaths without resistance. The full title of the film, Sobibor, Oct. 14, 1943, 4 p.m., refers to the place and time when Jewish prisoners in the Sobibor extermination camp staged a successful uprising, the only one, against the Nazi captors. The story, which sometimes has the aura of a fairy tale, is told to the camera by Yehuda Lerner, who took part in the revolt as a youth. Lerner was taken from the Warsaw ghetto and sent to his first camp when he was 16. Before being sent to Sobibor, the brave and resourceful boy proceeded to escape from eight different camps in six months, each time having the luck to be picked up by German soldiers and taken to another place instead of shot. Sobibor had been mentioned in Shoah, Lanzmann's 1985 marathon, landmark documentary about the Holocaust told through the voices of its survivors. But Lanzmann felt that Lerner's extraordinary account deserved a film of its own.
"Has a terrible fascination that glues viewers to the screen" - Deborah Young, Variety
"Nothing Hollywood might devise could be as nerve-rackingly suspenseful as the second half of Sobibor...The feelings that this simple, deeply intelligent movie produces -- of horror, admiration, hope and grief -- are as hard to name as they are to dispel." - A.O. Scott, New York Times
Strange Fruit
Documentary, USA, 2001, video, 56 min
Director: Joel Katz
English
One of the most important protest songs ever written, "Strange Fruit" was a staple in Billie Holiday's career. Its lyrics were read on the floor of Congress during ultimately unsuccessful efforts to pass Federal anti-lynching legislation, and it has been recorded by dozens of artists since it was written in the mid-1930's. While many people mistakenly assume that "Strange Fruit" was written by Holiday herself, the words and music were actually composed by Abel Meeropol, a New York City public school teacher and a Jew of Russian immigrant origin who published music under the name Lewis Allan. Meeropol's best-known composition was "The House I Live In", most famously performed by Frank Sinatra. The film tells a dramatic story of American race relations and explores various aspects of social activism. The film also includes a devastating recitation of the lyrics by Abbey Lincoln and equally powerful musical performances by Holiday (from a 1958 BBC broadcast) and Cassandra Wilson. A must see for music lovers.
Taqasim
Documentary, Israel, 1999, video, 43 min
Director: Duki Dror
Hebrew and Arabic w/ English subtitles
A voyage to the hidden treasures of classical Arabic music, and to the participation of Jewish musicians in this cultural heritage. Taqasim draws a unique portrait of the Middle East in the 30s, a region that shared mutual culture, language and economy. With stylishly shot music segments, along with unforgettable back-ally jam sessions played by Felix Mizrachi, Zehava Ben, Abraham Salman, and more. The film was shot in Cairo.
Time of Favor (Ha-hesder)
Drama, Israel, 2000, 35mm, 100 min
Director: Joseph Cedar
Hebrew w/English subtitles
Cast: Aki Avni, Tinkerbell (Total Love), Assi Dayan and Idan Alterman
- Winner of Six Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Aki Avni) and Best Actress (Tinkerbell). Menachem (Aki Avni) studies in a yeshiva on the West Bank led by the revered Rabbi Meltzer (Assi Dayan). He is a dedicated and highly respected army officer in a unit composed entirely of Orthodox members from the yeshiva. Rabbi Meltzer - complex, profound and in harmony with his faith - is looked upon warily by the military officers as a fanatic that could lead the company to dangerous ground. He wants Pini (Edan Alterman), the prized pupil in his class and Menachem's best friend, to marry his daughter Michal (Tinkerbell). But as Pini courts Michal, Menachem, strong-willed and passionate, falls in love with her. With trepidation, Michal and Menachem come to grips with their feelings, leaving Pini feeling betrayed by both. As this hurtful love triangle evolves, a shocking scheme comes into play to resume control of the Arab holy sites on the Temple Mount in the center of Jerusalem -- through tunnels underneath the Mount. Both a politico-psychological drama and a love story between a passionate woman and two best friends, Time of Favor raises important questions of faith to one's religion, duty to one's nation, and love for oneself.
"One of the most successful, provocative and intensely contemporary of Israeli films, so much so that to watch it is to feel the country having a passionate argument with itself." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Tiny Bubbles
Canada, 1997, 16mm, 6 minutes
Director: Bo Myers
English
Tiny Bubbles is a hand-crafted and soft spoken self portrait, all about the significance of the other. Screened as part of the "Two Jews on a Train" spotlight.
Tkies Kaf (The Vow)
Drama, Poland, 1937, 35mm, 82 min
Director: Henryk Szaro
Yiddish w/ English subtitles
Cast: Zygmund Turkow, Dina Halpern
This classic tale of love, fate and mysticism is one of several movie adaptations of an ancient folk tale. Two childhood friends make a sacred pact promising a marriage between their unborn children. Competing suitors and clashing ways of life nearly prevent the fulfillment of their vow, but the divine intervention of Elijah results in a happy ending. One of the last films produced in Europe before the Holocaust, the film captures authentic scenes of Jewish shtetl life, traditional folk melodies and Yiddish love songs. Director Szaro is believed to have perished in the Warsaw Ghetto. Newly restored by the National Center for Jewish Film.
To Live with Terror
Canadian Premiere
Documentary, Argentina/US, 2001, video, 60 min
Director: Ton Vriens
English, Spanish w/English subtitles
In the 1990s, two terrorist attacks occurred in Buenos Aires against the Jewish community. The first attack occurred in 1992 when a car bomb struck the Israeli consulate, killing 29 people. An American, David Goldman was among the dead. His father Ralph has been pressing Argentine President Menem for a thorough investigation. Menem, a Syrian by birth, had close ties to the Arab world, although he had been courting American favour. Two years later, in July of 1994, a truck bomb exploded outside a Jewish center, AMIA. Eighty-five people perished. President Menem never even visited the site. The film makes clear the layers of official corruption as well as pervasive anti-Semitism in Argentina, a country that hosted Nazis fleeing Europe after the war. Both attacks have faded quickly from the memory of the international community. Only the tenacity of surviving family members pressing for justice is finally bringing to light a conspiracy of international proportion. The film has special resonance in America after the events of 9/11.
Total Love
Drama, India/Israel/Holland, 2000, 35mm, 85 min
Director: Gur Bentwich
Hebrew w/English subtitles
Cast: Gur Bentwich, Herman Brook, Maor Cohen, Tinkerbell (Time of Favor)
- Winner, Special Jury Prize, Comedy, 2001 WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival. Director Gur Bentwich's first film, Blue Planet, has been playing nonstop in Israeli movie theaters for three years. His second film-the fresh and sexy TLV (Total Love) has all the makings of another cult hit. Three Israeli friends plan to distribute a designer love drug called TLV created by Chaim, charmingly played by Israeli pop singer Maor Cohen. All three are in love with Renana (Israeli sensation Tinkerbell) who has travelled to Amsterdam to sell the drug. When she disappears, her ex-lovers must team up to track her down and rescue her from a remote prison in India. Shot on location in the Himalayas, Bombay, and Goa, the film also features director Bentwich, and Dutch painter and rock star Herman Brood. An unpredictable and affectionate delight.
Trembling Before G-d
Documentary, USA, 2000, 35mm, 84 min
Director:Sandi Simcha DuBowski
English
Trembling Before G-d is an unprecedented feature documentary that shatters assumptions about faith, sexuality, and religious fundamentalism. 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 drastic Biblical prohibitions that forbid homosexuality. As the film unfolds, we meet a range of complex individuals, from the world's first openly gay Orthodox rabbi to closeted, married Hasidic gays and lesbians to those abandoned by religious families to Orthodox lesbian high-school sweethearts. What emerges is a loving and fearless testament to faith and survival and the universal struggle to belong. Many have been tragically rejected and their pain is raw, yet with irony, humor, and resilience, they love, care, struggle, and debate with a thousands-year old tradition. Ultimately, they are forced to question how they can pursue truth and faith in their lives.
Tsipa and Volf
USA, 2001 video, 20 minutes
Director: Daniel Gamburg
English, Russian, Yiddish
A tender and carefully crafted portrait, Tsipa and Volf captures the lifestories of two aging grandparents. Screened as part of the "Two Jews on a Train" spotlight.
Unheard Voices
Canadian Premiere
Documentary, Argentina, 2001, video, 10 min
Director: Beth Kruvant
English
As a result of the collapse of the Argentinean economy and a legacy of government corruption one quarter of Argentinas 200,000 Jews currently live below the poverty line. Since the capture of Eichman in 1960, to the current economic crisis, the Jews of Buenos Aires have been riding on a roller-coaster of remarkable troubles. This documentary will look from the inside of the Jewish community at the cycles of destruction to the current status of economic and psychological crisis. While raising awareness of the desperate needs of this particular Jewish community, Unheard Voices shows how a once-vibrant Jewish community battling anti-Semitism, assimilation, and the loss of Jewish identity, may be facing its final battle, poverty.
Waiting for the Messiah (Esperando al Mesias)
Drama, Argentine/Italy/Spain, 2000, 35mm, 98 min
Director: Daniel Burman
Spanish w/English subtitles
- Winner, Best Actor (Enrique Pineyro), 2001 Mar del Plata Festival, Argentina's most important film festival.
- Nominated for 7 Argentina Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best New Actor, Best New Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay. Ariel (Daniel Hendler) lives with his family in a traditional Jewish neighbourhood in Buenos Aires. He's expected to take over the family restaurant and settle down with his childhood sweetheart Estela (Melina Petriella), but he has plans of his own. He gets his chance after a shortfall on the Tokyo Stock market causes a major Argentine bank to collapse, forcing Ariel's father into bankruptcy. In search of new opportunities, Ariel gets a job on the graveyard shift at a video production company where he meets a beautiful older woman. The collapse also costs middle-aged bank teller Santamaría (Enrique Pińeyro) his job, home and marriage. Living on the street, he meets Elsa (Stefania Sandrelli ) the lonely attendant of a public lavatory. A thoughtful and poignant character study built around recent economic problems in Argentina.
"Messiah handles ethnicity lightly and affectionately, making Jewishness one of many parallel universes that coexist in a tricky urban environment." - Variety Magazine
"The Argentinian director and screenwriter is only 28, but this, his second feature, has the polish, wit and attention to detail one would expect from a filmmaker twice his age...He has created characters with passion and compassion." - David B. Green, Jerusalem Report
The Walnut Tree
Canada, 2000, 16mm, 11 minutes
Director: Elida Schogt
English
The elegant and elegaic trilogy of Zyklon Portrait, The Walnut Tree and Silent Song, examine the personal impact of memory and history, sixty years after World War II. Screened as part of the "Two Jews on a Train" spotlight.
Yud
World Premiere
Animated, Canada, 2002, video, 8 min
Director: Maya Zuckerman
English
Animated revelation of G-d's name. By searching for meaning behind the name of G-d, we ultimately reach a unity that draws all people together into a circle of Dance. Although the story uses symbols derived from Jewish sources, its meaning is universal.
Zyklon Portrait
Canada, 1999, 16mm, 13 minutes
Director: Elida Schogt
English
The elegant and elegaic trilogy of Zyklon Portrait, The Walnut Tree and Silent Song, examine the personal impact of memory and history, sixty years after World War II. Screened as part of the "Two Jews on a Train" spotlight
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