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These are the films that played during the 16th Annual Vancouver Jewish Film Festival. They are listed in alphabetical order.
A GROUP PORTRAIT WITH A WOMAN
Drama, Israel, 2002, Beta SP, 85 minutes
Director: Itzhak Rubin
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Cast:
A unique film autobiography set against the backdrop of the Middle East Jewish-Arab conflict. The film is framed by documentary segments that feature the director introducing an unbelievable yet true story. A young Israeli woman falls in love with a Bedouin man. He becomes abusive and she flees the country without telling him that she has given up their baby for adoption. She struggles to maintain her own emotional well being despite a series of difficult relationships. A powerful story of one woman's struggle to survive in a man's world.
ALL I'VE GOT
Drama, Israel, 2003, Beta SP, 70 minutes
Director: Keren Margalit
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Cast:
A 72-year-old grandmother dies and finds herself on a ferry that will take her across the river to the hereafter. On the ferryboat she meets her first love who was killed in a road accident when they were young. She is presented with a fateful choice: to start life afresh as a 22-year-old-- her age at the time of the accident-- and to relinquish all her memories of the life she has lived with her husband and children; or to remain a 72-year-old woman with all her life's memories intact. If she chooses the second alternative she will get off the boat when it reaches its destination and will never be truly reunited with her beloved, who has been waiting for her on the ferryboat for fifty long years. A thoughtful and contemplative drama.
ALMOST PEACEFUL (Un Monde Presque Paisible)
Drama, France, 2002, 35mm, 93 minutes
Director: Michel Deville
Language: French with English subtitles
Cast: Simon Abkarian, Lubna Azabal, Zabou Breitman, Clotilde Courau, Vincent Elbaz, Julie Gayet, Stanislas Merhar, Denis Podalydes, Malik Zidi
Based on screenwriter Robert Bober's semi-autobiographical novel "Quoi de neuf sur la guerre?" Almost Peaceful is the portrait of a group of three women, three men, a teenage boy and a few children in a dressmaking workshop in the Jewish tailors' district of Paris in 1946. The war is over and they are trying to learn to live normal lives again. They avoid talking about the past; laughter and meticulous work, camaraderie, songs and certain silences are their way of keeping the tragedy at bay. With modesty and courage, they each find their way through the sorrow. Variety Magazine says "a film that audiences are certain to embrace once they discover it."
BEHIND ENEMY LINES
Documentary, Israel, 2003, Beta SP, 64 minutes
Director: Dov Gil-Har
Language: English, Hebrew, Arabic with English subtitles
Cast:
In the midst of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, two former friends and present-day enemies, embark on an emotional journey into Intifada-land, in search of the origins of the bloodshed. Benny Hernes, an Israeli police officer and Adnan Joulani, a Palestinian journalist spend a week travelling together through places that have become symbols of the dispute. Each has selected locations in attempt to convince the other of his own truth: the Jenin refugee camp, terror ridden Jerusalem, the disputed Temple Mount, the family of a suicide bomber and more. Adnan has experienced the death of his beloved cousin shot dead by an Israeli settler. Another cousin went on a shooting rampage in the heart of Tel Aviv. Benny, himself a settler, trains special Israeli forces to combat Palestinian militants. They first met over four years ago on a joint peace mission to Japan. While embracing the "Tokyo Spirit" of understanding, the two vowed to take home a message of peace. Soon after their return, the second Intifada erupted. Behind Enemy Lines is an emotional and dramatic quest through the milestones of the conflict. Despite the huge gap in their perspectives, Adnan and Benny try to find ways to communicate. Their success can serve as a single ray of hope in present pessimistic times.
BERLIN BESHERT
Short, Germany, 2002, Beta, 29 minutes
Director: November Wanderin
Language: German, Hebrew, English with English subtitles
Cast:
Kosher love in Berlin? The adventures of two sisters searching for soulmates in today's Berlin. Dahlia, a secular Berliner Jew is not concerned with finding a 'nice Jewish boy', while her religious lesbian sister Leah wants a kosher girlfriend. Meanwhile, it seems everyone from their mother to the local kosher shopkeeper wants to marry them off. Berlin Beshert humourously portrays the current life experiences of young Jews in Germany today.
CHRONICLE OF A JERUSALEM COURTYARD
, Israel, 2003, Beta SP, 20 minutes
Director: Tsvika Nevo & Tom Barkay
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Cast:
The imminent destruction of an enchanting Jerusalem courtyard, built in the late 19th century, threatens the survival of its tenants' fragile mosaic. Located in the Nachlaot neighborhood, this courtyard is a microcosm of life in Jerusalem: a mélange of religions, ethnic communities and life styles. Zarifa and Cochava, two elderly Middle Eastern women, Kaisar, an Arab Christian man and Hanna, a German dancer live in close quarters in this walled courtyard. The looming demolition threatens the fabric of life in the courtyard and eventually brings this small Garden of Eden to an end.
DIVAN
Documentary, USA/Hungary/Ukraine/Israel, , Beta SP, 77 minutes
Director: Pearl Gluck
Language: Hungarian, Yiddish, English, with English subtitles
Cast:
As a teenager, filmmaker Pearl Gluck left her Orthodox Jewish clan in Brooklyn for secular life in Manhattan. Many years later, Pearl's father has one wish: that she marry and return to the community. Pearl, however, takes a more creative approach to mend the family breach. She travels to Hungary to retrieve a turn-of-the-century family heirloom: a couch upon which esteemed rabbis once slept. En route to the ancestral divan, Pearl encounters a colourful cast of characters who provide guidance and inspiration, including a couch exporter, her ex-communist cousin in Budapest, a pair of Hungarian-American matchmakers and a renegade group of formerly ultra-Orthodox Jews. Nimbly clever and intensely illuminating, DIVAN is a visual parable that offers the possibility of personal reinvention and cultural re-upholstery.
DZIGA AND HIS BROTHERS
, Russia, 2002, Video, 52 minutes
Director: Yevgeni Tsymbal
Language: Russian with English subtitles
Cast:
This fascinating profile of the three Kaufman brothers, David, Moisey and Boris, uses wonderful archival footage to trace their roots from Jewish Bialystok to their triumphs in cinema history. David (DzigaVertov) is best known for Man With a Movie Camera and Boris won an Oscar for shooting On the Waterfront.
GOSSIP (Lashon harah)
Comedy, USA, 2003, Beta SP, 12 minutes
Director: Avi Youabian
Language:
Cast:
When Sophie, starts a spiteful rumour about the bride at a Jewish wedding, it spreads like wildfire from table to table, through all the generations, until finally reaching the bride. Sophie must then confront the bride and set things right.
HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE PANTHERS?
, Israel, 2002, Video, 65 minutes
Director:
Language: Hebrew (English translation)
Cast:
In 1970, a protest movement led by young, primarily Mizrachi, men from disadvantaged neighborhoods in Jerusalem burst into the public consciousness with its unusual and sometimes violent measures. They became known as the "Black Panthers". Nissim Mossek, then a novice television film-editor, enchanted by their enthusiasm, documented the group in a movie called "Have You Heard about the Panthers, Uncle Moshe?" Mysteriously, the film disappeared on route to a film festival and has only recently turned up. Using clips from his original film, this new documentary discusses the political movement as Mossek searches for the original Panthers.
HEBREW HAMMER
Comedy, USA, 2003, 35mm, 86 minutes
Director: Jonathan Kesselman
Language: English
Cast: Adam Goldberg (Saving Private Ryan), Judy Greer (Adaptation), Andy Dick (NewsRadio), Mario Van Peebles (Ali), Peter Coyote (Random Hearts, E.T.), Sean Whalen (Charlie's Angels), Tony Cox (Willow), Nora Dunn (Saturday Night Live)
A Jewxploitation spoof in the vein of "Shaft" and "Austin Powers". Mordechai (Goldberg), a bad-ass Orthodox Jew, is enlisted by the Jewish Justice League when it discovers that Santa's psychotic son (Andy Dick) has plans to eradicate Hanukkah as part of a nefarious scheme to be the only holiday icon at winter time. The Hammer joins forces with Esther (Greer), the gorgeous and dangerous daughter of the world's top Jewish leader, and his friend Mohammed (Mario Van Peebles), head of the Kwanzaa Liberation Front, to topple the evil Santa and save Hanukkah for future generations.
HIDING AND SEEKING: FAITH AND TOLERANCE AFTER THE HOLOCAUST
, USA, 2004, DigiBeta, 85 Minutes
Director: Menachem Daum and Oren Rudavsky
Language: English, Yiddish and Polish with English subtitles
Cast:
Hiding and Seeking tells the story of a father who tries to alert his adult Orthodox Jewish sons, whose views have shifted considerably from his own, to the dangers of insularity and intolerance of those outside the faith. He takes them on a highly charged emotional journey to Poland; to his sons, this is a country whose people are incurably anti-Semitic and beyond redemption. It is precisely here that he introduces them to Poles who personify the highest levels of exemplary behavior. The highlight of their journey comes when they manage to track down the Polish farm family who risked their lives to hide the sons? grandfather for more than two years during the Holocaust.
HORA
, Canada, 2004, Beta SP, 25 minutes
Director: Avner Levona
Language: English and Hebrew with English subtitles
Cast:
The story of the Hora dance. Early Zionists keen to develop a unique Israeli culture introduced the hora. In many ways, the dance can be seen as a metaphor for Israeli society.
JAMES' JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM
Drama, Israel, 2003, Beta SP, 87 minutes
Director: Ra'anan Alexandrowicz
Language: Hebrew, English, Zulu with English subtitles
Cast: Siyabonga Melongisi Shibe, Arie Elias, Salim Daw
A cannily droll mix of social commentary and modern fable, Israeli filmmaker Ra'anan Alexandrowicz's (THE INNER TOUR) debut feature follows the adventures of young James, a devout wide-eyed Christian attempting a pilgrimage from his African village to the Holy Land. Jailed by the immigration authorities upon his arrival in Tel Aviv, this contemporary Candide is miraculously bailed out by a shady small-time businessman only to become part of his migrant labour pool. Alexandrowicz filters an astute exploration of the economic, moral and spiritual hypocrisies of Western society through an evocative portrait of modern Israel's cultural and generational divisions.
JOSHUA THEN AND NOW
, Canada, 1985, 16mm, 119 minutes
Director: Ted Kotcheff
Language: English
Cast:
Based on Mordecai Richler's semi-autobiographical novel, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, the film stars James Woods as a Jewish-Canadian sportswriter, detailing his life from his early days to his marriage to a senator's daughter, and his attempt at becoming a celebrity. This funny and poignant film paints a realistic portrait of growing up Jewish in Montreal.
JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM (Patuvane kam Erusalim)
Drama, Bulgaria, 2003, , 112 minutes
Director: Ivan Nichev (After the End of the World -- 14th VJFF)
Language: German, Bulgarian with English subtitles
Cast:
The year is 1942. Elza and David are two German-Jewish siblings fleeing the horrors of Hitler's Holocaust with their uncle. They get as far as Sofia, Bulgaria where their adult protector dies. Stranded, penniless and alone in a country whose language they don't understand, the two children are "adopted" by a trio of vaudevillians who tour the small towns of the Bulgarian countryside with a threadbare magic show. It will take all the tricks and talents these illusionists can muster to pull off the ultimate disappearing act: get the children safely to Jerusalem. JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM shows the difference ordinary citizens can make in the face of tyranny. Director Ivan Nichev states his feature is based on a true story, and offers it in tribute to the Righteous Gentiles who helped save 50,000 Bulgarian Jews.
LAUGHTER ON THE 23RD FLOOR
, USA, 2002, Video, 102 minutes
Director: Richard Benjamin
Language:
Cast: Nathan Lane (Birdcage), Mark Linn-Baker (My Favorite Year)
Taken from Neil Simon's semi-autobiographical play, concerning his experiences as a young TV writer working for Sid Caesar in the heyday of live comedy television. Director Richard Benjamin does a great job with an exceptional ensemble cast that includes Nathan Lane and Mark Linn-Baker. The rest of the cast includes Saul Rubinek, Dan Castellaneta, Richard Portnow, Mackenzie Astin, and Peri Gilpin (just to name a few). The comic timing is sheer perfection, and the drama never seem forced or phony. It's a crazy, manic film that just makes you want to lean back and smile ear to ear.
LOOKING FOR VICTORIA
Documentary, Netherlands, 2004, Beta SP, 58 minutes
Director: Ton Vriens (To Live with Terror)
Language: English, Spanish with English subtitles
Cast:
Adriana Lewi was eighteen months old when she and her parents were kidnapped by the Argentine military. Adriana never saw her parents again. During the military dictatorship in Argentina-- from 1976 till 1983 --about 30,000 citizens disappeared, including 2,000 Argentine Jews-- a disproportionate number. Adriana's father was Jewish, her mother Catholic-- and the dictatorship persecuted Jews. Adriana was raised by her Catholic grandparents. They blamed their daughter's death on their son-in-law's involvement with the radical left. Adriana wants to know what actually happened to her parents-- especially now that she has a son the same age she was when she was kidnapped.
MANHOOD
Drama, USA, 2003, 35mm, 82 minutes
Director: Bobby Roth
Language: English
Cast: Nestor Carbonell (The Tick), John Ritter (8 Simple Rules), Janeane Garafolo (The Cable Guy), Bonnie Bedelia (Die Hard)
In this mature, dark comedy, Bobby Roth looks at several generations of American Jewish men embroiled in a family crisis. Jack (Carbonell) is asked to temporarily care for his teen nephew when his sister (Garafalo) leaves her husband, Eli (Ritter). Eli has no intentions of going quietly, also turning to Jack for help. Jack soon finds himself a voice of calm reason, as things seem to go from bad to worse all around him. Roth astutely probes a range of male behaviour that bounces from comic to deeply disturbing. In one of his last roles, John Ritter gives a brilliant performance as the deeply disturbed Eli. This film is not suitable for young audiences.
MERMAIDS
Comedy, USA, 1990, ,
Director: Richard Benjamin
Language:
Cast:
MERMAIDS is the story of the turbulent relationship between a flamboyant, outrageous mom (Cher) and her two daughters (Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci) who just want a normal, stable life. Socially rebellious and provocative, the mother is reluctant to settle down, even at the request of her two daughters (one of whom, despite being Jewish, longs to enter a convent). The unusual family has moved 18 times in the last 15 years, usually whenever Mrs. Flax senses she might have to commit to a relationship. But this time the girls hope the family will stay put, and their conflicting desires lead to a final, near-tragic result.
MIKE BRANT -- LAISSE MOI T'AIMER
Documentary, Israel, 2002, Beta SP, 102 minutes
Director: Erez Laufer
Language: French and Hebrew with English subtitles
Cast:
Mike Brant was found on the sidewalk of Rue Erlanger in Paris' 16th Arrondissement on Friday morning, April 25, 1975. He was 28 at the time of his death. The police inquiry started and ended the same day. Their conclusion was unequivocal and precise: suicide. Mike was at the peak of his career, his records sold by the millions all over Europe. What would cause him to jump to his death? The film includes original performances, songs and interviews by Mike Brant never seen before in France and Israel.
MISS ENTEBBE
Drama, Israel, 2003, 35mm, 75 minutes
Director: Omri Levy
Language: Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles
Cast:
Jerusalem, July 1976. The summer holidays have just begun when the lives of neighbouring twelve-year-olds Noa Yoav and Danny are turned upside down. A plane flying to France-- upon which Danny's mother is a passenger --has been captured by terrorists and taken to Entebbe, Uganda. Noa is convinced she can free her friend's mom by kidnapping an Arab boy and demanding her return. She soon becomes involved in a dangerous adventure that quickly develops a life of its own, and turns deadly serious.
MOMENTS ISRAEL 2002
, Israel, 2002, Beta SP, 56 minutes
Director: various
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Cast:
17 short films on the "Situation" (3-3:30 min each) by some of Israel's best directors. This great variety is somehow a faithful reflection of the sometimes-unbearable complexity of feelings and interpretations of Israel's present reality 72 Virgins; Director: Uri Bar-On Crazy; Director: Uri Barbash For Yotam; Director: Eyal Halfon From Now to Now; Director: "At Yosi's," David Perlov Kheira's Smile; Director: Ariella Azoully Longing; Director: Dina Zvi Riklis Mouth of the Abyss; Director: Shlomit Altman, Oded Davidoff Nira and Sausan - Mothers; Director: Nira Sherman, Sausan Quoud Saturday in Jenin; Director: Anat Even Security Groove; Director: Idan Alterman Status Quo; Director: Gur Bentvich, Nir Miterraso Survival and the Art of the Joystick; Director: Tsipi Houri That's The Situation; Director: Rafi Bukaee The Journey; Director: Eyal Zaid Three Minutes to Four; Director: Eliav Lilti Times Are Bad; Director: Amos Gitai You for Your Mother; Director: Thaer Zoabi
MOVING HEAVEN AND EARTH
Documentary, USA, 2003, Beta SP, 43 minutes
Director: Debra Gonsher Vinik and David Vinik
Language: English
Cast:
In 1919, following the guidance of their leader, a local governor named Semei Kakungulu, the Ugandan Abayudaya adopted all the observances of Judaism including circumcision at birth. In the 1970s, even in the face of rampant anti-Semitism under the reign of Idi Amin exemplified by torture and murder, many of the tribe held fast to Jewish practice and beliefs. In the 1980s with the help of the outside Jewish community from Israel and the United States, a number of small synagogues were built and a Torah donated. Today the Abayudaya keep kosher according to Talmudic Law, attend to the Jewish calendar of holidays and study the week's parshah. At the beginning of February of 2002, a Beit Din made up of three rabbis from the United States (Rabbi Howard Gorin, Rabbi Scott Glass & Rabbi Joseph Prouser) and one from Israel (Rabbi Andrew Sacks) along with rabbinical student Moshe Cotel went to this community in Uganda. There, over a period of six days, they converted over 300 Abayudaya, welcoming them into the community of world Jewry. An inspiring documentary on the complicated nature of Jewish identity.
MY ARCHITECT
Documentary, USA, 2003, 35mm, 116 minutes
Director: Nathaniel Kahn
Language: English
Cast:
In 1974, Louis Kahn was found dead-- alone, bankrupt, and unidentified --in the men's room at Penn Station. A Jewish immigrant who overcame poverty and the effects of a devastating childhood accident, Kahn created a handful of intensely powerful and spiritual buildings-- geometric compositions of brick, concrete and light --which, in the words of one critic, "change your life." While Kahn's artistic legacy was an uncompromising search for truth and clarity, his personal life was filled with secrets and chaos. He left behind three families-- one with his wife of many years and two with women with whom he'd had long-term affairs. In MY ARCHITECT, the child of one of these extra-marital relationships, Kahn's only son Nathaniel, sets out on an epic journey to reconcile the life and work of this mysterious, contradictory man. In a documentary with the emotional impact of a dramatic feature film (including an original orchestral score), Nathaniel's personal journey becomes a universal investigation of identity, a celebration of art and, ultimately, of life itself.
MY BROTHER'S WEDDING
, USA, 2003, Beta SP, 36 minutes
Director: Dan Akiba
Language:
Cast:
When Boston director Daniel Akiba's brother Jonah travelled to Israel, his mother's parting words to her son were, "Have a good time, but whatever you do, don t become Orthodox." Three months later he called his mother and said, "The Torah is the word of G-d." This award-winning film documents the family s trip to Israel in 2001 to attend Jonah's wedding and explores how his embrace of Orthodox Judaism has affected them all.
MY FAVORITE YEAR
, USA, 1982, Video, 92 minutes
Director: Richard Benjamin
Language: English
Cast: Peter O Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Lanie Kazan, Jessica Harper
The year is 1954, and dashing Alan Swann, an alcoholic, swashbuckling movie star, is about to make his first television appearance, on "The Comedy Cavalcade" (a brilliant take-off on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows"). Fearing Swann will make a drunken fool of himself on live TV, the producers ask Benji Stone, one of the show's youthful writers, to watch and babysit Swann for the few days prior to his stint on the show. The unlikely duo experience numerous adventures together (such as a dinner with Benjy's star-struck relatives) and form a lasting bond in the process. Benjamin's directorial debut. Recently adapted for Broadway with Lanie Kazan.
NO. 17
Documentary, Israel, 2003, Beta SP, 75 minutes
Director: David Ofek
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Cast:
In June 2002, a bus on its way from Tel Aviv to Tiberius, was bombed. 17 people were killed, 16 were identified. No. 17 wasn't. He was buried a few weeks later, anonymous. The police stopped searching, believing that he must have been a foreign worker. This is where the filmmakers step in, documenting over a period of six months the search for the identity of a man no one claimed was missing. The film takes the form of a detective investigation, but also pursues the stories of several people who were affected directly or indirectly by this bombing, creating a tragic-comic portrait of a society living under the shadow of death. When it seems that the investigation has reached a dead end a vague lead appears....
PAPER SNOW
Drama, Israel, 2003, Beta SP, 98 minutes
Director: Lina & Slava Chaplin (Trumpet in the Wadi)
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Cast:
In pre-independence Palestine, Tel Aviv has become a bustling cultural center, attracting the immigrant bohemians who begin gathering in the few new local cafés. The various circles of artists struggle to create a renewed Hebrew culture of their own. Hanna Rovina, a charismatic theatre actress, known as "Queen of the Jews" reigns supreme in the national theatre. She meets and falls madly in love with Alexander Penn a controversial poet, anarchist and drunkard. Their passionate, sensational love affair flourishes but even this great love cannot withstand the growing gap between two artistic egos. As love turns to torment, their relationship self-destructs, leaving them both to pick up the pieces on their own.
PERLASCA: An Italian Hero
Drama, Italy, 2002, Beta SP, 126 minutes
Director: Alberto Negrin
Language: Italian with English subtitles
Cast:
An Italian Schindler, Giorgio Perlasca became consumed by a sense of humanitarian duty after witnessing the persecution of Jews in Budapest. Passing himself off as Spanish Consul, he deceived the Nazis in a series of ingenious capers and succeeded in saving more than 5,000 Hungarian Jews. An extraordinary story of a hero, forgotten for nearly a half century.
PURIM SAFARI
, South Africa, 2003, Beta SP, 47 minutes
Director: Romi Kaplan
Language: English
Cast:
Arriving in South Africa as part of his book on Jews in the Diaspora, Frederic Brenner, French photographer, cajoles and coerces his subjects into moments of self-disclosure and then into posing for his photographs in various bizarre contexts. The film questions Brenner s motives as he sets out to prove his claim that Jews have chosen to be white and Western. Both notions are visually denoted by Brenner as forms of disguise; the title of the film refers to the Jewish festival of Purim, which is commemorated by the donning of costumes. The film accompanies Brenner on his trip around South Africa meeting a diversity of characters-- performance artist Steven Cohen and his acts of public humiliation, Albie Sachs, a former freedom fighter and now judge of the constitutional court of the New South Africa, and musician Jonny Clegg, who crossed cultural by performing African music in the Zulu language.
ROSENSTRASSE
Drama, Germany/Netherlands, 2003, 35mm, 136 minutes
Director: Margarethe von Trotta
Language: English and German with English subtitles
Cast: Katja Riemann, Maria Schrader (Aimee und Jaguar), Jürgen Vogel
Margarethe von Trotta found the inspiration for her deeply affecting ROSENSTRASSE in a little-known event in German history. Jewish husbands of Aryan wives were protected from deportation to concentration camps, however, during the final roundup of mid-winter 1943, many of these protected Jews were suddenly taken to a detention centre on the Rosenstrasse, a street in Berlin. Over the course of a two-week protest, their wives would stare down the SS and, indeed, the Third Reich itself. Von Trotta uses these events to tell a powerful and, at times, tearful story that spans sixty years of history and touches on three generations. Using a structure in which events of the present open avenues to the past, von Trotta and her singular, virtually all-woman cast weave a highly emotional story that not only deals with the harsh realities of the period, but manages to find hope and life amid horror and death. Courtesy of Toronto Film Festival, 2003.
SECRET LIVES: Hidden Children & Their Rescuers During WW II
Documentary, USA, 2003, Beta SP, 72 minutes
Director: Aviva Slesin
Language: English
Cast:
SECRET LIVES tells the story of the individuals who, wherever the Nazis were in power, reacted with defiance and humanity-- the people who simply could not stand by while children were willfully and brutally murdered. Rescuers came from all walks of life. Some were Communists, some hated the Germans, and some were religious Christians who believed it was their duty to save a life. They were not always the most upstanding members of society: criminals, prostitutes, and even anti-Semites rescued children. Why they acted remains a mystery. SECRET LIVES reunites children and rescuers from France, Belgium, Holland, Lithuania, and Poland and gives equal weight to the actions of non-Jewish rescuers and the experiences of the Jewish children they hid. The film uses only first-hand testimony of hidden children, parents and rescuers, many of whom are now historians, professors, writers, and psychologists. Directed and narrated by Academy Award winner Aviva Slesin, herself a former hidden child.
SECRET PASSAGE
Drama, UK/Luxembourg, , 35mm, 100 minutes
Director: Ademir Kenovic
Language: English
Cast: Katherine Borowitz (The Man Who Wasn't There), Tara FitzGerald, John Turturro (Mo' Better Blues), Hannah Taylor Gordon
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 glassmaking. This striking period piece features Katherine Borowitz (Internal Affairs, The Man Who Wasn't There) as Isabel, John Turturro (Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?) as Paolo Zane, Tara Fitzgerald as Clara, and Hannah Taylor Gordon (Anne Frank: The Whole Story) as Clara's daughter, Victoria.
SHABAT
, Russia, 1991, 35mm, 30 minutes
Director: Gulbahor Mirzoeva
Language: Russian with English subtitles
Cast:
A wonderful, nostalgic portrait of a Bukharan Jewish family about to depart to Israel.
SUNSHINE BOYS
Comedy, USA, 1975, Video, 111 minutes
Director: Herbert Ross
Language: English
Cast: Walter Matthau, George Burns and Richard Benjamin
When ABC decides to do a special on the history of comedy, they call on the famous vaudeville team of Lewis & Clark. However, the two aging comedy stars haven't spoken in years and must be persuaded to work together. Clark (Matthau) is a diehard New Yorker who lives and breathes show business. The stubborn and slovenly actor still auditions for work with the help of his persistent nephew turned agent, Ben (Richard Benjamin). Lewis (Burns) walked out on the team's final show to retire and move to New Jersey with his wife and kids, much to the chagrin of his show-loving partner. The two eccentric characters are complete opposites who worked together as a comic powerhouse in the past, known in their heyday as the Sunshine Boys. Ben attempts to do everything in his power to get the cantankerous team to put on one last show. Reminiscent of THE ODD COUPLE, THE SUNSHINE BOYS is a film to treasure.
THE CHOSEN PEOPLE
Documentary, Canada, 2004, Beta SP, 67 minutes
Director: Igal Hecht
Language: English, Hebrew, Russian with English subtitles
Cast:
The Chosen People introduces the audience to one of the most controversial movements today, Messianic Judaism. The Messianic Jewish movement has grown in recent years; they have over 100 synagogues in Israel and thousands across Europe and North America. Their belief is that Jews should accept Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah, and that Orthodox Judaism and branches that stem from it, are practicing false Judaism. Through interviews with members of the movement and individuals countering what they believe is a Christian conspiracy, they continue in their efforts to commit a spiritual holocaust on the Jewish people. The documentary was filmed in Canada, Israel, and Hungary.
THE DANISH SOLUTION
Documentary, USA, 2003, Beta SP, 58 minutes
Director: Karen Cantor and Camilla Kjærulff
Language: English
Cast:
Sixty years ago the Final Solution was attempted in Denmark. The plan was averted and over 95 percent of the country's Jewish population survived the war. How and why Jews escaped the Nazis blueprint for their extermination is the subject of this compelling new documentary film. Through the very human testimony of survivors, the story of the Danish rescue is told with clarity, empathy and humor. Because what happened in Denmark has taken on legendary proportions, the filmmakers have carefully researched the subject, separating the truths from the myths such as that of the Danish King wearing the Yellow Star. In addition to the survivors' stories, the filmmakers have interviewed rescuers and scholars.
THE FIRST ISRAELI IN SPACE
Documentary, Israel, 2003, , 70 minutes
Director: Neil Weisbrod
Language: Hebrew, English with English subtitles
Cast:
The First Israeli in Space follows the footsteps of Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, from the beginning of his training until his untimely death when the Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas. Ilan was one of the seven-person crew on the ill-fated flight STS-107, a 16-day scientific mission that ended in tragedy sixteen minutes before it was scheduled to land. For more than four years a film crew from Israel's Public Television Station, headed by director Neil Weisbrod, documented the long road that led Ilan, a veteran F-16 pilot in Israel's Air Force, to NASA's Astronaut Training Facility in Houston and to the Launch Pad in Florida. This film is dedicated to the memory of the seven-crew members of the Columbia Space Shuttle that crashed to earth on February 1st, 2003.
THE LAST SEPHARDIC JEW (El último Sefaradí)
Documentary, Spain, 2003, Video, 90 minutes
Director: Miguel Angel Nieto
Language: Ladino, Hebrew with English subtitles
Cast:
A young Rabbi, who teaches Ladino (Sephardic Spanish) in Israel undertakes a journey that will take him back through history from Thessalonika, the so called Jewish Republic, to Sarajevo, Curacao, Istanbul and finally Toledo, Spain. He brings with him the mythical key that the Jews took with them when they left Spain in order to return to their homes. There he attempts to better understand, why, in the year 1492, did Spain decide to bring to an end multi-religious and multicultural harmony?
THE LIGHT AHEAD (Fishke Der Krumer)
Drama, USA, 1939, B&W, 35mm, 94 minutes
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Language: Yiddish with English subtitles
Cast: Isidor Casher, Helen Beverly, David Opatoshu (Exodus)
Impoverished and disabled lovers Fishke and Hodel dream of life in the big city of Odessa, free from the poverty and stifling old-world prejudices of the shtetl. The benevolent and enlightened bookseller Mendele helps them, turning small-town superstitions to their advantage. Based on Mendele Mokher Seforim s story of love frustrated by small-town ignorance, this luminous allegory of escape marries Edgar Ulmer's masterful direction with superb acting by members of New York s Artef and Yiddish Art Theaters. "Beverly and Opatoshu are perhaps the most beautiful couple in the history of Yiddish cinema, and their scenes have a touching erotic chemistry." --J. Hoberman, Bridge of Light: Yiddish Film Between Two Worlds.
THE MAN WHO LOVED HAUGESUND
Documentary, Norway, 2003, Beta SP, 59 minutes
Director: Jon Haukeland and Tore Vollan
Language: Norwegian with English subtitiles
Cast:
A fascinating examination of the life of Polish Jew Moritz Rabinowitz, who came to Norway in 1911 and built a clothing empire from nothing. Regardless of his efforts and success, he remained an outsider in the town. Before the war, he was an outspoken fighter against Nazism and was the first person the Germans wanted during the occupation. Oblivious to their own latent anti-Semitism, to this day there are those in Haugesund that claim that it was his own greed that led to his capture. Using archival film and witness interviews, the truth is revealed.
THE PROVIDER
, Canada, 2004, Beta SP, 30 minutes
Director: Robert Swartz
Language: English
Cast:
A lyrical portrait of Marvin Swartz, a prolific abstract artist who died tragically in a car accident. Seventeen years later, Swartz's son, the filmmaker, who survived the accident, searches for his lost father through the powerful images of the works that were left behind. Weaving together interviews, super-8 movies, photographs and a vast array of artwork, the film creates a visually layered narrative that reflects Marvin's complex and dualistic life.
THE RASHEVSKI TANGO (Le Tango des Rashevski)
, France/Belgium, 2001, 35mm, 100 minutes
Director: Sam Gabarski
Language: French with English Subtitles
Cast: Ludmila Mikael, Hippolyte Girardot, Michel Jonasz, Daniel Mesguish
The death of the family matriarch, Rosa, is the catalyst for a series of comic vignettes in this box-office smash from France. Rosa has been defiantly secular her whole life, shunning rabbis and synagogues. But, when she dies, her family discovers that she had purchased a plot in the Jewish section of the cemetery. Confused and upset, they must put aside differences to see to Rosa's burial. As they come together, the Rashevskis begin to raise questions about their own Jewish identities and how much religiosity they're willing and able to incorporate into their lives.
THE REAL OLD TESTAMENT
Comedy, USA, 2002, Beta SP, 85 minutes
Director: Curtis and Paul Hannum
Language:
Cast:
The Real Old Testament is a parody of the first reality show, MTV's "The Real World" except in this version it's God, Adam and Eve and a host of other characters from the Book of Genesis who've agreed to have their lives videotaped. Five stories from the Bible are presented matter-of-factly by a gifted set of comedic improvisers. They act out actual Scripture with their own imaginings of what might have been said. Irreverent, yes, but very funny!
TWO MINUTES FROM FARADIS
, Israel, 2003, Beta SP, 50 minutes
Director: Daniel Syrkin
Language:
Cast:
A satiric look at the Israeli-Arab conflict. A precocious Israeli teenage girl 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 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.
WONDROUS OBLIVION
Drama, UK, 2002, 35mm, 106 minutes
Director: Paul Morrison
Language: English
Cast: Delroy Lindo (Romeo Must Die), Emily Woof (The Full Monty), Stanley Townsend, Sam Smith (Oliver Twist)
11-year-old David Wiseman is fanatical about cricket. It's doubly odd, given that he's both hopeless at it and the son of European Jewish refugees who don't share his enthusiasm for the sport. When the Samuels family from Jamaica move in next door and build a cricket net in their back garden he couldn't be happier especially when Mr. Samuels agrees to coach him. David gets on the school team and becomes popular with his peers and all seems well. But, with racist neighbours all around, David's Wondrous Oblivion cannot last much longer. The Vancouver Jewish Film Festival was proud to have the Canadian Premiere of Paul Morrison's first film, Solomon and Gaenor, back in 1999. His latest effort is a not-to-be missed charmer.
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