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These are the films that played during the 17th Annual Vancouver Jewish Film Festival. They are listed in alphabetical order.
A JOURNEY OF SPIRIT
Documentary, USA, 2003, Beta SP, 75 minutes
Director: Ann Coppel
Language:
Cast:
A Journey of Spirit is a documentary that tells the story of the remarkable singer, songwriter and guitarist Debbie Friedman. One of the preeminent women in contemporary Jewish culture, Debbie has integrated contemporary melody with Jewish liturgy to transform Jewish sacred music, making the text accessible to a large and diverse audience. A Journey of Spirit explores the tremendous power this artist and leader has to promote spirituality, healing, and community. Viewers are treated to a lively and heartfelt exchange as A Journey of Spirit places the debate about contemporary versus traditional prayer music squarely on the table.
AMERICA
Israel, 2004, Beta SP, 23 minutes
Director: Sigal Mordechai
Language: Hebrew with English Subtitles
Cast:
David , a widower in his 70’s and Ezra, a bachelor in his late 50’s have been planning a trip to America for years, until the presence of a woman complicates things in this film where the two brothers face the difficult issues of getting old, loneliness and mutual dependency as well as the desire to pursue their own individual goals.
AMERICAN MATCHMAKER
Comedy, USA, 1940, 35mm, 87 minutes
Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Language: Yiddish with English Subtitles
Cast: Leo Fuchs, Judith Abarbanel, Judel Dubinsky, Anna Guskin
Leo Fuchs, the “Yiddish Fred Astaire” stars in this musical comedy at Nat Silver, a debonair and fabulously wealthy Jewish-American businessman whose recent engagement (his eighth) goes awry. In this newly restored 35mm print, this slick sophisticate decides that he must learn how to arrange a good marriage in order to find himself a good match, and reinvents himself as a shadchen (matchmaker). Not your traditional matchmaker, Nat sets off on his new venture, which he knows nothing about, in ascot and morning coat, and refuses to charge for his services, already off to a questionable start. In this romantic comedy set in Manhattan’s Upper West Side, the old ways of the shtetl clash with New York sophistication with just the right combination of humour and schmaltz.
ART OF APOLOGY
, Canada, 2005, ,
Director: Dr. Hinda Avery
Language:
Cast:
How does a country make amends for the unspeakable horrors of the Holocaust? One woman travels through Europe visiting memorial sites looking for an answer to that question.
AVANIM
Drama, France/Israel, 2004, 35mm, 107 minutes
Director: Raphael Nadjari
Language: Hebrw with English Subtitles
Cast: Assi Levy, Uri Gavriel, Danny Steg, Shaul Mizrahi
Winner of the top prize at the Geneva International Film Festival, Avanim is the story of Michale, a married Israeli woman who works as an accountant in her father’s firm. Her harried lifestyle, trying to balance work, family and an illicit affair, changes forever when her lover is killed in a terrorist attack. Her life slowly unravels as she tries to cope silently with his death, while trying to keep up with her day to day obligations. Assi Levy gives a beautifully nuanced performance as a woman who struggles to make difficult decisions that will have far reaching effects while secretly mourning the loss of her lover.
AWAKE ZION
Documentary, USA, 2003, Beta SP, 45 minutes
Director: Monica Haim
Language: English, Patois
Cast:
Awake Zion is a documentary that explores the connections between reggae culture and Judaism. The film is a look at the modern-day cultural world of Jewish reggae, a journey to Israel, where Ethiopian Jews reside, where a small, sizzling reggae scene thrives, and its role as a healing agent in a war-torn reality. Then, of course, to Jamaica, where reggae and Rasta were born. 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.
BERNIE
Documentary, USA, 2005, Beta SP, 62 minutes
Director: Jay Heyman
Language:
Cast:
As filmmaker Jay Heyman grew older, he felt compelled to document the story of his grandfather Bernie. Grandpa Bernie grew up in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in New York City, never knowing either parent or having an identity of his own, separate from the orphanage. After spending eleven years in the orphanage, he later returned to the institution as a professional social worker in an effort to bring about much needed change. Amidst professional success, Bernie suffered through the premature losses of loved ones, yet moved forward to create new relationships with a contagious enthusiasm for life that lasted almost 97 years. This is a wonderful, inspirational celebration of family and life.
BONJOUR MONSIEUR SHLOMI
Comedy, Israel, 2003, 35mm, 94 minutes
Director: Shemi Zarhin
Language: Hebrew with English Subtitles
Cast: Oshri Cohen, Arieh Elias, Esti Zakheim
Shlomi takes care of everyone. He feeds his grandfather, bathes him and listens to his fictitious stories from World War II. He reminds his older brother to take his medication on time and intently listens to his pornographic thoughts. He calms his quick-tempered mother and mediates between her and his hypochondriac father who was thrown out of the house after cheating on her. He looks after his older sister`s twins and makes sure she keeps going back to her husband who can`t tell the difference between the identical babies. And most of all, Shlomi makes sure to make everyone happy by cooking their favorite dishes. But no one in the family really sees Shlomi. Even Shlomi doesn`t see Shlomi. Until one day a routine math test arouses the suspicions of Shlomi`s math teacher and school principal. After meeting and talking with him, they realize that a very unique and gifted personality is hiding behind this neglected and dormant boy. With their help and the help of Rona the gardener with whom he falls head over heels in love, Shlomi discovers himself. Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi is a heartening family comedy, a surprising love story, which focuses on the captivating character of one boy blessed with extraordinary talents, who discovers through the power of love that the sky is the limit.
CARAVAN 841
Drama, Israel, 2001, Beta SP, 52 minutes
Director: Zion Rubin
Language: Hebrew with English Subtitles
Cast: Avi Ashkenazi, Yossi Vasa, Shiri Ashkenazi
In this emotionally powerful drama, we see a compelling vision of contemporary immigrant life in Israel. Moshe, an 11 year-old Ethipian boy, lives in dwindling “Atidim” caravan site in the Western Galilee and is awaiting the arrival of his mother from Ethiopia. While he waits, he is torn between the influences of Aharon, a 60-year-old repentant Jew who teaches him Torah, and Walter – an impulsive African American saxophone player from New York who has a jazz club at the edge of the site. Aharon gives Moshe a magic box and promises him that it will bring his mother to Israel. Walter gives Moshe the strength to believe only in himself. Beautiful, bittersweet, and hopeful, CARAVAN 841 reveals the reality of Ethiopian immigrant life.
CBC/ZED SHORTS PROGRAM
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Director:
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Zed Shorts Program
Curated by CBC's Zed Film curator Sue Biely
OY! IT'S A BOY!
Lenny Epstein
Ontario, Canada
Unsnipped and unbaptised - the newest addition challenges family traditions.
TIERHEIM
Jason Margolis
BC, Canada
"Kill the boy! Kill the boy!" A paleontologist looks for a bone, a blind woman searches for her dog, and a scientist tries to find a soul in this ode to silent film expressionism.
RUGGED RICH AND THE ONA ONA
Eric Finkel
BC, Canada
Rich hates the outdoors. Jane is a nature jock. Rich is so smitten with Jane that he can't bear to tell the truth - even if that means having to confront a really
weird tropical fish.
BREGMAN, EL SIGUIENTE
Federico Veiroj
Spain
A coming of age story about a young Jewish boy in Spain.
MILO 55160
David Ostry
Ontario, Canada
Milo 55160, heavens lonliest bureaucrat, meets Will, a boy who is struggling to stay alive on earth. When Will disappears, Milo embarks on a journey through the afterlife that changes him forever.
LA LUZ DE LA PRIMERA ESTRELLA (WHEN THE FIRST STAR LIGHTS UP IN THE SKY)
Manuel F. Torres
Spain
All man have a right to die with a hat.
GRANDMOTHER, HITLER AND I
Carl Johan De Geer
Sweden
To most people, condemning Nazism is a matter of common sense. But not to all. Carl John De Geer lived as a child a few years with his grandmother who was a
Nazi, even after WWII. Much later, after her death, he started to ponder what could have made his grandmother believe in Nazism and Hitler to such an extent.
I PIE (A LOVE STORY)
Nobu Adilman
Ontario, Canada
A pie-maker struggles to explain what's behind his life-long love of making pies. A humourous look into an eccentric's life, this dead-pan delivered
philosophical faux doc follows the making of a pie from raw ingredients to tasty treat.
COLUMBIA: THE TRAGIC LOSS
Documentary, Israel, 2004, Beta SP, 60 minutes
Director: Naftaly Gliksberg
Language: English, Hebrew with English Subtitles
Cast:
Following the tragic loss of the Columbia, the personal diary of Ilan Ramon, filled with his thoughts from his journey in space, was found at one of the crash sites. The partly erased handwriting in the diary was reconstructed, revealing Ramon’s compelling story. Columbia The Tragic Loss portrays the inner world of the first Israeli astronaut who lit up the skies with his bravery and love of mankind. Exclusive footage is the heart of this documentary, depicting the charged moments of preparation, the excitement of the launch and, ultimately, the heartbreaking disaster, the disintegration of the Columbia.
FACING WINDOWS
, Italy/UK/Turkey/Portugal, 2003, 35mm, 106 minutes
Director: Ferzan Ozpetek
Language: Italian with English Subtitles
Cast: Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Massimo Girotti, Raoul Bova, Filippo Nigro
1943, Italy: A young baker’s apprentice murders his employer before running off into the night in a frantic search for someone or something. Sixty years later we find Giovanna and her husband Filippo who one night brings home a confused elderly man found wandering in the streets. The older man’s presence and the mystery of his identity begin to have a profound effect on Giovanna. At the same time Giovanna begins a fling with a neighbour Lorenzo (Italian heartthrob Raoul Bova). As the secrets of the old man’s past are slowly revealed, Lorenzo and Giovanna grow closer, consumed by the fate of the old man. As he begins to slowly put the pieces of his life back together, Giovanna finds herself facing a series of choices about her own life, family, and future. Winner Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress Italian Golden Globe Awards.
FILM AS A SUBVERSIVE ART: AMOS VOGEL AND CINEMA 16
Documentary, United Kingdom, 2003, Beta SP, 56 minutes
Director: Paul Cronin
Language:
Cast:
Vogel, as a young Jew in Austria, fled the Nazis and found a home in New York, where he founded Cinema 16, the most influential film society in U.S. history. Vogel was one of the essential personalities in the early rise of American independent film — the first to regularly program avant-garde cinema, playing a pivotal role by introducing North American audiences to such filmmakers as John Cassavetes and Roman Polanski. He also founded the New York Film Festival and authored Film as a Subversive Art, a classic text about foreign and independent cinema. Cronin combines old footage, photographs and leaflets with excerpts of films that screened at Cinema 16 and current interviews. The result is a thoroughly engaging documentary which, like Vogel, encourages audiences to see the world in new ways. “In the last analysis,” Vogel wrote, “every work of art, to the extent that it is original and breaks with the past instead of repeating it, is subversive.”
FINDING ELEAZAR
, USA, 2004, Beta SP, 80 minutes
Director: Paula Heil Fisher
Language:
Cast:
You don’t have to be an opera lover to enjoy Paula Heil Fisher’s documentary which follows American tenor Neil Shicoff as he prepares for the role of his career in the 1999 revival of the French opera LA JUIVE (THE JEWESS). The opera, created in 1835 by librettist Eugène Scribe and composer Jacques Fromental Halévy, tells the story of Eléazar, a Jewish jeweler, and his family who must renounce their faith or be killed. It was banned by the Nazis in 1936, not seen again until 1999 when the Vienna State Opera staged a production as a vehicle for Shicoff.
A candid, behind-the-scenes look at the preparation that goes into such a demanding role, Finding Eleazar is both humourous and moving. The film also includes footage of the making of a music video by academy-award-winning director Sidney Lumet. The film culminates in Shicoff’s breathtaking performance of the Rachel Aria, an unforgettable experience.
GLOOMY SUNDAY
Drama, Germany/Hungary, 1999, 35mm, 112 minutes
Director: Rolf Schübel
Language: English, Hungarian, German with English Subtitles
Cast: Erika Marozsán, Joachim Król, Ben Becker, Stefano Dionisi
Gloomy Sunday is a love story that takes place during the turmoil of World War II. Two men fall in love with the beautiful Ilona: Laszlo, the owner of Restaurant Szabo, and Andras, the pianist who, so inspired by Ilona’s beauty, composes a tragically beautiful song that causes people who listen to it to take their own lives. The film opens in contemporary Budapest with the celebration of an 80th birthday at Restaurant Szabo. When the pianist starts to play the haunting “Gloomy Sunday”, the man collapses. We then backtrack to the Budapest eatery as the turmoil of World War II engulfs Hungary, We meet Hans, a German SS officer, also in love with Ilona, who offers to protect the Jewish Laszlo from the fate that awaits him. The complicated love stories play out against the looming Nazi invasions. Gloomy Sunday is an elegantly beautiful and absorbing film.
HEIR TO AN EXECUTION
Documentary, USA, 2004, 35mm, 99 minutes
Director: Ivy Meeropol
Language: English
Cast:
Heir to an Execution is the story of a family torn apart on June 19th, 1953 when Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for "conspiracy to commit espionage." When their names were seared into history that day, as both martyrs and "Atom Spies," the young Jewish couple left behind two orphaned boys - Michael and Robert. Ivy Meeropol, the eldest granddaughter of the Rosenbergs, and Michael's daughter, embarks on a remarkable journey into her family's past that sheds new light on a chapter in American history and provides a personal perspective on the iconic event.
IMPACT OF TERROR
Documentary, Canada, 2004, Beta SP, 52 minutes
Director: Tim Wolochatiuk
Language:
Cast:
One moment it was a bustling pizzeria filled with families and students; the next, a mass of twisted metal, broken glass and bodies. After a young man detonated an innocuous-looking guitar full of explosives in the restaurant, lives changed forever. Fifteen people were killed and dozens injured. Today, the survivors and families of victims are still living with the physical and emotional scars from that horrific day. Impact of Terror goes beyond the headlines with an in-depth look at the Aug. 9, 2001, Sbarro restaurant bombing in Jerusalem to explore how the effects of terrorism radiate beyond the immediate act.
IN SATMAR CUSTODY
, Israel, 2003, Beta SP, 70 minutes
Director: Nitzan Giladi
Language: Hebrew with English Subtitles
Cast:
This spellbinding documentary tells the story of a Jewish family from Yemen who leave their native country for the ultra-orthodox Satmar Hassidic sect of New York. The filmmaker reveals how deception and a deep cultural divide eventually results in tragedy. Like other Jewish couples from Yemen, Yahia and Lauza Jaradi were lured by skillful missionaries promising a warm welcome in America with promises of work and education. As revealed in this eye-opening documentary thriller, life within the closed Satmar community proves to be a harsh surprise when the Jaradi children are confiscated from their parents when their youngest daughter is hospitalized after an accident. This is a stirring and disturbing film that is not to be missed.
JEW JUBE LIVES
, Canada, 2004, Beta SP, 6 minutes
Director: Michael Davidson
Language:
Cast:
Jewish Rap star Jew Jube, aka Shmuley Zeidelman, is a pop culture phenomenen. On the music video set of his latest hit, “Be Your Own Messiah,” we learn about the controversy surrounding his next project…world peace.
LE GRAND ROLE
Drama/Comedy, France, 2004, Beta SP, 89 minutes
Director: Steve Suissa
Language: French and Yiddish with English Subtitles
Cast: Stéphane Freiss, Bérénice Bejo, Peter Coyote, Lionel Abelanski
Le Grand Role presents us with a group of Parisian-Jewish actors struggling for their big break. When the famous American director Grichenberg (Peter Coyote) comes to Paris looking to cast the role of Shylock for his all-Yiddish production of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Maurice, one of the struggling actors, gets the part. But with this momentary triumph comes a greater challenge when Maurice is replaced in the production by a famous American star and he finds out his wife is seriously ill. Maurice finds himself in the role of a lifetime as he seeks, with the help of his friends, to conceal the lost role from his wife. A charming and heartwarming film that illuminates the meaning of art, love and truth with pathos and humour.
LIFE FOR LAND
Documentary, Israel, 2004, Beta SP, 59 minutes
Director: Tamar Wishnitzer-Haviv
Language: Hebrew with English Subtitles
Cast:
Life For Land chronicles the feelings of both a Jewish and a Palestinian community following a pair of killings in the occupied Palestinian territory. From her window in the settlement of Maon, in the occupied territories, Adi gazes at the hill where she and her Dov dreamed of living. They began building their home on the hill, threatening Palestinian inhabitants of the area and he was eventually killed in a confrontation. Dov’s death took on symbolic meaning among the other settlers. His thirty year old widow was left to care for their four children. The Israeli-Palestine conflict as it is reflected in the Maon events serves as a background for the changes that Adi goes through. Following Dov’s death, she is torn by her commitment to her ideology on one hand and her desire to protect her private life on the other.
LOSER WHO WON
, Australia, 2004, Beta SP, 19 minutes
Director: Jack Feldstein
Language:
Cast:
An experimental digital short shot in neonism, The Loser Who Won is about John Brinkman, a loser from Melbourne who’s unlucky in love, moves to Sydney and with the help of a pushy 90 year old Jewish pensioner, finally find true love.
LOST EMBRACE
Drama, Argentina/France/Italy/Spain, 2004, 35mm, 100 minutes
Director: Daniel Burman
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Cast: Daniel Hendler, Adriana Aizenberg, Jorge D’Elia, Sergio Boris
Lost Embrace (Silver Bear winner 2004 Berlin Film Festival) is a tale of a young man coming to terms with his heritage and his relationship with his absent father set in the context of Jewish exile in Argentina. Ariel dreams of escaping from his job at his mother's lingerie store in a Buenos Aires shopping mall and leaving behind the eccentric and multicultural cast of characters. His dream? To emigrate to Poland. He applies for a passport on the grounds that his grandmother was born there, even though she fled to Argentina during the Nazi invasion. No longer able to avoid his anger towards his family, Ariel must deal with his feelings toward his father, who left the family to fight for Israel in 1973 and never returned. Lost Embrace (Argentina's 2004 Academy Award entry for Best Foreign Film), conjours up an ensemble of engaging characters who pursue their humble dreams with gentle humour, irresistible passion and an infectious generosity of spirit.
MAKE ME KNOW
, Israel, 2005, Beta SP, 30 minutes
Director: Yuval Simoni
Language:
Cast:
Winner of Tel Aviv University’s International Student Film Festival for best Israeli film, Make Me Know is the story of twelve year old Eli who is faced with reading publicly from the Tora for the first time, but who has trouble deciphering a grocery list.
MAKTOB
Drama, Israel, 2004, Beta SP, 90 minutes
Director: Avi Mussel
Language: Hebrew and Arabic with English Subtitles
Cast: Yuosef Sweid, Ayelet Zurer, Dani Shteg, Salwa Hadad Nakra
Ataf is a Druze police officer working a murder investigation. Michal is his Jewish girlfriend, also a police officer in his unit. During the course of the investigation Ataf has a series of unusual flashbacks that not only threaten his relationship, but also endanger his life. As Ataf tries to figure out the meaning behind these flashbacks, he begins to grasp one of the underlying concepts of Druze society. His journey brings him a better understanding of his Druze identity as well as bringing him closer to Michal, causing an unsurpassable internal conflict. Ataf continues his attempts to solve the murder case he’s working on as well as navigate the complicated waters of family, politics and cultural identity. Maktob is a taut psychological and mystical thriller.
METALLIC BLUES
Comedy/Drama, Canada/Germany/Israel, 2004, 35mm, 90 minutes
Director: Dan Verete
Language: English/Hebrew/German with English Subtitles
Cast: Moshe Ivgy, Avi Kushner
A warm and engaging road-movie about two Israeli car dealers (played by popular Israeli actors, Avi Kushnir and Moshe Igvy) who buy a vintage American-made limousine hoping to get rich quick by selling it in Hamburg. When everything that could possibly go wrong, does, our heroes are faced with unexpected truths about friendship, reconciliation and the ghosts of Germany’s dark past. This offbeat, largely comic treatment of present-day German/Jewish relations is carried off with great zest by the lead characters against the gritty backdrop of present day Hamburg. This film won Best Script and Best Actor (Moshe Igvy) Awards at 21st International Film Festival of Jerusalem.
MIXED BLESSINGS: THE CHALLENGES OF RAISING CHILDREN IN A JEWISH-CHRISTIAN FAMILY
Documentary, USA, 2004, Beta SP, 57 minutes
Director: Jennifer Kaplan
Language:
Cast:
Although interfaith marriage has been a topic of much concern for the Jewish community for several decades, no film has yet dealt with this issue quite the way Mixed Blessings does. What are the issues and long-term effects of Jewish-Christian inter-faith marriages? How do decisions get made regarding children? What are the joys and frustrations of being in an inter-faith marriage? Through the personal stories of couples, testimonies from children, and advice from experts, Mixed Blessings aims to de-mystify the many religious, ethnic and personal issues associated with inter-faith marriages in a manner that is helpful, meaningful and visually compelling. Bring the whole family!
A panel discussion with Jennifer Kaplan, producer and director of the film, will follow. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Marilee Sigal a Marriage and Family therapist in private practice. She has written and taught in the area of cross-cultural marriage and has run intermarriage groups for many years. Marilee and Jennifer will be joined by two individuals who have personal experience in interfaith marriages and families.
NINA'S TRAGEDIES
, Israel, 2003, 35mm, 106 minutes
Director: Savi Gavison
Language: Hebrew with English subtitles
Cast: Ayelet Zurer, Aviv Elkabeth, Yoram Hattab, Alon Abutbul
Death. Life. Love. Marriage. Divorce. Infatuation. Passion. Joy. Heartbreak. And dancing Hassids! Far from tragic, “Nina’s Tragedies” is a serio-comic look at an Israeli teenager’s coming-of-age and his crush on his beautiful but recently widowed and emotionally fragile Aunt Nina. Winner of 11 Israeli Academy prizes (including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay) as well as Best Film and Best Screenplay awards at the Jerusalem International Film Festival, “Nina’s Tragedies” takes place over an intensely emotional six months in the life of 14 year-old Nadav. The film unfolds through a series of funny and touching journal entries in which Nadav reminisces about this turbulent period in his family’s history--from his high-strung Uncle Haimon’s untimely death to the passing of his estranged, deeply religious father, Amnon. By turns profound and whimsical, sexy and surprising, “Nina’s Tragedies” is ultimately about unconditional acceptance--and the power of love to heal.
NOT IN MY NAME
Documentary, Canada, 2005, Beta SP, 100 minutes
Director: Igal Hecht
Language:
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Not In My Name takes a look at political activists of the Jewish Left in North America. This controversial documentary attempts to objectively and critically examine the growing number of Jews in North America that are opposed to the actions of the State of Israel. By asking tough questions of these individuals on their positions as apologists for moral equivalency, or about the need for the state of Israel, the filmmaker hopes to find a path of understanding amidst the propaganda and rhetoric with the ultimate hope of finding advocates for peace and the space to create a common ground.
ONLY HUMAN
Comedy, Spain/Argentina/Portugal/United Kingdom, 2004, 35mm, 93 minutes
Director: Dominic Harari and Teresa Pelegri
Language: Spanish with English Subtitles
Cast: Norma Aleandro, Guillermo Toledo, Maria Botto, Fernando Ramallo
A wonderfully twisted Spanish black comedy, Only Human, turns a dinner visit with the in-laws into a living nightmare, as a Jewish daughter brings home her fiancé to meet her dysfunctional family for the first time. Everything seems to be going smoothly, until the boyfriend, Rafi, reveals he is Palestinian. Troubles are compounded when a frozen block of soup goes flying out the seventh floor window with disastrous results. The tense family encounter quickly spirals out of control, thanks to a series of hilarious misunderstandings, and a zany cast of characters, including the caring but neurotic mother, a nymphomaniac sister and her bratty daughter, ultra-religious brother David, and a senile ex-Israeli solider, grandfather Dudu. Reminiscent of Billy Wilder, Only Human features a brilliantly written, rapid-fire script with all the fun you can pack into an hour and a half.
OUTSIDE CHANCE OF MAXIMILLIAN GLICK
Drama, Canada, 1988, 35mm, 97 minutes
Director: Allan Goldstein
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Cast:
An engaging slice of Jewish-Canadian life. Set in small-town Manitoba during the 1950s, this adaptation of a Morley Torgov novel is about a young Jewish boy (Noam Zylberman), who is more interested in playing piano with a non-Jewish girl he has a crush on than he is in studying for his bar mitzvah. Everything changes, though, when a flamboyant new rabbi (Saul Rubinek) arrives in town. When The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick was released in 1988, it was selected best Canadian film at the Toronto International Film Festival and most popular Canadian film at the Vancouver International Film Festival. It's a smart, entertaining movie for the entire family.
OY! IT'S A BOY!
, Canada, 2004, Beta SP, 9 minutes
Director: Lenny Epstein
Language:
Cast:
Two families, one Jewish, one Catholic, welcome a baby boy into the fold with hilarious results.
POSTWOMAN
Drama, Israel, 2002, Beta SP, 50 minutes
Director: Dina Zvi-Riklis
Language: Hebrew with English Subtitles
Cast: Orly Zilberschatz-Banai, Moshe Ivgi
Levana is a lonely middle-age postwoman who lives with her ailing mother. When a new man moves in on her route, she takes a keen interest, learning more about him through his mail and fantasizing about their relationship. Jealousy gets the better of her and she intercepts a personal letter in a curious blue envelope. As it turns out, the letter is from a blind date and the woman is a literature teacher. Posing as the teacher, Levana begins spilling her true feelings out on the page. But the further they go, and the more enamored he becomes with the teacher, the harder it is for her to tell him who she really is.
REFLECTION
, Canada, 2005, 35mm, 18 minutes
Director: Tony Dean Smith
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When a distraught father tries to let go of the past, an unusual event pulls him back into a world where reality and fantasy blur.
REUNION
, Israel, 2005, Beta SP, 27 minutes
Director: Dov Gil-Har
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Reunited after four years, a group of young German and Israeli Professionals in media and politics meet to discuss an exchange program. Designed to confront misconceptions and reservations about each others cultures, and gain an enriched understanding, the participants speak on themes including perceptions of Israel through the media and the lasting effects of Germany’s historical wrongs. In the words of one Jewish woman, “It changed my point of view on Israel. I think it was the first time I realized the emotional impact the past has on Israel”
SHALOM IRELAND
Documentary, USA, 2003, Beta SP, 60 minutes
Director: Valerie Lapin Ganley
Language: English
Cast:
Shalom Ireland is a documentary about Ireland's remarkable, yet little known Jewish community. It chronicles the history of Irish Jewry while celebrating the unique culture created by blending Irish and Jewish traditions. The Film features Rabbi Isaac Herzog who served as the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland and Israel and his son, Chaim Herzog who became President of Israel. From gun running for the IRA during Ireland's War of Independence to smuggling fellow Jews escaping from the Holocaust into Palestine, Shalom Ireland tells the untold story of how Irish Jews participated in the creation and development of both Ireland and Israel.
SHALOM JORDAN
, Israel, 2004, Beta SP, 45 minutes
Director: Dov Gil-Har
Language: Hebrew with English Subtitles
Cast:
On the tenth anniversary of the Israeli-Jordanian peace accord, Israeli filmmaker Dov Gil-Har (director of Behind Enemy Lines) reveals the story behind the secret negotiations which lead to the historic treaty. “Shalom Jordan” unveils the covert talks between Jordan’s King Hussein and Israeli leaders since the early 1960’s and their culmination in the historic accord sealed in 1994 on the banks of the Jordan river. Exclusive interviews with three former heads of the Mossad, a Prime Minister, statesmen, negotiators, experts and journalists reconstruct for the first time, the clandestine, fascinating and dramatic quest for peace.
SHEM
, UK, 2004, 35mm, 90 minutes
Director: Caroline Roboh
Language:
Cast: Ash Newman, Hadassah Unger Diamant, Istvan Szabo, Arturro Brachetti
Daniel (Ash Newman, winner of the Best Actor award, New York Independent Film Festival), is an arrogant and restless young Londoner, bored with his meaningless life. Seeking sympathy from his Jewish grandmother, he finds himself being sent on a mission through Europe to find the grave of her father who disappeared during the Second World War. Following his great grandfather’s trail, Daniel’s journey leads him to Paris, Berlin, Prague, Budapest and Rome. As he sleeps his way across Europe (irresistible to both men and women) he is caught up in the turmoil of change taking place in the former Communist countries, and in the process of discovering his Jewish roots which had previously never mattered to him. What started as a simple excuse to travel and have fun soon becomes an obsessive quest and a journey of personal discovery.
SISTER ROSE'S PASSION
, USA, 2004, Beta SP, 39 minutes
Director: Oren Jacoby
Language:
Cast:
Sister Rose tells the story of Sister Rose Thering, activist in the fight against anti-Semitism in the Catholic Church. She had an active part in Vatican II, which led to many reforms in the Catholic Church, and was a strong component in denouncing Church doctrine which blamed the Jews for Jesus’ death. Winner of the Best Documentary Short Film at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival and nominated for a 2005 Academy Award in the Documentary Short Subject, Sister Rose is a compelling and inspirational film about overcoming prejudice and fighting centuries old beliefs.
THE NAZI OFFICER'S WIFE
, USA, 2004, Beta SP, 97 minutes
Director: Liz Garbus
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This documentary features the spellbinding story of a well-educated Jewish woman, Edith Hahn, who was torn from her family in Nazi-occupied Vienna to survive the Holocaust by assuming a false identity. Through bizarre circumstances she eventually became a German officer's wife. Hahn managed to live in Munich and later Brandenburg, even safely giving birth to her Jewish daughter in a Nazi hospital through sheer determination and luck. Narrated by Susan Sarandon and Julia Ormond, The Nazi Officer's Wife tells the captivating story that Hahn hid from everyone, even her family, for decades.
THE RITCHIE BOYS
, Canada/German, 2004, 35mm, 93 minutes
Director: Christian Bauer
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The riveting untold story of a group of young men who fled Nazi Germany and returned to Europe as soldiers in U.S. uniforms. They knew the psychology and the language of the enemy better than anybody. In Camp Ritchie, Maryland, they were trained in intelligence and psychological warfare. Not always courageous, but determined, bright and inventive, they fought their own kind of war. They saved lives. They were victors, not victims. They were young and the world's most unlikely soldiers - with the greatest motivation to the fight this war: they were Jewish. They called themselves The Ritchie Boys. Tasked with devising ways to break the morale of the SS, these men are often credited with bringing an early end to the war. Some of these heroes, who are now in their eighties, are reunited in this fascinating documentary.
The Ritchie Boys was short-listed for the 2004 Grierson Award and for a 2005 Academy Award.
THE SYRIAN BRIDE
Comedy/Drama, France/Germany/Israel, 2004, 35mm, 97 minutes
Director: Eran Riklis
Language: English, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, French with English Subtitles
Cast: Hiyam Abbas, Makram Khoury, Clara Khoury, Ashraf Barhom
Winner of the prestigious Grand Prix of the Americas Award at the 2004 Montreal World Film Festival, The Syrian Bride was shot on location in the Golan Heights and is a compelling story about physical and emotional borders and the will it takes to cross them. Mona's wedding day is the saddest day of her life. She knows that once she crosses the border between Israel and Syria to marry a Syrian TV star, she will never again be allowed back to her beloved family in Majdal Shams, the largest Druze village in the Golan Heights held by Israel since 1967. Soon the family will find themselves facing an uncertain future, trapped in a no-mans land between Israel and Syria. This Festival Opener is a compelling story that tackles a number of current themes including paternalism, feminism and the politics of a divided community.
THEN AND NOW: CHILDREN OF HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS SPEAK
Documentary, USA, 2004, Beta SP, 52 minutes
Director: Elise Berlin and Carol Christensen
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This film is an intimate look at the personal experiences of eight adult children of Holocaust survivors, all members of the Children of Holocaust Survivors group in Boulder, Colorado. The participants describe with a frankness rarely seen by the general public, the experience of being raised by Holocaust survivors and its effect on their childhoods and adult lives. Recorded during monthly group meetings and in personal interviews, Then and Now tells poignant stories of the hope and despair that are part of the everyday lives of those that have been raised in the shadow of the Holocaust. As they recount their experiences, members of the group describe how the trauma experienced by Holocaust survivors is passed down to the next generation. These portraits shed light on the intergenerational and lasting effects that the Holocaust continues to impart on current culture.
TURN LEFT AT THE END OF THE WORLD
, Israel, France, 2004, Beta SP, 111 minutes
Director: Avi Nesher
Language: Hebrew, French, English with English Subtitles
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Turn Left at the End of the World takes us back to 1969 to a tiny isolated Israeli village on the edge of the Negev where two Jewish immigrant families, one from Morocco and the other from India become unlikely neighbours who share nothing but the dream of a new life. Obliged to live side by side, they become embroiled in a culture war trying to assert their cultural identities, the Indian family by putting together a cricket team, the Moroccan family by trying to disrupt the game. Meanwhile, each family has a teenage daughter negotiating the landscape of the sexual revolution. When the sultry Moroccan Nicole and the heady Indian Sara become friends, their youth and desire for freedom help them overcome their differences. In this isolated place, the road to harmony takes many surprising and comical twists and turns and is beautifully filmed against a desert background. This charming and sexy story is the highest-grossing Israeli film of the last decade and includes an international cast from France, India and Israel with standout performances by striking newcomers Liraz Charhi and Garti Netta.
WATERMARKS
, Israel/France/USA, 2004, 35mm, 80 minutes
Director: Yaron Zilberman
Language: English/German/Hebrew with English Subtitles
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A story of passion for life, sport and friendship experienced by the champion women swimmers of the legendary Jewish sports club, Hakoah. Founded in 1909 in response to the banning of Jewish athletes in Austrian sports clubs. In the 1930s Hakoah's women swimmers dominated national competitions in Austria, but following the Anschluss the Nazis shut down the club. The swimmers managed to flee the country thanks to an escape operation organized by Hakoah’s functionaries. Sixty-five years later the women’s swim team are reunited in their old swimming pool in Vienna. Told by the swimmers, now in their eighties, Watermarks is about a group of young girls with a passion to be the best.
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