WONDROUS
OBLIVION
UK 2003 DIRECTOR: PAUL MORRISON Paul Morrison’s engaging,
uplifting comic drama offers a warm view of a working class
Jewish community in London in the 1960s. David Wiseman is
a good, 11-year-old Jewish boy who is fanatical about cricket—and
"wondrously oblivious" to the fact he has absolutely
no talent for it. His hard-working Polish parents, refugees
from the Holocaust, are viewed with suspicion by their less
than tolerant neighbors. Social tensions further mount when
the Samuels, a cricket-loving family of Jamaican immigrants,
move in next door. As much as David is overjoyed, the neighbors
are dismayed, forcing David to make a difficult choice between
fitting in and finding the courage to stand up for what he
knows is right. (106 mins.)
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HEIR
TO AN EXECUTION
US 2003 DIRECTOR: IVY MEEROPOL On June 19, 1953, the U.S. Government executed
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for “conspiracy to commit
espionage” by providing atomic secrets to the Soviet
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In an era of Cold War hysteria
and McCarthyism, the Rosenberg’s were confirmed
in the public imagination as either treacherous spies
or socialist martyrs, depending on one’s political
persuasion. 50 years after their deaths, their granddaughter,
Ivy Meeropol, embarks on a quest to understand who her
grandparents were, the dynamic of the Rosenberg family,
the choices they made and what they believed in so strongly
that they were willing to orphan their own children.
“Often heart-wrenching, this highly personal film
never turns maudlin or self-indulgent. Rather, by bringing
her grandparents back home, Meeropol provocatively resurrects
a story with profound resonance for our times."
—SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL. (90 mins.)
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LE
GRAND ROLE
FRANCE 2004 DIRECTOR: STEVE SUISSA Laughter and tears vie for top billing in this
lovely story of friends Maurice, Sami, Simon, Elie and
Edouard, actors in their late 30s still waiting for their
big break. One day, Grichenberg, the famous American director,
comes to Paris looking for the lead role in his Yiddish
adaptation of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. |
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Maurice gets the part! It
is the breakthrough he has been waiting for all his
life. He hurries home to announce the news to his wife
Perla but she also has news for him: she is terminally
ill. When the part is given away to an American star,
Maurice does not have the heart to tell Perla the truth.
With the help of his friends he ends up playing the
role of his life to allow his wife to be proud of him
and to protect her from realizing the truth. (89 mins.)
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BROKEN
WINGS
ISRAEL 2003 DIRECTOR: NIR BERGMAN This bittersweet comedy portrays an Israeli family's
struggles to persevere in the wake of the father's sudden
death. It has been nine months since David, the father and
breadwinner of a family of four, died, and things are not
getting better for the Ulmans of Haifa, Israel. Dafna, the
widow, has emerged from her grief-stricken catatonia into
a punishing work schedule, which leaves 17-year-old Maya to
care for her distracted siblings. When Maya's musical aspirations
are crushed by her new responsibilities she becomes so forgetful
that a fresh family tragedy ensues. A sweet, sad, but eventually
optimistic film about living through death. "It's something
of a rarity for an Israeli film (at least one exported to
the United States) not to address political, societal or religious
conflict. This story could take place anywhere there are families
struggling to remake themselves in the aftermath of tragedy;
its universality is perhaps the most potent political message
of all."—THE OREGONIAN. Winner of nine Israeli
Academy Awards including Best Picture. (84 mins.)
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IMAGINARY
WITNESS: HOLLYWOOD AND THE HOLOCAUST
US 2004 DIRECTOR: DANIEL ANKERIMAGINARY WITNESS explores the ways American movies—feature
films, documentaries and newsreels—have shaped our perception
of the Holocaust. Using rarely seen footage, first-hand accounts
by directors, actors, writers and producers, along with clips
from such films as THE GREAT DICTATOR, THE PAWNBROKER, SOPHIE’S
CHOICE and SCHINDLER’S LIST, Anker engrossingly examines
Hollywood’s complex responses to the horrors of Nazi
Germany. Beginning with American ambivalence and denial during
the height of Nazism, through the silence of the postwar years,
the impact of television and the current climate, this skillful
historical essay reveals not only how influential Hollywood
has been, but also to what degree it has acted in a responsible
fashion. (92 mins.)
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MOVING
HEAVEN AND EARTH
US 2003 DIRECTORS: DEBRA GONSHER, DAVID
VINIK Meet the Abayudaya, a tribe that has been practicing
Judaism in Uganda for over 80 years. Even in the face of rampant
anti-Semitism (especially under Idi Amin) and many in world
Jewry—whose definition of who can be a Jew cannot include
them—the Abayudaya continue to hold fast to Jewish practice
and belief in observance of Talmudic Law and the teachings
of the Torah. At the beginning of February of 2002, a Beit
Din (Rabbinical Court) went to Uganda to officially recognize
the over 300 Abayudaya, and welcome them into the larger community
of world Jewry. The film asks a resonant question about Jewish
identity while celebrating the music, culture, and devotion
of these African Jews. (45 mins.)
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WITHTHE LAST
MARRANOS
FRANCE/ISRAEL 1990 DIRECTORS: FREDERIC
BRENNER, STAN NEUMANN
In the late 15th century the Spanish Inquisition brought an
end to Sephardic Jewry on the Iberian peninsula. The Marranos
(pigs) as Christians called them, were forced to convert to
Catholicism to avoid persecution and death. But many continued
to observe their Judaism in secret and five centuries later
in the village of Belmonte, north of Lisbon, a small enclave
of Sephardic culture still endures. The present day Marranos
attend church on Sunday but privately follow barely understood
Jewish rituals passed down from generation to generation.
Today they practice their faith openly and have boldly established
a synagogue for the first time in five centuries. (65 mins.)
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THE
NINTH DAY
GERMANY 2004 DIRECTOR: VOLKER SCHLÖNDORFF Based on an agonizing true story, THE NINTH DAY
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recounts events in February,
1942 when Catholic Priest Henri Kremer is surprisingly
released from hellish imprisonment at Dachau and sent
home to Luxembourg. Upon his arrival, he soon learns
that this is not a reprieve or a pardon of his crime—voicing
opposition to the Nazis’ racial law—but
that he has nine days to convince the bishop of Luxembourg
to start cooperating with the Nazi occupiers. Gestapo
commander Gebhardt is under pressure from his superiors
to dampen resistance by creating a rift between the
Luxembourg church and the Vatican—or be transferred
to duty in the death camps in the East. Gebhardt, a
former Catholic seminarian, tried to use theological
arguments— including the role of Judas in Christianity—to
bring Kremer around, but when they don’t work
he resorts to more draconian measures. If Kremer fails
to influence the Bishop, he returns to Dachau. If he
escapes, his family and all the priests in the camp
will be killed. (97 mins.)
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WATERMARKS
ISRAEL 2004 DIRECTOR: YARON ZILBERMAN
WATERMARKS tell the story of seven remarkable Jewish women
athletes: Austrian national swimming champions and members
of the legendary Jewish sports club, Hakoah Vienna. Founded
in 1909 in response to the Aryan Paragraph banning Jewish
athletes from Austrian sports clubs, Hakoah (“The
Strength” in Hebrew) quickly grew into one of Europe’s
largest athletic clubs. In the 1930s, |
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its women’s swimming
team dominated the Austrian national competitions. The
members fled the country when Hitler annexed Austria
in 1938 and Nazis shut down the club. Today the women
are in their 80s and scattered around the world. All
swim daily. Director Yaron Zilberman lets these wonderful
women speak for themselves and he engineers a reunion
at their old pool in Vienna, their first reunion in
65 years, an event full of memories and celebration.
(90 mins.)
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HITLER’S
HIT PARADE
GERMANY 2003 DIRECTOR: OLIVER AXER,
SUSANNE BENZE When the Nazis came to power in the 1920s and1930s,
Germany was one of the world’s most sophisticated, highly
educated cultures, home to many of the world's pre-eminent
artists, writers, composers, scientists and thinkers. How
was it that this advanced society could unleash one of civilization’s
greatest tragedies? HITLER'S HIT PARADE uses a collage of
music and archival footage—from feature films, homemovies,
educational and propaganda films and commercials—to
reveal the false idealism that characterized the Nazis' rise
to power. Forgoing didactic narration, Axer and Benze’s
sound and image track of the popular culture of the era provides
a meditation on the emotional undercurrent in a nation blithely
preparing to destroy much of the world. (76 mins.)
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MY
UNCLE BERNS
US 2003 DIRECTOR: LINDSAY CRYSTALAn 88-year-old artist, WWII veteran and renaissance
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man, Bernhardt Crystal’s
life plays out like a great novel. From his troubled
youth spent on the streets of Brooklyn to his experience
as a combat artist at D-Day, to September 11, when he
was evacuated from his home across from the Twin Towers,
he has lived much of the American experience. Grandniece
Lindsay Crystal, fearing she could have lost him on
that tragic day, set out to chronicle her great uncle's
extraordinary past and present it in intimate fashion.
Featuring interviews with the filmmaker's father Billy,
MY UNCLE BERNS is not just a story of a man's life,
but a celebration of older generations and poignant
lesson in how to approach life: with laughter, song
and the occasional dirty joke. (83 mins.) Director Lindsay
Crystal will introduce the film.
Following the screening we invite you to join us at
the Art Museum for an opportunity to meet director Lindsay
Crystal. A benefit for this year's Film Festival, tickets
to the reception are $36 and limited. Tickets are available
by calling the Institute for Judaic Studies, 503-246-8831.
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PAPER
CLIPS
US 2004 DIRECTORS: JOE FAB, ELLIOT BERLIN In the small, mostly white and Christian, community
of Whitwell, Tennessee (population 2,000), the middle school
students were having trouble understanding the massive scale
of the Holocaust—a crime against humanity so removed
from their daily lives as to seem unfathomable. So they decided
to try an experiment: collect a single paper clip to represent
each individual exterminated by the Nazis. Before long it
became clear just what an enormous task that was, and the
community found themselves in the middle of an unforgettable
project that opened the community to the world beyond their
valley. The amazing result, which stands permanently in their
schoolyard, is an inspiring lesson of how a committed group
of children can change the world, one classroom at a time.
(82 mins.)
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CHECKPOINT
ISRAEL 2003 DIRECTOR: YOAV SHAMIR When the Oslo Peace Accord was signed in 1993 it sparked
worldwide hope for a possible resolution in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. CHECKPOINT visits the flashpoints of the current
crisis—Jenin, Nablus, Hebron, Ramallah and the Gaza
Strip—which regulate the borders between Palestinian
and Israeli zones, director Shamir provides a first-hand look
at the tedious business of division. Top prize at the Amsterdam
Documentary Festival 2003 and the Golden Gate Award for Best
Documentary at the San Francisco International Film Festival
2004. (80 mins.)
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WALK
ON WATER
ISRAEL 2004 DIRECTOR: EYTAN
FOX Eyal, a tough Mossad hit-man, is assigned to try and
get close to Axel and Pia, the brother and sister grandchildren
of a Nazi war criminal, in the hope of discovering whether
their grandfather is still alive and where he is hiding. Axel,
a smart, attractive gay teacher from Berlin has traveled to
Israel to see the country and visit Pia, who is living with
her boyfriend on a kibbutz. Eyal poses as Axel’s tour
guide for the trip. But as Eyal spends time with them, especially
the spontaneous and engaging Axel, he finds his deep-seated
prejudices and preconceptions challenged. A colorful, contemporary
road movie/thriller that takes its characters around Israel
and later to Berlin, WALK ON WATER explores fears—personal,
cultural and political—and the role of the past in the
present day lives of young people in Israel and Germany. "Excellent”—TEL
AVIV MAGAZINE. (104 mins.)
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ARNA’S
CHILDREN
ISRAEL/PALESTINE/NETHERRLANDS 2003 DIRECTORS:
JULIANO MER KHAMIS, DANNIEL DANNIEL Arna Mer Khamis came from a Zionist family and in
the 1950s she married a Palestinian Arab. On the West Bank
she opened a theater for children from Jenin to help them
to express their frustrations, anger and fear. Arna’s
son, Juliano, worked with his mother and filmed her passionate
commitment to the children and the project over seven years
up to her death in 1996. Five years later, he returned to
see what had happened to these children and try to understand
the choices they made. To his dismay, he discovers that some
have sacrificed themselves as suicide bombers, and that others
will die in conflicts shortly after his return. Shifting back
and forth in time, the film reveals the tragedy and horror
of lives trapped in a battleground. “ARNA’S CHILDREN
is obligatory viewing for anyone who cannot understand the
Intifada.”—TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL. Best Documentary,
Tribeca Film Festival; Critic’s Prize, Hot Docs Festival,
Toronto; Best Film, Prague Human Rights Film Festival. (84
mins.)
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NINA’S
TRAGEDIES
ISRAEL 2003 DIRECTOR: SAVI GABIZONWinner of 11 Israeli Academy Awards, including Best
Film, and the most popular film in Israel last year, NINA’S
TRAGEDIES is a “A Very Sad Comedy,” told from
the point of view of a 14-year-old boy. Nadav must cope with
his parents’ divorce, his high-strung mother, and his
newly Orthodox father. Packed off to live with his beautiful
Aunt Nina, with whom he is secretly and utterly smitten, he
shares in her suffering over her husband’s death in
a terrorist attack and is devastated when a new man enters
her life. Unfolding through a series of humorous and touching
journal entries in which Nadav reminisces, this sexy and surprising
film explores the tenuous but fierce connections between lovers,
parents and children, and the grace and humor found in the
sadness and conflict of daily life. “A deliciously soulful
tragic comedy.”—LA WEEKLY. (110 mins.)
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