Jewish Film Festival
The Jewish Film Festival is an annual event celebrating film and the impact and influence which Jewish culture has played on current movies and filmmakers of today. It also provides a forum for discussion about films from around the world that illuminate Jewish issues and principles. Our goal is to enhance a sense of community and inclusion for a broad range of audience members. There is something to see for everyone during the festival. So grab your popcorn and we'll save a seat for you at the movies!
BECOME A SPONSOR!
TO SPONSOR THIS INCREDIBLE EVENT, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
For a full list of 2012 Jewish Film Festival Sponsors, please click HERE.
OPENING DAY!
SUNDAY, APRIL 29
2:00 p.m.
An Article of Hope
(USA, 2010, Documentary, 54 minutes, English & Hebrew with English subtitles)
An uplifting message of humanity, An Article of Hope tells the remarkable story of Israel’s first astronaut and the journey of a tiny Torah scroll into outer space. Israeli Air Force Colonel Ilan Ramon and six other astronauts perished on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentry. The son of an Auschwitz survivor, Ramon felt a deep sense of obligation to Holocaust memory and witness. Among the few objects he took into space was a miniature Torah that survived the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The film parallels the fateful journey of this singular artifact and its profound symbolism with the life story of Colonel Ramon and his close bonds with fellow astronauts. Featuring poignant interviews and inspiring accounts of the Columbia mission, An Article of Hope traverses a half-century from the depths of hell during the Holocaust to the marvels of scientific achievement.
Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor
TO SEE A TRAILER OF THIS FILM, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
Followed by…..
Cohen on the Bridge: Rescue at Entebbe
(Israel/USA/France, 2012, Animated, 20 minutes, English)
Cohen on the Bridge is an award winning animated short that tells the story of the 1976 hostage rescue in Entebbe, Uganda. On June 27, 1976, Air France Flight 139 en route from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked by German and PFLP terrorists and taken to Entebbe, Uganda. Seven days later the hostages were rescued by Israeli Special Forces in one of the most brazen rescue operations in history. This 2d and 3d animated documentary recounts the story through the eyes of Amir, the first commando to enter the Entebbe terminal building against withering fire and impossible odds.
2010 Shortfest Award Winner- Second Place - Best Documentary Short
Sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor
NO TRAILER AVAILABLE
6:30 p.m.
SPONSOR RECEPTION
8:00 p.m.
Reuniting the Rubins
(United Kingdom, 2010, 97 minutes, English)
An up-tight lawyer, Lenny Rubins, (Timothy Spall), has to put his dream retirement on hold when his ailing mother (Honor Blackman) emotionally blackmails him into reuniting his estranged children for a Jewish holiday. They may be peas from the same pod, but in Lenny's eyes, his grown-up children are certainly not even from the same planet: a ruthless control-freak and hard-nosed capitalist, an outspoken, argumentative eco-warrior committed to the cause, an outer-worldly Buddhist Monk; and to cap it all, a bible bashing born-again Rabbi. While they might quarrel, fight, they are still family. It is going to take a whole lot of soul-searching and sacrifice for everyone to come together in this heart-warming comic drama.
Sponsored by the Prue and Ami Rosenthal
TO SEE A TRAILER OF THIS FILM, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
MONDAY, APRIL 30
1:30 p.m.
The Dybbuk
(Poland, 1937, Drama/Fantasy, 108 minutes, Yiddish with English subtitles)
Note: Photo provided by the National Center for Jewish Film
Boundaries separating the natural from the supernatural dissolve as ill-fated pledges, unfulfilled passions, and untimely deaths ensnare two families in a tragic labyrinth of spiritual possession. The Dybbuk is based on the celebrated play of the same name by S. Ansky written during the turbulent years of 1912-1917 and inspired by Ansky’s ethnographic research of Jews living in the Polish-Russian countryside just before World War I.
The Dybbuk reflects Ansky's deep perception of the shtetl's religious and cultural mores, as well as his insightful appreciation of its hidden spiritual resources. The film's exquisite musical and dance interludes evoke the cultural richness of both pre-World War II shtetl communities and Polish Jewry on the eve of World War II. The film was made on location in Poland in 1937 and brought together the best talents of Polish Jewry—script writers, composers, choreographers, set designers, actors and historical advisors.
SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: Maya Barzilai, Assistant Professor of hebrew Literature and Jewish Culture at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She will discuss the history of the film prior to the showing, and will lead a question and answer session after the film.
NO TRAILER AVAILABLE
5:00 p.m.
Love, Etc.
(USA, 2010, Documentary, 94 minutes, English)
Love, Etc. is a witty, poignant and humorous exploration about the universal stages of love, depicted through five real stories over the course of one year in New York City. Young, old, gay, straight – everyone has experienced love – and the joy and frustration that come with it. From teen romance to a decades-long marriage; newlyweds to a recent divorcee, and even a bachelor so frustrated in his search that he chooses to have children without a partner, Love, Etc. documents the intimate journeys of engaging characters aged 18-89 who reflect the city’s diversity, and takes an honest look at life's most challenging pursuit.
Winner, Audience Award- Hamptons International Film Festival 2010
Sponsored by Ann Arbor restaurant Mani Osteria
TO SEE A TRAILER OF THIS FILM, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
8:00 p.m.
My Australia
(Israel, 2011, 100 minutes, Polish and Hebrew with English subtitles)
In a poor neighborhood in 1960s Poland, 10-year-old Tadek and his brother are in a gang with a strong anti-Semitic bent. When they are arrested, their mother, a Holocaust survivor, has no choice but to reveal that though raised as Catholics, they are in fact Jews. Telling the younger boy they are going to Australia, the land of his fantasies, the family boards a ship to Israel. This tender and humorous drama is based on the filmmaker’s own experiences.
Sponsored by Penchansky Whisler Architects & Nancy and Phil Margolis
TO SEE A TRAILER OF THIS FILM, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
TUESDAY, MAY 1
1:30 p.m.
Dolphin Boy
(Israel, 2011, Documentary, 72 minutes, Hebrew/Arabic with English subtitles)
Morad - a teenager from an Arab village in the north of Israel disconnects himself from humans following a violent attack that he experienced. As a last resort before hospitalization in a mental institution, he is taken by his devoted father to be treated with Dolphins in Eilat. Morad starts speaking again after months of silence, but he erases his past and refuses to go home to his awaiting mother. This documentary about the devastating havoc that human violence can wreak upon the human soul, and about the healing powers of nature and of love, was filmed over the course of the past four years.
Sponsored by Pat and Errol Soskolne
TO SEE A TRAILER OF THIS FILM, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
5:00 p.m.
Tony Curtis: Driven to Stardom
(France, 2011, Documentary, 96 minutes, English)
Tony Curtis: Driven to Stardom explores the man's rebellious demeanor, his struggle as a Jew in Hollywood, his difficult childhood, the brief love affair with Marilyn Monroe and his failed marriages to actresses Janet Leigh and Christine Kaufman, his courageous stance to break the color barrier with The Defiant Ones (the film that earned him an Oscar Nomination), and his entire six-decade career. A sex symbol, a matinee idol, a powerful and magnetic actor, Tony Curtis was the original movie star
TO SEE A TRAILER OF THIS FILM, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
8:00 p.m.
Remembrance
(Germany , 2011, 105 minutes, German/Polish with English subtitles)
Inspired by actual events, Remembrance depicts a remarkable love story that blossomed amidst the terror of a German concentration camp in 1944 in Poland. In a daring escape, Tomasz, a young Polish prisoner, rescues the life of his Jewish lover Hannah Silberstein. But during the chaos of the end of the war, they are forcibly separated and each is convinced that the other has died. More than thirty years later in New York City, the happily married Hannah believes to have seen her Tomasz in an interview on TV. And she begins to search for him again...
Sponsored by the Ann and Jules Doneson Jewish Film Festival Fund
TO SEE A TRAILER OF THIS FILM, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 2
1:30 p.m.
Strangers No More
(Israel, 2011, Documentary, 60 minutes, Hebrew, English, Spanish, French, Tagalog, Lingala with English subtitles)
In the heart of Tel Aviv, there is an exceptional school where children from forty-eight different countries and diverse backgrounds come together to learn. Many of the students arrive at Bialik-Rogozin School fleeing poverty, political adversity and even genocide. Here, no child is a stranger. Strangers No More follows several students’ struggle to acclimate to life in a new land while slowly opening up to share their stories of hardship and tragedy.
Academy Award Winner: Best Documentary Short Subject
Sponsored by Lisa and Steven Weiss
TO SEE A TRAILER OF THIS FILM, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
Followed by…..
Homecoming
(USA, 2010, Documentary, 40 minutes, Hebrew/English with English subtitles)
As the State of Israel about to deport foreign workers and their children – this film is a timely exploration of a complex political and personal situation. Where does identity come from? And what makes you connected to your homeland? Homecoming takes us on a moving journey with three teenagers who were born in Israel to foreign workers who came to Israel in search of a better life. These kids are not Jewish, but are deeply Israeli – and their individual journeys take on cultural and emotional dimensions. We travel with them to the Congo, to Peru and to the Philippines as they examine their roots and contemplate their future.
Sponsored by Lisa and Steven Weiss
NO TRAILER AVAILABLE
5:00 p.m.
Naomi
(Israel, 2010, 102 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles)
In this suspenseful, psychological mystery, Ilan Ben Natan, a 58-year-old Astrophysics Professor, is obsessively in love with his young wife, Naomi. Suddenly, Ilan discovers that his deepest fears have come true—Naomi has a lover. Later, when that man’s corpse is found, the police commissioner, an old friend of Ilan’s, starts an investigation that will lead to an unexpected conclusion.
TO SEE A TRAILER OF THIS FILM, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
8:00 p.m.
Buried Prayers
(USA/Poland, 2010, 81 minutes, English/Polish)
In April and May 1943, thousands of survivors of the Warsaw ghetto uprising were held in the Maidanek death camp. Realizing they were being selected for death, these innocent families chose to surreptitiously bury the personal objects in their possession six inches beneath the earth's surface in a collective act of courage, defiance and hope. Based upon unique witness testimony, an international team of survivors and experts from Australia, USA, Germany, Israel, Italy, and England were able to organize an archeological expedition to unearth these relic keepsakes that have remained hidden for 63 years. Over 80 significant pieces of jewelry and other items were recovered and deposited with the Maidanek State Museum, making it the largest reported recovery of valuables in a death camp to date.
Sponsored by Eli Avny
TO SEE A TRAILER OF THIS FILM, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER: Professor Jaime Wraight, Director of the Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, will lead a discussion. Professor Wraight has visited the Majdanek camp several times and will answer questions associated with the film.
THURSDAY, MAY 3
5:00 p.m.
Sholem Aleichem- Laughing in the Darkness
(USA, 2011, Documentary, 93 minutes, English)
A riveting portrait of the great writer whose stories became the basis of the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof, Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness tells the tale of the rebellious genius who created an entirely new literature.
Plumbing the depths of a Jewish world locked in crisis and on the cusp of profound change, he captured that world with brilliant humor. Sholem Aleichem was not just a witness to the creation of a new modern Jewish identity, but one of the very men who shaped it. That identity was forged in the cauldron of change and anti-Semitic violence that was 19th century Eastern Europe—the world of our grandparents and great-grandparents. Yiddish literature was the best witness to this Jewish transformation and nowhere was this more acutely true than in the stories of Sholem Aleichem. Far from the folksy author many mistake him to be, he was, on the contrary, a sophisticated artist, the equal of Chekhov or Gogol, his biting humor a precursor to Woody Allen and Philip Roth.
Using rarely seen photographs and archive footage, the voices of actors Peter Riegert and Rachel Dratch, and interviews with leading experts and the author’s own granddaughter, author Bel Kauffmann, the film brings to life as never before Sholem Aleichem’s world and his timeless stories.
Sponsored by Rita and Charles Gelman
TO SEE A TRAILER OF THIS FILM, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
8:00 p.m.
Mabul (The Flood)
(Israel/Canada/Germany/France, 2010, 101 minutes, Hebrew with English subtitles)
Everything is complicated in Yoni’s life. He’s almost 13 and smart, but physically underdeveloped. His classmates bully him and his parents barely say a word to each other. As if this weren’t enough, his 17-year-old autistic brother Tomer returns home from an institution right before Yoni’s Bar Mitzvah. Buried secrets come to light and Yoni’s bar mitzvah Torah portion—Noah and the flood—becomes a metaphor for the family’s fragile and frozen existence. Nominated for six Ophir Awards (Israeli Academy Awards), Mabul features unforgettable performances by Ronit Elkabetz (The Band’s Visit), Tzahi Grad (Eyes Wide Open, Someone to Run With) and Michael Moshonov (Tehilim).
Best Israeli feature, Haifa International Film Festival
Sponsored by Temple Beth Emeth
TO SEE A TRAILER OF THIS FILM, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
10:00 p.m.
AFTERGLOW PARTY FOR SPONSORS
Sava Restaurant (216 South State Street, Ann Arbor)
Sponsors are invited to this closing reception, following the final film showing of Mabul.
Just us for light fare and great company as we close the
2012 JCC of Greater Ann Arbor
Jewish Film Festival.
The Ann Arbor Lenore Marwil Jewish Film Festival is made possible thanks to our generous sponsors, the Michael and Patricia Levine, Charles and Rita Gelman and the Michigan Theater. Additionally, the Ann and Jules Doneson Film Festival Endowment Fund has been recently established to help insure the festival's longevity.
For information on the Jewish Film Festival, please contact Karen Freedland at karenfreedland@jccfed.org or 734-971-0990.
