World of Jewish Flicks – Feb.

This blog will try to keep everyone up to date an what’s happening in the world of Jewish flicks. January is a big month for Jewish film festivals,

with the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival (www.ajff.org) playing from Jan. 14 to Jan. 25. The Jewish film festival in New York

(www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/nyjff2009) is scheduled for

Jan. 14-29 and the Miami Jewish Film Festival

(www.caje-miami.org/filmfestival/) is on from Jan. 24 to Feb. 1.

 

So, Jewish film festivals are rolling right along. There are over 100

Jewish film festivals around the world, with a large number of those held in

cities large and small in the United States. I’ll try to keep you updated

on all the news, but if you want to see what each of these festivals are

showing, you can go onto their websites and explore the line-up of outstanding films each of them have selected.

 

With the new year well underway, it is time to take a look at some of

the excellent “Jewish” films that made their debut on DVD in the past 12

months, including two made in Canada. But before we get to that, I’d like to tell you about two TV miniseries that were released in their entirety on DVD during the year 2008.

 

MASADA, the 1981 miniseries about the Jewish revolt against Roman rule in the 1st century, is now available in its complete version, just as it was shown on television when it was first aired. This DVD contains the original

introduction and ending, two important sections that were cut out of the VHS release. In fact, this DVD is especially welcome because the VHS release was badly edited, with entire sections cut out and other sections moved around. The result was a mess. This DVD corrects all of these mistakes.

Starring: Peter O’Toole, Peter Strauss

 

HOLOCAUST is the other TV miniseries that was released on DVD recently. And once again the DVD release contains the entire series in one very compact and easily handled DVD. This is a must for anyone who hasn’t seen the landmark series or just wants to refresh their memories.

Starring: James Woods, Meryl Streep, Michael Moriarty.

 

Theatrical films that have been released on DVD include the wonderful

Israeli film, THE BAND’S VISIT. This pleasant little comedy won rave reviews throughout the world and was one of Israel’s most successful films to enter the international market.

 

Also released this year was the Academy Award winning Austrian film, THE

COUNTERFEITERS, about a group of counterfeiters who were forced to produce

bogus English and American currency for the Nazis. If you haven’t seen this

film, you should do so now.

 

And then we have the heartwarming and magical Brazilian film, THE YEAR MY

PARENTS WENT ON VACATION. This was the film that opened the Toronto Jewish

Film Festival (TJFF) in 2007. It tells the story of a young boy being left

at his grandfather’s place while his parents go underground in order to

avoid arrest by the military junta then governing Brazil. What the parents

did not know was that the grandfather had died suddenly a short time before

and the grandfather’s friends and neighbours take on the task of caring for

the child.

 

For all the people who wanted to see THE RAPE OF EUROPA, now is your

opportunity. It was released on DVD in September. This too played at the

TJFF and was the closing film in 2007. It is a powerful documentary about

the Nazi theft of Europe’s art treasures, and the allies attempts to recover

and return these art works.

 

Also available on video is the American film, ARRANGED. It was shown at the

TJFF in 2008 and deals with the similarities between Moslem and Jewish

cultures when it comes to arranged marriages. The film tells the story

of a young Jewish Orthodox school teacher who doesn’t like the man her

parents have chosen for her, and a young Moslem school teacher who is also

being married off to a man chosen by her family.

 

Then we get to the Adam Sandler film, YOU DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN, a

comedy that misses the mark on many levels, yet is interesting for being one

of the first attempts by an American movie star to portray an Israeli, and

it contains some excellent Israeli music on the soundtrack. It was also very

nice to see Montreal born and Toronto raised Emmanuelle Chriqui playing a

beautiful Palestinian hair salon owner in that film.

 

And one of the best Israeli films to hit the North American market in quite

some time, BEAUFORT, is also now available on DVD. This is the story of a

small group of Israeli soldiers stationed in the Crusader fortress of

Beaufort in Lebanon, just as Israel is planning to bring the last of their

forces back home. In the meantime, the fortress is under constant attack by

rocket bombardment and sniper fire and the film questions whether the casualties they suffer are worth the effort.

 

THEN SHE FOUND ME is touching comedy/drama about a Jewish woman who is

desperate to start her own family. Her confusion after her husband suddenly

leaves her is compounded when she meets her somewhat unconventional birth

mother.

Starring: Helen Hunt, Matthew Broderick, Colin Firth, Bette Midler.

 

The two Canadian films that have been released on DVD this year are the two

films that opened and closed the Toronto International Film Festival in

2007. The opening film, FUGITIVE PIECES, is an interesting adaptation of the

best selling Canadian novel and follows a young boy who is saved from the

Nazis by a Greek archeologist. The boy’s experience during the Holocaust and

his inability to find any trace of his family, have left an indelible mark

on his mind.

Starring: Stephen Dillane, Rade Sherbedgia, Rosamund Pike, Ayelet Zurer.

 

The other Canadian film is EMOTIONAL ARITHMETIC which stars Susan Sarandon

as a Holocaust survivor who now lives in Quebec and learns that the man who

saved her life during the war has been released from a Soviet prison. She

invites him to come visit her on her farm, which he does, bringing another

survivor along with him.

Also Starring: Christopher Plummer, Gabriel Byrne, Roy Dupuis, Max Von

Sydow.

 

If you want your own copies of any of these DVD’s, go to

www.jewishflicks.com and place your order.

 

Talk to you soon with more great information about the World of Jewish

Flicks.

 

Larry Anklewicz ia the Programme Coordinator for the Toronto Jewish Film

Festival, He has written and lectured on Jewish films for many years and is the author of “A Guide to Jewish Films on Video”.