LA Jewish Film Festival 2011

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 03 May 2011 10:00

Written by L E Shannon

The Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival (LAJFF) screens May 5 - 12, 2011 at the Laemmle's Town Center in Encino, the Laemmle's Music Hall in Beverly Hills, and other venues in Greater Los Angeles, California.

The Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival (LAJFF) builds community awareness, appreciation and pride in the diversity of the Jewish people through film.

The mission of LAJFF is to preserve and celebrate the rich Jewish heritage; to cultivate Jewish values and the quality of Jewish life in the community (not only for the affiliated but unaffiliated); and to create and maintain a sense of community by providing important and exciting programming for individuals, families and organizations.

The Opening Night film:

An Article of Hope
dir. Dan Cohen
The story of Israel's first astronaut and the journey of a tiny Torah scroll into outer space. Israeli Air Force Colonel Ilan Ramon, the son of an Auschwitz survivor, felt a deep sense of obligation to Holocaust memory. Among the few objects he took into space was a miniature Torah that survived Bergen-Belsen. Ramon and six other astronauts perished on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentry. Q & A with Dan Cohen and guests.

The Closing Night selection:

Who Do You Love
dir. Jerry Zaks
Starring Alessandro Nivola, Jon Abrahams, David Oyelowo; cameo by Keb' Mo'
"How did mainstream America come to know and adore such musical giants as Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and Bo Diddley?" Based on the true story of two Polish Jewish immigrants, Leonard and Phil Chess, who became the driving force behind the transformation of rhythm and blues into classic rock and roll, and created their own successful record label. Today, Chess Records is recognized as a central influence on American popular music.  Q & A with producer Jonathan Mitchell and cast.

The four categories for this year‛s Festival each feature an interesting mix of wonderful films, including:

Conflicts and Issues

He's My Girl / La Folle Histoire d'Amour de Simon Eskenazy
wr./dir. Jean-Jacques Zilbermann (France)
Starring Antoine de Caunes, Mehdi Dehbi, Elsa Zylberstein
Based on the director's own life, this intelligent and uplifting film tells the story of a divorced gay Jewish Klezmer musician whose hypochondriac Holocaust survivor mother, the ex-wife he has not seen in years, and the 10-year-old son he never met, all arrive on his doorstep. Meanwhile, he falls in love with a transvestite who happens to be an Arab, a kind young man who will bring the musician back to his own true self.

Polish Bar
dir. Ben Berkowitz
Starring Vincent Piazza, Judd Hirsch, Richard Belzer, Meat Loaf, Dov Tiefenbach
This drama follows the wayward son of an Orthodox Jewish family who struggles against the influence of Chicago‛s dark side. He works nights as a DJ at a local strip club and dreams of making it big as a nightclub DJ. But the arrival of his Orthodox cousin causes him to face the clash between family, greed, and faith.

Q & A with Ben Berkowitz and Dov Tiefenbach, moderated by Rabbi Mark Borowitz. Invited guests Richard Belzer and Judd Hirsch.

Tradition and Identity

Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story
dir. Peter Miller
wr. Pulitzer Prize-winning sportswriter Ira Berkow
With Dustin Hoffman (narration)
"A portrayal of the contributions of Jewish major leaguers and the special meaning that baseball has had in the lives of American Jews. Beyond sports, this is a story of Jewish assimilation, heroism, passing on traditions, the shattering of stereotypes and Black-Jewish solidarity during the civil rights movement. Spotlighting mythic Hall of Famers Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg, the film also profiles legends Al Rosen, Yogi Berra, Norm Sherry, Bob Feller, plus modern day All-Star Shawn Green." Q & A with a professional baseball player.

Mending the Torn Curtain
dir. Raphael Levy (Canada)
"In 2009, Yiddish theatre companies from around the globe convened in Montreal for the first ever International Festival of Yiddish Theatre, held in celebration of the 50th anniversary of that city's famed Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre. This documentary chronicles the nine days of sold out theatrical productions, musical events, and joyous celebration in the quest to keep Yiddish theatre alive and thriving for generations to come." 

Q & A with Raphael Levy, Ben Gonshor and Yiddish theatre experts.

History and Legacy

La Rafle / The Round Up
wr./dir. Roselyne Bosch (France)
Starring Mélanie Laurent, Jean Reno
"This award-winning [feature] depicts for the first time on screen the French police operation responsible for the mass arrest of some 13,000 Parisian Jews, including more than 4,000 children, in the summer of 1942. Detained in a stadium under hellish conditions, a Jewish doctor, aided by a Protestant nurse, struggles to minister to the doomed deportees."

Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray
dir. Jonathan Gruber
For the 150th anniversary of the Civil War‛s opening salvo in April 1861, this first-of-its-kind film reveals the little-known struggles that faced Jewish-Americans during the American Civil War, and chronicles the sacrifices Jews on both sides made for their beliefs.

My Brother's Keeper
dir. Ira Feinberg
In Honor of Yom Ha'Atzmaut
In 1947-48, a group of 4,400 Jews and Christians from 56 countries volunteered to join the fledgling Israel Defense Forces. These volunteers flew the planes that brought the armament, aircraft, weapons, and hope to Israel. Their stories describe the days when the fate of Israel and the Jewish people hung by a thread and a prayer.

Inspiration

Delicious Peace Grows in a Ugandan Coffee Bean
dir. Curt Fissel (USA/Africa)
prod. Ellen Friedland
With Ed O'Neill (narration)
In the wake of the Idi Amin reign of terror, one Ugandan coffee farmer organized a group of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish neighbors to form Delicious Peace Coffee Cooperative to enhance peaceful relationships and economic development. Partnering with a Fair Trade US distributor, the standard of living of the farmers is improving, peace is flourishing, and their messages of peace and fair wages are spreading to coffee customers in the US.

Several short films are also being shown, including:

A Reuben by Any Other Name
wr./dir. Jeremy Lanni
Starring Anita Barone, Alanna Ubach, Paul Ben-Victor, Larry Cedar
A humorous look at the argument between Jews in New York and Los Angeles over the differences in their versions of the Reuben sandwich. Performed by an ensemble cast of familiar faces.

For more information, visit www.lajfilmfest.org.

Laemmle's Town Center
17200 Ventura Blvd.
Encino, CA 91316
(818) 981-9811

Laemmle's Music Hall
9036 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(310) 274-6869

plus other venues in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Pasadena and Thousand Oaks

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