Directors Gitai, Pawlikowski Have Local Premieres at New York Jewish Film Festival

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 06 January 2014 22:51

Written by Jack Angstreich

This year's New York Jewish Film Festival, hosted by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Jewish Museum, runs from January 8th to 23rd, 2014, and features several notable premieres as well as welcome revivals.

New works by distinguished directors include films by Marcel Ophuls, Diane Kurys, Amos Gitai and Pawel Pawlikowski.

Older titles in the series include a 30th anniversary screening of Paris, Texas by Wim Wenders, along with two features selected by the director, a three-film focus on Otto Preminger, and a salute to the legendary titles and poster designer, the late Saul Bass including a rare screening of his one feature, the psychedelic sci-fi thriller Phase IV.

In Gitai's moving Ana Arabia, a young Israeli journalist visits a group of adjacent houses in the midst of which an orchard endures somewhere in the center of Jaffa. Here, several Palestinian Arab families live including one where the mother has recently died, an Auschwitz survivor that had fallen in love with a Muslim and converted to Islam.

Remarkably, the action of the entire feature transpires in a single, complexly choreographed take. Gitai resists the bravura attractions of a similar experiment like Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark, preferring to closely and sympathetically observe the subtle interactions of his fascinating cast of characters. The acting and dialogue are in line with Gitai's consistent high standard — his body of work is truly impressive.

Shooting almost entirely away from direct sunlight, the director and his cinematographer achieve an attractive digital image, although not without a real loss of sensuality relative to Gitai's previous features. In conjunction with the screening of Ana Arabia, Gitai will also be leading a free master class on January 19th.

Pawlikowski garnered merited attention for his wonderful first two features; with his new film, Ida, about the discovery by a young convent girl in postwar Poland of her Jewish roots, one hopes that his reputation will be cemented.

Like Ana Arabia, Ida is especially strong in atmosphere, vividly conjuring the period, an effect enhanced by fine performances from its adroit cast. The monochrome digital image here is handsome but lacks the intensity that it could have had in the 35-millimeter format.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center

70 Lincoln Center Plaza
New York, NY 10023-6595
212 875 5610

http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/new-york-jewish-film-festival-2014

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