Oz Mines Country’s Past in Personal Narratives

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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Interpreting the Unspeakable

by Iris Mann, Contributing Writer

The power of art as a personal restorative, a historical document and a weapon against overwhelming oppression is tellingly illustrated in Hilary Helstein’s upcoming documentary, “As Seen Through These Eyes,” scheduled to open in Los Angeles Oct. 23. The movie’s executive producers are Hollywood heavy-hitters Michael Jacobs, Jerry Offsay and Irv Weintraub.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Jewish Actress Sophie Okonedo Explores Biracial Identity

By Naomi Pfefferman

“I’m a North London, working-class, black, Jewish girl,” actress Sophie Okonedo said. “I love my upbringing because it had so many different colors; it’s given me the equipment to play lots of diverse roles.”

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Childhood Fears Feed ‘Wild Things’

By Naomi Pfefferman

When the 39-year-old filmmaker Spike Jonze began visiting the author and illustrator Maurice Sendak at his rural Connecticut farmhouse years ago, Sendak often spoke of how his Jewish immigrant relatives inspired the toothy monsters in his children’s classic, “Where the Wild Things Are.”

Friday, October 2, 2009

Tarantino and “Basterds” Come to Israel

By Dina Kraft

Quentin Tarantino winced as the young Israeli journalist took the microphone and asked what must rank as one of the heavier questions he's ever encountered: "How do you relate to the Jewish tragedy of the Holocaust personally?"

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Seriously Jewish

By Naomi Pfefferman

Ask Joel and Ethan Coen whether their excruciatingly dull experiences growing up Jewish in the Midwest spawned their new film, “A Serious Man,” and Ethan Coen says, “They made us go to Hebrew school and now they're going to pay.”

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Real-Life Avengers

By Tom Tugend

The transformation of the centuries-old image of the Jew as cringing coward into that of a tough fighter was sealed by Israel in the wars of 1948, 1956 and 1967.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Toronto film fest calls Israeli PR strategy into question

By Ben Harris, JTA

When Amir Gissin helped come up with an idea to remake Israel's international image several years ago, it's unlikely he imagined that the showcasing of Israeli films in Toronto would spark a star-studded Hollywood brouhaha over artistic expression and cultural boycotts.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Jane Fonda responds to Toronto backlash

Jane Fonda

I recently signed a letter protesting the Toronto International Film Festival's decision to showcase and celebrate Tel Aviv. This in the very year when Gaza happened.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Revenge of the Jews, Tarantino Style

By Naomi Pfefferman

Quentin Tarantino is bouncing up and down on a couch in a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel, waving his arms and talking at torpedo speed about “Inglourious Basterds,” the fantastical World War II film he both wrote and directed, which opens Aug. 21.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The Other Avenger: Tarantino’s Producer Lawrence Bender

By Danielle Berrin

Producer Lawrence Bender is sitting poolside at the Four Seasons Hotel, celebrating an unrivaled triumph: he’s just helped Quentin Tarantino kill Adolf Hitler.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Eli Roth Fuels ‘BaSterds’ Role With Holocaust Fury

By Naomi Pfefferman

When the extreme horror auteur Eli Roth visited Germany to promote his 2005 hit, “Hostel,” journalists asked how he dared make such a sexually sadistic movie. Roth, now a still-boyish 37-year-old, had already cemented his reputation as one of the most successful directors to push the so-called “torture porn” genre to grisly new heights; “Hostel” pushed it even further with its tale of smug American college students who become the playthings of wealthy sadists abroad.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Ang Lee’s Catskill Culture Clash

By Naomi Pfefferman

When half a million exuberant participants converged on Bethel, N.Y., for the legendary Woodstock Music and Art Fair 40 years ago this week, it proved a harmonious blending of two diverse populations: the young people who turned out to celebrate the festival’s ode to flower power and the older locals who largely made the festival possible in the historic Jewish mecca of the Borsht Belt.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The Rape of Berlin

By Tom Tugend

Briefly summarized, “A Woman in Berlin” chronicles eight weeks of the Soviet army’s conquest of Berlin, which began in April 1945, and the ensuing mass rapes of more than 100,000 women by the victorious troops.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Thorny Past, Present of Jews in France

By Tom Tugend

Ah, la belle France and the American-French love/hate relationship. There’s Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve (in better days) and rude waiters, lovely Paris in the spring and stifling and deserted Paris in August, brave fighting comrades in 1917 and waving the white flag in World War II.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

What Makes‘ Funny People’ Tick

By Naomi Pfefferman

In a pivotal scene in Judd Apatow’s new film, “Funny People,” a comedy star battling leukemia orders his assistant, Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), to sit beside his bed and talk him to sleep. The ill star, George Simmons (Adam Sandler) teases, “Wright? That’s not your real name. You’re hiding some Judaism.”

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

The Value of a Bad Breakup

By Naomi Pfefferman

On July 22, 2001, between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. EST, a “cataclysmic, earth-shattering” event took place over melting ice cream at the Serendipity restaurant in Manhattan: “I got dumped,” screenwriter Scott Neustadter said in an interview.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Cohen’s ‘Brüno’ Raises Stakes on Jewish Humor

By Naomi Pfefferman

Universal Pictures’ highly anticipated mock documentary, “Brüno,” opens July 10, with a story line that is as hilarious as it is controversial. But whether Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest comic opus is perceived to be provocative or offensive, homophobic or passionately pro-tolerance,

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Before Lucy And Oprah,There Was Gertrude

by Susan Fishman Orlins

“The Rise of the Goldbergs” first aired less than a month after the stock market crashed in 1929. The series about a Jewish family with one foot in the old world and one in the new rose in popularity as Hitler was rising to power in Germany.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Two Generations of ReitmansProduce Laughs

By Danielle Berrin

Growing up in Ivan Reitman’s shadow couldn’t have been easy. With hits like “Animal House,” “Ghostbusters” and “Stripes,” Ivan produced and/or directed some of the most iconic Hollywood comedies of the past three decades.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Katrina Youth Take Center Stage to Heal in Festival Doc

By Naomi Pfefferman

Hilla Medalia was at an impasse with her documentary, “To Die in Jerusalem,” when she decided to accompany Broadway theater veteran James Lecesne to New Orleans, with her camera in tow.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The Meaning of Life for ‘$9.99’

By Meredith Price Levitt

With more than 50 short films based on his short stories, Etgar Keret is no stranger to the world of cinema. But for the first time ever, the brilliant young Israeli writer, best known for his satirical flash fiction, has adapted his own work to a feature film.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Israeli Films Ponder Human Cost of Bombings

By Tom Tugend

Suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are daunting topics, even for risk-taking young Israeli directors, but two feature movies on the subject screening at the Israel Film Festival are remarkable for their unexpected sensitivity and humanity.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Israel, Seen by the Ethiopian Eye

By Naomi Pfefferman

Shmuel Beru was around 12 years old in 1989 when Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” stunned audiences with its provocative story of racial conflict between African and Italian Americans in New York.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Israeli Films, TV Shows Get the Spotlight

By Naomi Pfefferman

Less than a month after Israeli filmmakers proved a strong presence at the Cannes Film Festival, the 24th Israel Film Festival will play in Los Angeles June 3-18, with a lineup showing how Israeli cinema has recently emerged as a contender on the global scene.