Bill Maher gets downright ‘Religulous’

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Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Faith ‘n’ begorra, Irish film fest has a Jewish accent

By Tom Tugend

Not to worry, though, there is, as always, a Jewish angle. In this case, it's two films, "Shalom Ireland" and "Grandpa . . . Speak Russian to Me," set for Saturday evening, Oct. 4.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Zucky’s and SOVA—knishes and compassion

By Rachel Heller

"Hy looked at me and said, 'He's not Jewish,'" recalled his wife, Zucky Altman, 89. "I said, 'So what? He's hungry.' From that moment on, we decided we would just feed everybody."

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Producer David Heyman and the lives of outsiders, from ‘Potter’ to ‘Pajamas’

By Naomi Pfefferman

The story is told from the perspective of 8-year-old Bruno (Asa Butterfield), who is chagrined when his father (David Thewlis, who plays Remus Lupin in the "Potter" films) takes over as commandant of a remote labor-turned-death camp.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

‘A Secret’ lets French director explore his Jewish past

By Tom Tugend

More than 60 years have passed, yet French filmmakers are still wrestling with their country's less than heroic role under Nazi occupation during World War II.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Documentary goes behind the music video with Chutzpah

By Naomi Pfefferman

"My big idea for the CD was, 'Let's give this to our families for Chanukah,'" Hyams said. "I never thought we'd get a record deal, because I figured 'This is stupid and Jewish and no one cares except us.'"

Sunday, September 7, 2008

VIDEO: The Tribe (The Barbie Doll and the History of the Jewish People)

What can the most successful doll on the planet show us about being Jewish today? Narrated by Peter Coyote, the film mixes old school narration with a new school visual style. The Tribe weaves together archival footage, graphics, animation, Barbie dioramas, and slam poetry to take audiences on an electric ride through the complex history of both the Barbie doll and the Jewish people- from Biblical times to present day. By tracing Barbie's history, the film sheds light on the questions: What does it mean to be an American Jew today? What does it mean to be a member of any tribe in the 21st Century? Finally available fee online.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Going home again is truly a family affair for filmmaker Azazel Jacobs

By Pat Sierchio

"I remember at an early age being told in school that Jews were a minority in the world," filmmaker Azazel Jacobs mused. "And I remember just not believing that because I lived in New York City and thinking they must have things wrong because I was surrounded by so many Jews. That was the whole world to me."

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Documentary explores UCLA alumna’s past as a child prostitute

By Naomi Pfefferman

Her chance came when she heard Sauvage say he intended to create financing for a movie as his summer MBA project in 2005. "You should make your movie about me," she told him. Sauvage, who at the time did not know she had been abused, cavalierly replied that unless she had been a child prostitute, he wasn't interested.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Comic rewrite of bar mitzvah fiasco fuels ‘Sixty Six’

By Naomi Pfefferman

"It was one of the most hilarious speeches I had ever heard," Bonham Carter recalled of Weiland's spiel. "Afterwards Paul was absolutely mobbed with people who thought he should turn the story into a movie. And I asked if I could play his mum."

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Helena Bonham Carter—Jewish mother?

By Naomi Pfefferman

"I had not 'done' Jewish before," Helena Bonham Carter said breezily of why she chose to play a Jewish character in Paul Weiland's semi-autobiographical film, "Sixty Six."

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Waxing (Philip) Roth

By Tom Teicholz

I decided to watch every film adapted from Philip Roth's work. My mission started simply enough: a search on imdb.com turned up eight works on film and TV, stretching back to the 1950s. Some had never been released on video, some are only in VHS, some were available at the local video store, some had to be tracked down in specialty shops or in university or museum archives. My quest led me across Los Angeles and afforded me the pleasure of visiting some of the city's most beautiful libraries and research facilities, as well as some of its best-stocked video stores.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Geriatric love, (I.B.) Singer style

By Tom Tugend

To Max's surprise and delight, the bereaved widow proves quite amorous, insisting, as do his other female companions, that a man is never too old for some active love-making

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Film about interfaith lovers takes Shakespearian turn

By Molly Binenfeld

In "David and Fatima," the Montague and the Capulet clans become the Aziz and the Isaacs, setting the stage for a battle of the two faiths

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Sherry Lansing’s epiphany

By Danielle Berrin

"Suddenly, I cared less about a hit movie or making money than I did about giving back. That was the legacy that I wanted," Lansing said.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Q&A with showbiz power broker Irv Weintraub:  Why doesn’t Hollywood give Jewish?

By Danielle Berrin

" . . . We have one thing that's not happening now that happened then, which was the memory of the Holocaust. We are 50-plus years removed. The urgency that existed then doesn't exist today. The Federation campaign did better with Lou Wasserman -- people didn't tell him no. There isn't that iconic person like Lou who is willing to be identified publicly with their Judaism . . ."

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Michael Ross—who got Sammy Davis to kiss Archie Bunker—donates milions for Jewish studies

By The Web Guy

Michael Ross, the former producer of and writer for iconic American sitcoms "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons" and "Three's Company," has given some $14 million to create Jewish studies programs at UCLA and City College of New York in recent months.

Friday, July 11, 2008

The industry, Israel and idealism with Danny Sussman

By Orit Arfa

"To be a good talent representative that's part of the entertainment community and a productive citizen, you need to feel part of something larger than yourself," he said. He speaks in whips, charging the room like a bulldozer, imparting us with his wisdom, interspersing the F-word here and there for dramatic effect.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Israeli film ‘My Father My Lord’—Abraham’s binding of Isaac redux

By Tom Tugend

In the Israeli film "My Father My Lord," the secular or casually religious Jew encounters a world whose mindset and lifestyle might as well be thousands of miles and centuries away. It is the world of the charedi, or ultra-Orthodox, community, in which every action, every thought, is determined by God's law, as elucidated by the sages.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Spielberg to give $1 million to Philly Jewish museum

The Associated Press reports that Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation will give $1 million to the National Museum of American Jewish History to build a new building in Philadelphia.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

VIDEO: A Sacred Duty—A Jewish response to threats to our environment

A Major Documentary on Current Environmental Threats and How Jewish Teachings Can Be Applied in Responding to These Threats.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Islamic tales of forbidden love, lovers

By Nick Street

Early in "A Jihad for Love," a new documentary directed by Parvez Sharma and produced by Sandi Simcha Dubowski, we meet Mazen, a 20-something Egyptian man who has fled Cairo for Paris to avoid the three-year prison sentence authorities want to impose on him because he is gay.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

From klezmer to country—linking the soundtracks

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

What are the inks between Europe's obsession with things Jewish and the Wild West?

Sunday, June 29, 2008

VIDEO: Gimpel the Fool (Isaac Bashevis Singer)—Animation by Ezra Schwartz

Ezra Schwartz: In the summer of 1992 I was looking for a short story to animate. Nothing seemed to click, until I read "Gimpel The Fool" by Isaac Bashevis Singer. I realized that the characters, beliefs and conflicts in this wonderful story were related to me, my family and people I knew -- Eastern European Jews who emigrated to Israel after the second world war.

Monday, June 23, 2008

VIDEO: ‘Don’t Be A Sucker’—War Dept. tells Americans to fight hatred and fanaticism (1947)

Government 'public service' movie admonishes Americans that they will lose their country if they let fanaticism and hatred turn them into "suckers."

"Let's forget about 'we' and 'they' -- let's think about us!" In the context of the emerging Cold War, this film appears paradoxical.