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Tag: Documentary
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‘The Longing’ documents crypto-Jews caught between two worlds
When Gabriela Böhm set out to create her documentary, "The Longing: The Forgotten Jews of South America," several years ago, she hoped to profile an as-yet-undiscovered secret community of Crypto Jews -- descendants of Jews forced to flee the Spanish Inquisition who continued practicing rituals covertly.
‘The First Basket’ depicts journey from Ellis Island to shooting hoops
Some still affectionately refer to the game that they and top coaches such as Red Sarachek and Red Auerbach developed -- emphasizing teamwork, crisp passing and defense -- as "Jew ball."
VIDEO: Israeli documentary director Elan Frank shoots Sarah Palin
Israel documentary director talks about his shoot with Gov. Sarah Palin
Freshman Israeli filmmaker earns three Emmy nods
Rosie O'Donnell was impressed enough by Medalia and her venture that she joined the project as executive producer.
Shooting Sarah Palin
Earlier this year, he called the office of the governor of Alaska to ask permission to shoot Sarah Palin for his new film, a documentary about powerful women of the world. Because he had spent a lot of time in Alaska, he'd heard about the feisty Palin and thought she'd be a natural.
Documentary goes behind the music video with Chutzpah
"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.'"
Calendar Girls Picks and Clicks August 23 - 29: Benny Goodman, opera, magic and more
This may be your only chance to help a budding filmmaker out and see "The Impossible Itself."
Documentary explores UCLA alumna’s past as a child prostitute
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.
VIDEO: Bar Mitzvah the Tradition
This video, an open source release of Mercer County Community College in New Jersey, gives a good, factual overview of the meaning and tradition of the Jewish coming-of-age ritual, the Bar Mitzvah.
Islamic tales of forbidden love, lovers
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.
Judy Toll is one funny valentine
So what can you say about a 44-year-old comedian who died? That she leaves a certain legacy of laughter, through the efforts of her brother, to those who never heard of her.
Films: Documentary captures young Orthodox boxer’s journey
The era of Jewish boxers -- tough guys from the ghettos, like Benny Leonard and Barney Ross -- is over. For that matter, the era of boxing itself, once king of all American sports, has passed, as well. In that regard, Dmitriy Salita is doubly a throwback, being both Jewish and a boxer, with an added twist: As a practicing Orthodox Jew, he does not fight on the Sabbath. What normally might be a potentially fatal limitation for a boxer (many fights are scheduled for weekend nights) has proved to be a public relations bonanza for this undefeated junior welterweight, now the star of Jason Hutt's documentary film, "Orthodox Stance," opening April 11 in Los Angeles.
How Tinseltown shaped the world’s view of the Holocaust
Hollywood movies and television have shaped the way most of the world perceives the Final Solution, narrator Gene Hackman observes at the beginning of "Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust." It is a statement that may not sit too well with generations of historians and authors, but the evidence validates the conclusion.
Calendar Girls picks and clicks for March 22-28
Calendar Girls picks and clicks for March 22-28
Picks and clicks for March 15-21
Picks and clicks for March 15-21
Films: Director examines healing from surgery, grief
Seated at his office in Beverly Hills, Ben Mittleman, 57, doesn't have a trace of gray in his sandy-brown hair. He says his mother used to kid him that he must have had a "facelift or something," but despite the fact that this veteran TV actor turned director-producer looks 10 years younger than his age, he underwent heart surgery in 2001. That experience is the subject of "Dying to Live," along with his response to the cancers that later took the lives of both his mother and his wife, Valerie. The film premieres Thursday, March 13, at Laemmle's Music Hall, where it will screen for two weeks.
Calendar Girls picks and kicks for March 8 -15
Calendar Girls picks and kicks for March 8 -15
Movies: ‘Chicago 10’ finds modern parallels to 1968 trial
"I have a strong kinship with Abbie Hoffman," admitted Brett Morgen, writer and director of the semidocumentary film, "Chicago 10." "I haven't seen anyone in my lifetime that spoke to me the way he did." It was during the 1969 Chicago conspiracy trial that Hoffman and his co-defendants were dubbed "The Chicago 8." The radical group also included Yippie co-founder Jerry Rubin and Tom Hayden, a future California assemblyman and state senator. While researching his film, Morgen found an interview with Rubin that said they should be called the Chicago 10 because their lawyers, William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass, were charged and sentenced for contempt. Taking his cue from Rubin, Morgen named his film "Chicago 10."
How the West was funny
We haven't kept up with Ari Sandel since the nice Jewish boy from Calabasas came out of nowhere last year to win an Oscar for his hilarious short film "West Bank Story." His second venture, "Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days and 30 Nights -- Hollywood to the Heartland," has opened to excellent reviews and is now playing in general release.
Film shows Down syndrome no obstacle to prayer
Lior Liebling davens everywhere: in the backyard, in school and on the swing set. Some congregants at his synagogue, Mishkan Shalom of Mount Arie, Pa., call him the "little rebbe."
"The Zohar tells stories of miracle children who were spiritual geniuses," one synagogue member said. "Well, that's what Lior is."
Lior is the 13-year-old featured in the new documentary, "Praying With Lior," which highlights the bar mitzvah of a Jewish child living with Down syndrome. The character study of this boy tells of how Lior's community successfully integrates him into communal life -- a challenge many Jewish communities face with mentally and physically disabled members.
PBS documents struggles and successes of U.S. Jewry
Jewish life in North America was nearly aborted before birth when the governor of New Amsterdam sought to expel 23 Brazilian Jews, who landed at the southern tip of Manhattan in 1654.
In a petition to his superiors at the Dutch West India Company in Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant urged "that this deceitful race... be not allowed to further infest and trouble the new colony."
Sad encounter prompts sex trafficking docudrama
The inspiration for "Holly," a docudrama about child sex-trafficking, came as Israeli-born producer Guy Jacobson inadvertently wandered into a notorious red light district in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh five years ago.
Local diabetes fighter goes global with Discovery Health Channel documentary
Dr. Francine Kaufman has seen the incidence of diabetes skyrocket in the last 30 years. The pediatric endocrinologist is director of the Comprehensive Childhood Diabetes Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, and she says the disease's local increase is part of a worldwide phenomenon. Now Kaufman is turning to the small screen to bring attention to this global epidemic in a one-hour, commercial-free Discovery Health documentary narrated by actress Glenn Close, "Diabetes: A Global Epidemic," on Sunday, Nov. 18.
Yiddish theater documentary opens, thanks to WWW
For independent filmmakers Dan Katzir and Ravit Markus, making "Yiddish Theater: A Love Story" was the easy part; booking the documentary into a commercial venue where people could see it was the real struggle. After two years of rebuffs, the director and producer of "Yiddish Theater" can now pop open the champagne. The feel-good, feel-sad film is opening this month in Tel Aviv, New York and Los Angeles, thanks to persistence and the Internet.
Films: Romantic triangle survives in the midst of hell
"I'm a very special Holocaust survivor," Jack Polak says. "I was in the camps with my wife and my girlfriend, and, believe me, it wasn't easy." This may sound like a line from the new genre of Holocaust films with humor, but Polak (who is Jacob on his birth certificate, Jack in America, Jaap to his Dutch friends and Jab to his wife) is just stating the facts in the documentary feature, "Steal a Pencil for Me."
Books: ‘Primo Levi’s Journey’ traces the path of a survivor
In 2005, Italian filmmaker Davide Ferrario decided to mark the 60th anniversary of Primo Levi's liberation by retracing the route of the writer's journey in January 1945, from Auschwitz to his hometown of Turin, with a camera crew. The result is Ferrario's documentary "Primo Levi's Journey". Intercutting footage from the 2005 journey with Levi's earlier observations on the same places, the film is disorienting in the beginning. Only gradually does it become clear that Ferrario is contrasting how much -- and how little -- has changed in the 60-year interval.
Briefs: Cancer helps Olmert poll numbers, Mrs. El Presidente in Argentina—still good for the Jews
Briefs.
Six activists illuminate ‘Darfur Now’ documentary
While the Darfur crisis enters its fifth year, the American Jewish Committee and Warner Independent Pictures have taken a lead in raising awareness of and combating the genocide in the Western Sudan region, where an estimated 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced. For some time now, the AJC has had a national task force dedicated to Darfur, but in the past year and a half, members of the AJC's Los Angeles branch developed a film proposal that ultimately led to "Darfur Now," a documentary from Warner Independent that follows the efforts of six people to resolve the humanitarian disaster. The film will be released in theaters on Nov. 2.
Film: Germans react to Wehrmacht atrocities
In "The Unknown Soldier," German director Michael Verhoeven sees the Wehrmacht Exhibition as a litmus test of German willingness to confront the past, a theme he examined earlier in "The White Rose" (1982) and "The Nasty Girl" (1990).
Jimmy Carter hatred is alive in Iranian L.A.
The September release of a new documentary that follows Jimmy Carter on tour for his controversial book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," has reignited the longstanding animosity many Iranian Americans feel toward the former U.S. president.
Film: Child prodigy documentary spotlights director’s ethical struggle
Amir Bar-Lev began his documentary, "My Kid Could Paint That," after he tired of creating television programs about pop culture for networks such as VH-1.
‘Europa’ docupic tracks Nazi looting and the fate of art masterworks
The Nazi regime was not only the world's greatest murderer, but the biggest thief as well. High on the list of loot were Europe's master paintings and sculptures
Religious riot act, deaf in Africa, small sculptures, kid paint
TV: Shoah makes searing mark in Ken Burns WWII documentary
"We wanted to use four [American] towns as examples to get to know people -- those who fought and those who stayed at home -- and to get to their experiences as it happened."
The result is Burns and co-director Lynn Novick seeing the war as it was unfolding through the eyes of soldiers from Mobile, Ala.; Sacramento; Waterbury, Conn., and Luverne, Minn., to show, in so many ways, the ongoing hellishness of even a necessary war.
God’s Warriors
Is there an Emmy Award for Biggest Disappointment? If so, I nominate CNN's three-part series, "God's Warriors," hosted or read or fronted -- but certainly not reported - by Christiane Amanpour.
Documentary: Sao Paolo nightmare gives lesson in class warfare
In "Manda Bala" ("Send a Bullet"), Jason Kohn portrays a dystopian nation where the rich steal from the poor and the poor literally "steal" the rich. The movie won best documentary and documentary cinematography awards at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and "is as well directed as a thriller," according to a review in The Hollywood Reporter.
Documentary shows ‘Blood and Tears’ of Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Feisty, prolific SF author Harlan Ellison bares ‘Sharp Teeth’ in bio-pic
In May 2006, Harlan Ellison received the Grand Master Award from The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking his rightful place among such literary giants of the genre as Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury. And now the celebrated writer is the subject of a new documentary, "Dreams With Sharp Teeth," the title taken from a three-volume collection of Ellison's stories.
New film foams with the soap story of Dr. Bronner
Third-generation soap-maker, escaped mental patient and son of Orthodox Jews and Holocaust victims, Bronner, who died in 1997, is the subject of a new documentary.
The all-too-brief life of American Israeli hero
In a new documentary, "A Hero in Heaven," directed by Sally Mitlas, a nation mourns the loss of a son. Trucks roved the streets of Jerusalem announcing the death of a holy man -- 22-year-old Michael Levin, who had immigrated to Israel to fulfill a dream. A procession walked for miles, during a holiday fast, to reach the hill where thousands of mourners gathered to bury their hero.
L.A. Film Festival features a history of hate and an Israeli spy
As a schoolboy, Oren Jacoby once gave a research report about the Crusades, without "having any idea about the Jewish communities that were massacred. We were taught a sanitized version of events," he said.
New Wiesenthal documentary recounts Nazi hunter’s turbulent life
"I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life and Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal" runs for close to two hours, but the documentary is barely long enough to encompass the 96 years of the legendary Nazi hunter.
History surprises in new ‘67 War documentary
Israelis made few such films, even in the immediate post-war months, and now a new documentary to mark the 40th anniversary of the Six-Day War conveys a sense of somber reflection, rather than patriotic elation. "Six Days," an Israeli-Canadian-French co-production directed by Israeli filmmaker Ilan Ziv, is subtitled, "June 1967: 40 Years, New Revelations."
The ‘Show’ behind the show
The documentary, "ShowBusiness," captures the behind-the-curtain drama of the 2003-2004 Broadway season, illustrating the ups and downs the public isn't privy to - from blockbusters that shine to "turkeys" that crash and burn.
Films: The little Yiddish theater that could
Friends and relatives of Dan Katzir were astonished when the Israeli filmmaker came up with a heart-grabbing documentary on New York's fading Yiddish theater.
Sacco, Vanzetti and the Not-So-Great United States
Exactly 80 years after Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were sentenced to death in Boston on April 9, 1927, a documentary on the trial that shook the world is opening in American theaters.
Film: Björn Türoque rocks ‘Air Guitar Nation’
Dan Crane struts onto the stage, hurls off his sunglasses, rips his T-shirt to shreds, and rocks his way through a knee-sliding, tongue-flicking performance so awesome that groupies' squeals drown out the amps. They're cheering so loudly you'd think Crane represents the second coming of Jimi Hendrix -- except that his guitar "performance" is sans guitar.
Yo! This week it’s Yatzpan, YULA and Yelchin
Weekly events
Crooners celebrate Canuckia’s Cohen and a first for our very own Greenberg
Picks and Clicks
Filmmaker gets up close and personal with Fleischer
Horror in the court: Nuremberg trial documentary film finally reaches U.S.
The documentary complements the audio from the trial with visuals of the Nazi era and death camps and features extensive in-person interviews with prosecutors and others involved in the trial.
Sacramento PBS TV affiliate won’t run anti-Semitism documentary
David Hosley thinks a scene in which a group of devious Jews slash the throat of a young boy in a ritual slaughter to cull his blood for Passover matzah is not the type of thing that should be shown on television. Yitzhak Santis thinks it's exactly what we should be seeing.
PBS: ‘Los Angeles—Dream of A Different City’
The segment begins with host Jimmy Smits providing a quick overview of a familiar litany of problems besetting Los Angeles. There are traffic-choked interchanges, vast tracts of unchecked development, a trickle of water to slake a thirsty city and brownish air.
‘Yippee’—Paul Mazursky documents Chasids gone wild
"Jews are not cultured people," she complains. The other woman disagrees.
"They are cultured," she insists, "they are just different."
Swimming in the Holocaust
Jon Kean succeeds at having the women speak with candor about their families and their experiences as the war took hold, and how the Nazis put them in ghettos, on the transports to Auschwitz, as well as about their arrival and their tribulations there.
Films: Oscar buzz surrounds Israel ‘Disengagement’ documentary
"Storm of Emotions," a documentary on the agonizing evacuation of Jewish settlers from their Gaza Strip homes, is the first Israeli production in decades to have a serious shot at Oscar honors.
Films: Thwarted suicide bombers get ‘hell,‘ not glory
Sixteen-year-old Hassan is deeply frustrated because he was caught by Israeli police before he could blow himself up, together with the targeted Israeli civilians. "If I had been killed, my mother would call it a blessing," he says. "My family and 70 relatives would have gone to paradise, and that would be a great honor for me."
Box-office politics
The Liberty Film Festival, now in its third year, aims to present and promote the work of conservative filmmakers who, according to the organizers, are ignored, persecuted and otherwise absent from "Hollywood."
I put Hollywood in quotes because its meaning, as the evening at the Luxe Bel Air Hotel wore on, was elusive.
7 Days in the Arts
7 Days in the Arts
Movie on pedophile priest puts a face on evil
"Evil" -- which won the nonfiction prize at the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival in July -- presents for perhaps the first time a convicted pedophile speaking graphically about his actions on camera. O'Grady's words provide "the backbone of a deeply disturbing documentary about the Roman Catholic clergy abuse crisis," the Associated Press said.
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