What better place to explore Jewish identity than in Jerusalem? The Jewish Film Festival will take place this year from December 9 – 14, 2012 at the Jerusalem Cinematheque. The opening event will take place on November 9th with a screening of Paris-Manhattan – Lonely-heart Jewish pharmacist Alice Ovitz (Alice Tagliioini) is obsessed with Woody Allen, and constantly turns to him for advice as does her muse to Rick Blaine in Play It Again, Sam. The romantic comedy is director Sophie Lellouche’s debut feature film, and the festive screening will be accompanied by a performance of The Technicalities (Shira Z. Carmel and Alon Diament).
Offering an intriguing and eclectic mix of films, the festival explores the many aspects of the Jewish experience and presence in film. Genre films have their place here, with a focus on Jewish horror films from the Dybbuk directed by Michal Waszynski based on Sholem Ansky’s play (Poland 1937, Yiddish) to Roman Polanski’s The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) and Ole Bornedal’s The Possession (2012).
Dirty Dancing is one of those films that makes a person proud to be Jewish, the funny, sexy film celebrates its 25th anniversary at the festival with a special interactive (!!!) screening, that promises music, dancing, fun and 60s surprises – sounds like my kind of party!
Yet let us not neglect the Jewish intellectuals – Great Jewish Minds presents documentaries on political theorist Hannah Arendt, visionary of the Jewish State Theodor Herzl, graphic novelist Joann Sfar, Professor of German Literature Ruth Klüger, and super-star intellectual Susan Sontag.
Kosher Beats features a wide range of musical styles: Roberta Grossman traces the history of the standard, interviewing Harry Belafonte, Leonard Nimoy, Connie Francis, Glen Campbell, Regina Spektor and many more in Hava Nagila (The Movie), A.K.A. Dr. Pomus looks at bluesman Doc Pomus (Jerome Solon Felder) who not only wrote Teenager in Love, Save the Last Dance and 50s & 60s, but went on to write songs of life on the margins, recorded by Willy DeVille, B. B. King, Irma Thomas, Marianne Faithful, Charlie Rich, Ruth Brown, Dr. John, James Booker, and Johnny Adams. The festival’s closing film will be Monica Haim’s Awake Zion, a musical and spiritual journey, exploring the connections between Rasta, Reggae and Judaism. The screening will be accompanied by performances of Gil “Rasta” Bronstein and My Lord Sound.
From Ole Bendtzen’s Football is God, to Jonathan Lopatin and Paula Weiman-Kelman’s Fringes, there is something to satisfy every curious mind. The full festival program with screening dates and times is available on the Jerusalem Cinematheque website. Tickets sales begin on December 2, 2012, and may be purchased online or call the box office: 02-5654356.
