New York Jewish Film Festival 2013
Join us for the 22nd annual New York Jewish Film Festival, a preeminent showcase for world cinema exploring the Jewish experience. Dramatic features, fascinating documentaries, enjoyable comedies, and a wide variety of shorts are presented by The Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The Festival includes world, U.S. and New York premieres.
This year’s New York Jewish Film Festival was selected by Rachel Chanoff, Independent Curator; Scott Foundas, Associate Director of Programming, Film Society of Lincoln Center; Marcela Goglio, Programming Associate, Film Society of Lincoln Center; and Aviva Weintraub, Associate Curator and Director of The New York Jewish Film Festival, The Jewish Museum; with assistance from Jaron Gandelman, Curatorial Assistant for Media and Film Festival Coordinator, The Jewish Museum.
The New York Jewish Film Festival is supported, in part, through public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; The Liman Foundation; Mimi and Barry Alperin; and the Martin and Doris Payson Fund for Film and Media. Additional support is provided by the Polish Cultural Institute; the Office of Cultural Affairs, Consulate General of Israel in New York; the Netherland-America Foundation; and the French Embassy.
Acknowledgments:
Laurie Cearley, Olli Chanoff, Nadine Goellner, The Office; Nicola Galliner, Berlin JFF; Stuart Hands, Toronto JFF; Andrew Ingall, Foundation for Jewish Culture; Annette Insdorf, Columbia University; Judy Ironside, UK Jewish Film; Aviva Kempner; Lexi Leban, Jay Rosenblatt, San Francisco JFF; Sharon Rivo, Lisa Rivo, National Center for Jewish Film; Ilya Tovbis, Washington JFF; Isaac Zablocki, The JCC in Manhattan; the Film Society of Lincoln Center staff; The Jewish Museum staff; Intern: Elizabeth Horkley; Volunteers: Marlene Josephs, Linda Lipson.
Lineup
All In
Director Daniel Burman in person at both screenings!
A professional gambler and Don Juan resolves to embark on a new life of freedom in this winning romantic comedy from festival favorite Daniel Burman (Waiting For the Messiah).
The Art of Spiegelman
Castaways co-director Slawomir Grunberg in person!
This intimate and homey portrait of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and artist Art Spiegelman reveals him to be as witty, fascinating, and fiercely insightful in person as his extraordinary creative output. Screening with Castaways (Slawomir Grunberg & Tomasz Wisniewski, 2012).
The Ballad of the Weeping Spring
A legendary lute player running a bar in northern Israel reunited his band to honor a dying friend’s last wish in this riveting musical drama.
Cabaret-Berlin: The Wild Scene
Director Fabienne Rousso-Lenoir in person at both screenings!
This mesmerizing and exuberant assemblage of archival film, sound, and visual culture offers a front row seat to the best show in town: Berlin’s Weimar Republic cabaret scene.
The Cutoff Man
U.S. Premiere! Director Idan Hubel in person at both screenings!
A down-on-his-luck man takes up an unlikely profession—cutting off the water supply to people who don’t pay their bills—in this poignant family drama.
Hannah Arendt
Closing Night! New York Premiere!
Star Barbara Sukowa and screenwriter Pam Katz in person!
Margarethe von Trotta’s stirring bio-pic follows four years in the life of the titular philosopher and author (brilliantly played by Barbara Sukowa), including her controversial New Yorker coverage of the trial of Adolf Eichmann.
Let’s Dance
New York Premiere!
This extraordinary, surprising window onto Israeli society explores how the need to move, shift, and be in constant motion has produced generations of great dancers and choreographers. Screening with Life in Stills (Tamar Tal, 2011).
Max Raabe in Israel
U.S. Premiere!
The wildly popular Berlin-based singer Max Raabe and members of his band recall their emotionally and politically charged trip to Israel to perform their show Tonight or Never.
Papirosen
Director Gaston Solnicki in person at both screenings!
Argentine filmmaker Gaston Solnicki drew on 200 hours of home movies shot over a decade to create a family portrait at once epic and intimate, deeply concerned with the weight of history.
The Films of Franciszka and Stefan Themerson
Introduction and post-screening discussion with Bruce Checefsky!
A special event featuring the only three surviving films made by influential Polish experimental filmmakers Franciszka and Stefan Themerson, plus two “remakes” of lost Themerson films by Bruce Checefsky, Director, Reinberger Galleries, Cleveland Institute of Art.
The Trial of Adolf Eichmann
New York Premiere!
A remarkable document of the fate and impact of one of Nazism’s greatest villains, featuring detailed accounts of Eichmann’s capture, and the drama that ensued in the courtroom and behind the scenes.
The Yellow Ticket
Silent film with live music accompaniment!
A rarely screened silent about a young Jewish woman (Pola Negri) who hides her identity in order to study medicine, enlivened by an exciting new musical score by Alicia Svigals with live musical accompaniment by Alicia Svigals (violin) and Marilyn Lerner (piano).
Yorzeit
U.S. Premiere! Director Zuzanna Solakiewicz in person at both screenings!
For 30 years, Meir Moszkowicz has come to a ruined Polish cemetery to care for the graves of the forgotten Tzaddik (righteous man). Screening with 55 Socks (Co Hoedeman, 2011).
AKA Doc Pomus
Free and open to the public!
Doc Pomus, a colorful New York character and unlikely rock ’n’ roll icon, responsible for writing such smash hits as “Viva Las Vegas,” “Save the Last Dance for Me,” and “This Magic Moment,” is the subject of this in-depth documentary.
Aliyah
A stylish and brooding crime drama about a young man caught between family ties and dreams of a better life on the gritty streets of Northeast Paris.
The Black Cat (and Other Tales)
Film critic and author J. Hoberman introduces this special screening of the Béla Lugosi/Boris Karloff horror classic, plus clips from other works he considers compelling Jewish horror movies.
Daddy Longlegs (a.k.a. Go Get Some Rosemary)
Directors Josh and Benny Safdie in person! Make it a Double Feature with An Evening with the Safdie Brothers!
In this madcap drama, a frazzled, thirtysomething divorced dad leads his two young sons through a jumble of lawless fun, strange visitors and other adventures during his annual two-week custody period.
The Fifth Heaven
New York City Premiere! Director Dina Zvi-Riklis in person at both screenings!
A forbidden romance blooms for an orphaned Jewish teen in British-controlled Palestine in this beautifully realized 1940s coming-of-age drama.
Hava Nagila (The Movie)
New York Premiere! Director Roberta Grossman in person!
A rollicking documentary about how a little Jewish folk song went from the shtetls of Ukraine to become a worldwide hit covered by everyone from Bob Dylan to Elvis.
How to Re-Establish a Vodka Empire
New York Premiere!
Co-director Daniel Edelstyn in person at both screenings! Shards director Jack Feldstein in person at both screenings!
Irish documentary filmmaker Dan Edelstyn journeys to reconnect with his Jewish Ukrainian roots in this fascinating exploration of the desire for return. Screening with Shards (Jack Feldstein, 2012).
In Case I Never Win the Golden Palm
New York Premiere! Director Renaud Cohen in person at both screenings!
A director who hasn’t made a film in 10 years rushes into production on a new project when he believes he may be dying in this delightfully self-referential moviemaking satire. Screening with Glue (Michal Lavi, 2012).
Joe Papp in Five Acts
Directors Tracie Holder and Karen Thorsen in person!
A revealing portrait of New York’s indomitable, streetwise champion of the arts, who introduced interracial casting to the American stage and brought free Shakespeare to Central Park.
Koch
Mayor Ed Koch in person at January 13 screening! Director Neil Barsky in person at January 10 screening!
A documentary journey through the life and career of New York’s 86-year-old former mayor, revealing the personal toll of being mayor of our wondrous city.
Kol Nidre
U.S. Premiere of Restored Print!
Newly restored by the National center for Jewish Film, this musical melodrama about a young woman torn between two suitors explores themes of assimilation, cultural identity, and generational conflict.
Life? Or Theatre?
U.S. Premiere! Director Frans Weisz in person at both screenings!
In this moving and original documentary, director Franz Weisz revisits the haunting legacy of the German Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon and her magnum opus Leben? oder Theater?, the subject of his 1981 narrative feature film, Charlotte.
Numbered
New York Premiere!
Co-director Dana Doron in person at January 20 screening! Audition director Udo Prinsen in person at January 14 screening!
This powerful film examines the complex relationships three Auschwitz survivors have with the numbers tattooed on their arms. Screening with Audition (Udo Prinsen, 2011).
Oma & Bella
Director Alexa Karolinski in person at both screenings!
A poetic meditation on heritage, memory and identity as seen through the lives of two elderly Holocaust survivors now living as roommates in Berlin. Screening with Kosher (Isabelle Stead, 2010).
An Evening with the Safdie Brothers
Directors Josh and Benny Safdie in person! Make it a Double Feature with Daddy Longlegs (a.k.a. Go Get Some Rosemary)!
Acclaimed New York filmmakers Josh and Benny Safdie present a program of five shorts: There's Nothing You Can Do, We're Going to the Zoo, The Acquaintances of a Lonely John, John's Gone and The Black Balloon.
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