Jewish Film Festival celebrates its 14th year with 30 films, new events and more Friday - March 05, 2010 | Author: Tracey Weiss
The Mandell JCC Jewish Film Festival kicks off on March 13 at the Aetna Theater at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art with the feature-length comedy "Hello Goodbye" starring French film stars Fanny Ardant and Gerard Depardieu.
On March 14, all ages can catch "Something From Nothing," an animated Jewish folk tale followed by "Some-thing from No-thing," a live English/Yiddish children's opera.
On closing night of the festival, 70 musicians from the Hartt School's Ensemble and Symphony Band will bring back the silent film era, performing an original score accompanying the vintage Jewish silent film "Hungry Hearts."
Thirty international films, opera and animation for children, live music and panel discussions are just some of the highlights of the 14th Annual Hartford Jewish Film Festival.
Running from March 13-23 at several area venues, the 10-day event is presented by the Mandell Jewish Community Center with the Wadsworth Museum of Art.
“This is where the action is,” said Ruthan Wein, co-chairwoman of the festival committee this year with co-chairman Mark Slitt.
“The planning was so exciting this year. There are so many new things and new venues this year,” she added. “There’s something for everybody."
Slitt agrees.
“Apart from serving as festival co-chair for the first time, which has been a truly wonderful experience for me personally, the most exciting aspect of this year's festival is the breadth and scope of the programming,” he said
“This year we'll have programs specifically for young children and we've also scheduled special screenings for seniors. Our closing night promises to be an absolute knock-out, a Jewish silent film from the 1920s paired with a live student orchestra from the University of Hartford performing an original score composed by students from the Hartt School of Music.”
Which is why this year’s festival introduces two new partners from the University of Hartford, the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies and the Hartt School of Music. Both are providing unique avenues of entertainment.
The films, most of which have picked up or nominated for awards, come in all genres: comedy, romance, family, action, history, sports and documentary. They hale from Argentina, Canada, France, Germany, Israel, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“We have more films than ever from Israel,” Slitt said, “but we also have films from all around the world that reflect the many and varied aspects of the Jewish experience. There's nothing else like it anywhere in Connecticut.”
“The movies this year encompass every emotion,” Wein said, “from hilarious laughter to sadness and tears. How else can you see 10 different movies over 10 different nights? This festival is different in so many ways.”
Almost all of the movies are Hartford or Connecticut premieres and are going to be shown at the Aetna Theater at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford; Beth El Temple; Criterion Cinema at Blue Back Square; the Mandell JCC; Wilde Auditorium at the University of Hartford; Hebrew Health Care in West Hartford and K&G Theaters-Bloomfield 8 in Bloomfield.
The festival kicks off on March 13 at the Wadsworth with the area premiere of a short film Gefilte Fish and the feature-length comedy Hello Goodbye starring French film stars Fanny Ardant and Gerard Depardieu.
The film, about a couple that go in search of their neglected Jewish roots, is followed by an opening night reception at the museum.
On March 14, all ages can catch Something From Nothing, an animated Jewish folk tale followed by Some-thing from No-thing, a live English/Yiddish children’s opera of the story Epes fun Gornisht, a beloved Yiddish folk tale.
It’s being performed by Dr. Jody Rockmaker, a Jewish composer at the Arizona State University School of Music, along with playwright Amy Fellner Dominy and several actors from the university.
Reel Talk panel discussions are scheduled to follow three of the film presentations.
The first is after No. 4 Street of Our Lady on March 16 at the JCC. It’s the true story of Francisca Halamajowa, a Polish Catholic woman who hid 16 Jewish neighbors from the Nazis.
The talk features the movie’s directors, Judy Maltz, Richie Sherman and Barbara Bird, and Ms. Halamajowa’s grandchildren, Grace Kuzcharzyk and Jolanta Staron, both of whom live in the area.
Another Reel Talk follows For My Father on March 17 at Criterion Cinema in Blue Back Square about the politics and problems of Israel and its neighbors. Speakers include Donna Robinson Divine, Morningstar family professor of Jewish studies and professor of government at Smith College in Amherst, Mass., as well as Moises Salinas, chief diversity officer and associate professor, Department of Psychology, Central Connecticut State University.
Returning for a second season with eight original short films is Tribute: Observations on Survival and Spirit — Lessons from the Holocaust. Shown at the University of Hartford’s Wilde Auditorium, the third installment of Reel Talk follows, with a discussion led by Prof. Avinoam Patt, the Philip D. Feltman professor of modern Jewish history at the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies.
Senior citizens at Hebrew Health Care are being treated to a day of song and movies on March 17 starting at 2:30 p.m. with the film Close Harmony, followed by From Shtetl to Swing. The first movie is open to residents only; the second film is free to senior citizens who register in advance.
On closing night, 70 musicians from the Hartt School’s Ensemble and Symphony Band will bring back the lost art of the silent film era when they perform an original student-composed score accompanying the vintage Jewish silent film Hungry Hearts. They’ll be conducted by Hartt faculty members Glen Adsit, Matthew Aubin, Robert Carl and Joseph Turrin.
This classic Jewish silent film is a Hollywood adaptation of the short stories of Anzia Yezierska, the first writer to bring stories of American Jewish women to a mainstream audience.
Tickets to most films are $10 general admission. Tickets for the opening night gala reception and film are $50. Tickets for the closing night concert and film are $25.
There are $1 discounts for students, Wadsworth Atheneum Film Buffs and Let’s Go Arts cardholders. Tickets for all shows are on sale at the Mandell JCC in person, via phone and by mail.
Contact the film festival box office at the JCC at 335 Bloomfield Avenue or call 860-231-6316. Schedules and information about the movies is available online.
