Films
ADVICE AND DISSENT
USA / 2002 / 21 minutes / English / Director: Leib Cohen
Saturday, May 14 8:30 pm preceding Nora’s Will
Monday, May 16 1:30 pm preceding Nora’s Will
Want to do away with your wife? Ask a rabbi! A frustrated businessman, Jeffrey Goldman tries to end his hopeless marriage to his wife, Ellen, by asking his local
rabbi to place a curse on her. The rabbi refuses, but gives Goldman peculiar advice on how to do away with her, setting into motion a series of unexpected events.
A delightful modern-day fable. Featuring Eli Wallach, John Pankow and Rebecca Pidgeon.
Genre: Comedy Rating: NR
NORA'S WILL
Mexico / 2009 / 92 minutes / Spanish and Hebrew with English subtitles /
Director: Mariana Chenillo
Saturday, May 14 8:30 pm preceded by Advice And Dissent
Monday, May 16 1:30 pm preceded by Advice And Dissent
Nora had a plan to die for! This time Nora had a plan to really annoy her atheist ex-husband Jose’. She planned to commit suicide (again) after first preparing a magnificent Passover Seder feast for the whole family. Jose’ will attend and have no choice but to take care of her corpse! But there is a flaw in her plan. A mysterious photograph forgotten under the bed leads to an unexpected outcome reminding us that the biggest love stories are sometimes hidden in the smallest places.
Genre: Drama, Comedy Rating: NR
- 95% Rotten Tomatoes rating
- Film Festival Winner - Los Angeles Latino, Mar del Plata International, Moscow, Miami International, Morella International, Biarritz International and the Festival of Latin American Cinema
ANITA
Argentina / 2009 / 104 minutes / Spanish with English subtitles / Director: Marcos Carnevale
Sunday, May 15 1:30 pm / Wednesday, May 18 4:00 pm
About human innocence, compassion, and resilience in a troubled world. Ana Feldman, nicknamed Anita, is a young woman with Down syndrome living with her devoted mother, Dora. One morning Anita is left alone, confused and helpless, when Dora doesn’t show up at a prearranged time. A car bomb had exploded outside the nearby Argentine Israelit Mutual Association (JCC). As Anita wanders through the city looking for her mom, she learns not only to care for herself, but touches the lives of those around her. A heart-warming film starring Norma Aleandro (the “Meryl Streep” of Argentina), and introducing Alejandro Manzo in an extraordinary performance.
Genre: Drama Rating: NR (some strong subtitled language)
- Best Film Award and the Audience Award at the Los Angeles International Latino Film Festival
- Audience Award for Best Film at the Pittsburgh Jewish Film Festival
Co-sponsored by Adoption Star, The Jewish Family Service of Buffalo and Erie County
and Yad B’Yad (Hand in Hand)
MAX MINKSY AND ME
Germany / 2007 / 94 minutes / German with English subtitles / Director: Anna Justice
Sunday, May 15 4:00 pm
Friendship, family, princes, klutzes, and how to get on a basketball team without even dribbling. Nelly Sue Edelmeister is a skinny thirteen-year-old Berlin school girl with a brain the size of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and a brilliant career in astronomy ahead of her. But that’s before she develops a hopeless crush on handsome Prince Edouard from the tiny European country of Luxembourg. And it’s definitely before she finds out that her school’s girl’s basketball team gets invited to compete
in Luxembourg, under the patronage of the Prince himself! Along comes basketball ace Max Minsky, age 15. Max is a total loser when it comes to school, so he and Nelly cut a deal. Poor Nelly desperately juggles her school work and Max’s, basketball practice and family time, but her Hebrew studies slip. This spells big trouble with her Bat Mitzvah coming up! Nelly needs to make an important decision.
Genre: Drama, Comedy Rating: NR
- Cinekid Film Award H Audience Award - Sarejevo Film Festival
YOO HOO MRS. GOLDBERG
USA / 2009 / 92 minutes / English / Director: Aviva Kempner
Sunday, May 15 6:00 pm / Thursday, May 19 4:30 pm
When every American had a Jewish mother…oy vey! From Aviva Kempner, maker of The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, comes this humorous and eye-opening story of television pioneer Gertrude Berg. Berg was the creator, principal writer, and star of The Goldbergs, a popular radio show for 17 years, which became television’s very first character-driven domestic sitcom in 1949. Berg received the first Best Actress Emmy in history, and paved the way for women in the entertainment industry…the Oprah of her day. Berg’s blend of comedy and social commentary, with Jewish characters at the center, endeared audiences and made her an American icon. The film includes interviews with Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, actor Ed Asner, producers Norman Lear (All in the Family) and Gary David Goldberg (Family Ties), and NPR correspondent Susan Stamberg.
Genre: Documentary Rating: NR
- Received 92% rating from Rotten Tomatoes
PICNCHAS
Israel / 2008 / 32 minutes / Hebrew, Russian with English subtitles / Director: Pini Tavger
Sunday, May 15 8:00 pm preceding Camera Obscura
Tuesday, May 17 1:30 pm preceding Camera Obscura
A short walk upstairs can change your perspective on life. Nine-year old Pinchas and his mother, a non-practicing Jew, are new immigrants from Russia. His mother barely makes a living working night shifts, and devotes her spare time to an affair she has with a married man. On the third floor lives a religious family. Pinchas is drawn to the warmth and unity that characterize this family. He meets a girl his age, and her older brother, who slowly introduce him to religion.
Genre: Fiction Rating: NR
- Awards in the Tel Aviv International Students Film Festival and Jerusalem Film Festival 2008
Credit: The National Center for Jewish Film
CAMERA OBSCURA
Argentina / 2008 / 85 minutes / Spanish with English subtitles / Director: Maria Victoria Menis
Sunday, May 15 8:00 pm preceded by Pinchas
Tuesday, May 17 1:30 pm preceded by Pinchas
The territory of ugliness is a place known only to those who live in it. At the end of the 19th century, Gertrudis, a shy, introspective “ugly duckling” in a colony of Argentinean Jews, grows into her role as a mother and wife to an older, wealthy Jewish rancher. The years pass and she finds solace in the beauty of everyday life, turning the tasks of setting the table or preparing a meal into aesthetic pursuits. One day she meets a nomadic photographer whose uncompromising vision allows Gertrudis to see herself for the first time. This lyrical, inventive award-winning film employs a number of visual innovations, including original Surrealist-inspired photographs and black-and-white films, archival World War I photographs, and hand-drawn color animation. Beautifully shot on location, this luminous, remarkable film captures the rich landscape of Buenos Aires Province.
Genre: Drama, Comedy Rating: NR
- Nominated for 8 Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards
SAVIORS IN THE NIGHT
Germany / 2009 / 95 minutes / German, French, English with English subtitles
Director: Ludi Boeken
Monday, May 16 4:00 pm / Thursday, May 19 2:30 pm
The Talmud says: “He who saves a single life saves the world entire”. The story is based on the memories of Marga Spiegel. In her narrative, published in 1965, she describes how courageous farmers in southern Münsterland hid her, her husband Siegfried, and their little daughter Karin from 1943 until 1945, thus saving them from deportation to the extermination camps in the east. It’s a story of survival with a sense for the absurd and humor of daily life. Without reservation, the farmers offer the refugees their protection. They are used to weathering dangerous situations, guided only by their instinct and centuries-old code of ethics. They risked their own lives, and if necessary, the lives of their families as well. These hero’s names are immortalized in Yad Vashem.
Genre: Drama, Comedy Rating: NR
- Award Winner - Boston and Pittsburgh Jewish Film Festivals and at Filmfest Washington, D.C.
INSIDE HANA'S SUITCASE
Canada, Czech Republic / 2009 / English / Director: Larry Weinstein
Monday, May 16 6:00 pm (88 minute version) / Thursday, May 19 12:30 pm
Where life lessons on tolerance and understanding are packed. The delivery of a battered suitcase to Fumiko Ishioka at the Tokyo Holocaust Museum begins the true-life mystery that became the subject of Karen Levine’s best-selling book, Hana’s Suitcase. The suitcase came from the Auschwitz Museum and had Hana Brady’s name painted on it. The film follows Fumiko’s search to discover the details of Hana’s life, which leads to the discovery of her surviving brother George in Toronto. A superb musical score coupled with stunningly shot dramatic reenactments, this film is a film of astonishing power and hope.
Genre: Documentary, Drama Rating: Age 10 and up
- Audience Award - Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival H 86% Rotten Tomatoes rating
Sponsored in part by the Sara and Bill Eisen Memorial Fund of the Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo
Award winning Director Larry Weinstein will attend the Monday evening screening and host a Q & A
following the film. A member of the HRC will speak on Thursday afternoon.
HOLY ROLLERS
USA / 2010 / 89 minutes / English / Director: Kevin Asch
Monday, May 16 9:00 pm / Wednesday, May 18 8:00 pm
Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) is involved in an unacceptable network of drug smugglers. “Holy Rollers” is inspired by actual events in the late nineties when Hasidic Jews were recruited to smuggle ecstasy from Europe into the United States. Sam Gold (Eisenberg), a young Hasid from an Orthodox Brooklyn community, is propositioned to transport ‘medicine’ for Jackie, an Israeli drug dealer, and his girlfriend, Rachel. The exciting and gritty worlds of Manhattan and Amsterdam night life, spirals Sam deeper into their detrimental lifestyle, experimenting with ecstasy and then falling for Rachel. Sam’s double life begins to rip his family apart and the community becomes suspicious of his illegal activities. Sam slowly comes to realize the façade behind the easy oney and parties.
Genre: Drama Rating: R
- Presented at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival
WHERE I STAND: THE HANK GREENSPUN STORY
USA / 2008 / 98 minutes / English / Director: Scott Goldstein
Tuesday, May 17 4:00 pm
Unbelievable as fiction, but a true life story. Convicted gun runner, Las Vegas visionary, crusading newspaper publisher, target of the Watergate burglars, hero of Israel’s War of Independence...these are only some the highlights of Hank Greenspun’s remarkable life. From his early days working for Bugsy Siegel and his secret life in the underground Haganah, to his public battles with Senator Joseph McCarthy, bigoted casino owners, and the IRS, Hank Greenspun was fearless. “He had the power to make people and destroy people… and he did both.”A previously untold story of a genuine American hero, experience this riveting film narrated by Anthony Hopkins. “Calling this film a documentary doesn’t do it justice. Moments after the opening credits roll, it turns into an adventure yarn that could give Indiana Jones a run for his money” - Las Vegas Sun.
Genre: Documentary Rating: NR
THE MATCHMAKER
Israel / 2010 / 118 minutes / Hebrew with English subtitles / Director: Avi Nesher
Tuesday, May 17 6:00 pm / Wednesday, May 18 1:30 pm
An enchanting coming-of-age story about the manifold incarnations of friendship and love. Sixteen-year-old Arik is at loose ends one summer when he gets a job offer from a mysterious old friend of his father’s named Yankele Bride. A Holocaust survivor, Yankele makes his living as a matchmaker, uniting luckless souls. He hires Arik to scout potential clients throughout the bustling port city. The diverse characters Arik meets on the job open his eyes to a world of wonder, pain and longing, offering him glimpses into the depths of human love. Arik falls in love for the first time, a development that brings surprising consequences. Set in Haifa in the summer of 1968, The Matchmaker is a tender story of love, loss and survival. Director Avi Nesher (Turn Left at the End of the World and The Secrets) plumbs a fascinating juncture in Israeli history, where an embryonic society still reeling from the memory of trauma is beset by the cultural upheaval of the sixties. Based on the novel “When Heroes Fly” by award-winning writer Amir Gutfreund (“Our Holocaust”), The Matchmaker interweaves various personal struggles with humor, empathy, and emotional energy.
Genre: Drama Rating: NR
FUGITIVE PIECES
Canada, Greece / 2008 / 105 minutes / English, Greek, Yiddish, German with English subtitles
Director: Jeremy Podeswa
Tuesday, May 17 8:30 pm / Wednesday, May 18 6:00 pm
A new land, a new life…still, the heart never forgets. Fugitive Pieces is a powerful, poetic, and emotionally charged drama about love, loss and redemption. Jakob Beer is a nine-year-old boy in 1942 Poland. Nazi soldiers have murdered his parents and abducted his teenage sister, Bella. Traumatized by this horrific event, Jakob sneaks out of his hiding place and struggles to survive. He is found by Athos Roussos, a Greek archaeologist working at a Polish dig site in Biskupin. Moved by the child’s plight, Athos boldly smuggles Jakob out of Poland and hides him in his home on the island of Zakynthos in Greece, also occupied by the Germans. After the war, Athos and Jakob emigrate to Canada. Over the course of his life, Jakob remains haunted by his parents’ death and the question of his sister’s fate. Through his writing, and then through the discovery of true love, Jakob is ultimately freed from the legacy of his past. Based on the best-selling novel by award-winning writer Anne Michaels.
Genre: Drama Rating: NR
- Winner Jury Award Best Film, Director, Screenwriter, Cinematographer - Newport Beach Film Festival
- Winner Audience Award - Sarasota Film Festival
- Winner Best Actor for Rade Serbedzija - Rome Film Festival
Closing Night Gala Tickets $16, $8 students
Closing Night Gala is 2 punches on flex pass 1 for student.
* All inclusive pricing for this special event. Ticket/reservations requested by May 16
THE KLEZMATICS: ON HOLY GROUND
Part concert, part backstage drama, the revitalization and reinvention of Jewish music by a Klezmer super group! Originally formed in 1986 in New York City’s East Village, the Award-winning Klezmatics continue to push the boundaries of Jewish music. Their albums and repertoire include collaborations with Itzhak Perlman, Chava Alberstein, Theodore Bikel, Nora Guthrie, playwright Tony Kushner and most recently with kosher gospel sensation Joshua Nelson. We brought Joshua to Buffalo at the very beginning of his career, remember? The band has additionally reached millions of television viewers on PBS Great Performances, Late Night With David Letterman, and BBC’S Rythms Of The World. In 2006, The Klezmatics won a Grammy Award (World Music) for their first English language LP, “Wonder Wheel,” a collaboration with the Woody Guthrie family. The essence of a surviving tradition is its ability to re-examine and reinvent itself. The Klezmatics’ music is a dynamic bridge between the lost Shtetls of Eastern Europe and Jewish-Yiddish culture’s continuing force today. This film is an intimate exploration of the band’s journey, and captures its essence for Jewish and non-Jewish audiences alike.
Genre: Documentary Rating: NR
