| |
Films
Noodle
Directed by Avelet Menahemi
Feature
Israel, 2007
95 minutes
In Hebrew and Mandarin with English subtitles
Rating equivalency PG-13
This touching and lighthearted story about family and emotional healing recently won an Israel
Academy Award for Best Director. At thirty-seven, Miri is a twice-widowed, El Al flight attendant.
Her well-regulated existence is suddenly turned upside down by an abandoned Chinese boy whose
migrant-worker mother has been summarily deported from Israel. Miri's efforts to reunite mother
and child takes her and the boy, whom she dubs "Noodle," on an amazing journey.
Trailer 1 (1:58 min)
WMV (4.77MB)
MOV (6.71MB)
Trailer 2 (3:53 min)
WMV (8.15MB)
MOV (13.3MB)
Showing Saturday, March 7, 7:30 p.m.,
at the Canzani Center, 60 Cleveland Ave., on the campus of CCAD.
Back to top
Cycles
Directed by Cyril Gelblat
Feature
France, 2008
92 minutes
In French with English subtitles
Rating equivalency PG-13
Empty-nest syndrome packs a double whammy for Judith. Just as her son is ready to head off on
his own, her Holocaust-survivor mother begins slipping into Alzheimer's. This incisive and tender
first feature follows three generations of Parisian Jews as they come to grips with change - and
the cycles of life.
Showing Saturday, March 7, 9:45 p.m.,
at the Canzani Center, 60 Cleveland Ave., on the campus of CCAD.
Back to top
Blessed is the Match -
The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh
Directed by Roberta Grossman
Documentary
United States, 2008
86 minutes
In English
Rating equivalency PG-13
Narrated by three-time Academy Award nominee Joan Allen, Blessed is the Match is the
first documentary feature about Hannah Senesh, the World War II-era poet and diarist who became a
paratrooper, resistance fighter and modern-day Joan of Arc. Safe in Palestine in 1944, Hannah
joined a mission to rescue Jews in her native Hungary - the only military rescue mission for
Jews during the Holocaust. Hannah parachuted behind enemy lines, was captured, tortured and
ultimately executed by the Nazis. Incredibly, her mother Catherine witnessed the entire ordeal - first
as a prisoner with Hannah and later as her advocate, braving the bombed-out streets of Budapest
in a desperate attempt to save her daughter. Blessed is the Match has been nominated for a 2009
Academy Award as Best Documentary.
Showing Sunday, March 8, 11 a.m.,
at the Landmark Gateway Theater, 1550 N. High St., at South Campus Gateway
Back to top
Surfwise
Directed by Doug Pray
Documentary
United States, 2008
93 minutes
In English
Rating R
This documentary chronicles the eccentric life path of Stanford educated doctor and legendary
Malibu surfer Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz. In the 1960s, Paskowitz became a surfing legend, introducing
the sport to Israel, and creating his own alternative lifestyle based on healthy eating and the
pursuit of freedom instead of money. The life change and radical philosophy of the now 85-year-old
surfer included his wife and nine children who were raised in a 24 foot camper, living a nomadic
lifestyle criss-crossing the United States and South America.
Trailer 1 (2:00 min)
WMV (4.86MB)
MOV (7.09MB)
Trailer 2 (2:03 min)
WMV (4.77MB)
MOV (5.32MB)
Trailer 3 (2:27 min)
WMV (5.78MB)
MOV (9.38MB)
Showing Sunday, March 8, 1 p.m.,
at the Landmark Gateway Theater, 1550 N. High St., at South Campus Gateway *
* Doc's son, Jonathan Paskowtiz, will be attending the screening.
Back to top
Matzo & Mistletoe
Directed by Kate Feifer
Documentary
United States, 2007
60 minutes
In English
Rating PG
Filmmaker Kate Feifer was six years old when her father told her she was Jewish. Since she
celebrated Christmas and never attended synagogue, this information came as a surprise. "It was
like my parents simply forgot to mention it," she notes. In Matzo & Mistletoe, Feiffer
interviews a fascinating cast of characters, and uses archival footage, illustration, and clips
from television shows and movies to ponder the paradox of American secular Judaism, asking,
"What does it mean to be a non-practicing Jew In America?" In her search for answers, Feifer
talks with family and friends, including her father (the cartoonist, screenwriter/playwright)
Jules Feifer, newsman Mike Wallace, and author Alan Dershowitz.
A discussion on "What does it mean to be a non-practicing Jew In America?" will follow the film.
Showing Sunday, March 8, 3:30 p.m.,
at the Landmark Gateway Theater, 1550 N. High St., at South Campus Gateway
Back to top
The Deal
Directed by Steven Schacter
Feature
United States / Canada, 2007
98 minutes
In English
Rated R
Washed-up Hollywood producer Charlie Berns (William H. Macy) has mailed in his updated obit
and is about to suck his Mercedes tailpipe and fade to black when a miracle materializes: his
nephew, a wannabe screenwriter from New Jersey, has scripted the life story of Queen Victoria's
prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, which Charlie manages to turn into a hot property that reinstates
him as a Hollywood player. But as the deal heats up, a few conceptual changes morph the project
into "Lev Disraeli: Freedom Fighter," an action thriller with a black Jewish superstar
(played by LL Cool J), a Yugoslavian location, a mad Polish director, and even a real-life
kidnapping. Is Charlie Berns being eaten alive by the system? Or is he giving the Hollywood
hotshots a run for their money? Also stars Meg Ryan as the struggling, creative, studio executive
and Elliot Gould as an unforgettable Hollywood rabbi.
Showing Monday, March 9, 7 p.m.,
at the Drexel Theater, 2254 E. Main St., Bexley
Back to top
Waiting for Armageddon - Film and Symposium
Directed by Kate Davis, Franco Sacchi and David Heilbroner
Documentary
United States, 2008
74 minutes
In English
Rated PG-13
Waiting for Armageddon explores America's 50-million member Evangelical community,
a group convinced that the world's future is foretold in Biblical prophecy - from the Rapture
to the Battle of Armageddon. The film follows Evangelicals in their homes, at conferences, and
on a wide-ranging tour of Israel, the site where they believe Christ will return again. By
interweaving Christian Zionist, Jewish and critical perspectives along with telling archival
material, the film probes the politically powerful, and potentially explosive, alliance between
Evangelical Christians and Israel - one that may set the stage for what one prominent Evangelical
leader calls "World War III." Following the film, a keynote presentation will be given by one of the film's
directors, followed by a panel discussion, "What It Means to Love Israel...A Jewish and Evangelical Dialogue."
A dessert reception will wrap up the evening.
Showing Tuesday, March 10, 7 p.m.,
at the Columbus Museum of Art, 480 E. Broad St.
Back to top
Goodbye, Columbus
Directed by Larry Peerce
Feature
United States, 1969
101 minutes
In English
Rating R
Neil Klugman (played by Richard Benjamin) is a highly intelligent, working class army veteran and
graduate of Rutgers University who earns a living as a library clerk. He falls in love with Brenda
Patimkin (Ali McGraw), a wealthy student at Radcliffe College who is at home for the summer. The
consequent obstacles that they face from Brenda's family, (particularly her father portrayed by Jack
Klugman) due to differences in class and assimilation into the American mainstream, create the central
conflicts of the film. Adapted from a Philip Roth novella, morality and propriety differences related
to premarital sex and the possibilities of ill-timed pregnancies, are the more imposing conflicts, and
the ones proving impossible to resolve.
A discussion and dessert reception will follow the film.
Showing Wednesday, March 11, 7 p.m.,
at the JCC of Greater Columbus, 1125 College Ave., Bexley
Back to top
The Debt
Directed by Assaf Bernstein
Feature
Israel, 2007
93 minutes
In Hebrew, German and Russian with English subtitles
Rating equivalency PG-13
The Debt revolves around Rachel Singer, a Mossad agent, who becomes a war hero after she and
three other agents claim to have killed a Nazi war criminal, knows as the "Surgeon of Birkenau," in
East Berlin in the 1960s. When the purportedly dead Nazi turns up after three decades, claiming to
be the surgeon, Singer and the other agents who had been sent with her to capture the Surgeon of
Birkenau 30 years ago, scramble to deal with the fact that they are living a lie, and to save face.
Trailer 1 (1:59 min)
WMV (4.25MB)
MOV (4.52MB)
Trailer 2 (3:23 min)
WMV (6.24MB)
MOV (7.28MB)
Showing Thursday, March 12, 6 p.m.,
at the Arena Grand, 175 W. Nationwide Blvd.
Back to top
The Year My Parents Went On Vacation
Directed by Cao Hamburger
Feature
Brazil, 2007
104 minutes
In Portuguese with English subtitles
Rating equivalency PG-13
In 1970, Brazil and the world seem to have been turned upside-down, but 12 year-old Mauro's
worries have nothing to do with the military regime which controls the country. His biggest dream
is to see Brazil become three-time winner of the World Cup. Suddenly, he is torn from his parents
and taken to live in a "strange" and fun-filled community called Bom Retiro, a district in Sao
Paolo which is home to a large Jewish and Italian community, among other cultures. The film is Brazil's
official entry to the 2008 Academy Awards.
Click here to read the Los Angeles Times review.
Showing Thursday, March 12, 8 p.m.,
at the Arena Grand, 175 W. Nationwide Blvd.
Back to top
|
