LINK TO 2003 SEATTLE JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL!

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March 10 - 18, 2001

Seattle Jewish Film Festival 2001 Schedule with Film Descriptions Other schedule viewing options include our Schedule at a Glance with film descriptions or Download a PDF detailing Festival Highlights, suitable for printing. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. Saturday, March 10 Opening Night Gala  7:30 pm Obsessed With Jews, All My Loved Ones Obsessed With Jews (West Coast Premiere, USA 2000, 8 min, video; Jeff Krulik, Director)—Jeff Krulik is a brilliant chronicler of the odd side of American culture.  Here, he introduces us to accountant Neil Keller, who has amassed a remarkable collection of over 7000 trading cards, photographs, matchbook covers, pins and autographs of prominent Jewish people. Neil shows us his collection, and tells how he methodically catalogs the accomplishments, and documents the genealogy, of every famous, and infamous, Jew on Earth.  Special Guests: Tiferet All My Loved Ones  (Northwest Premiere; Czechoslovakia 2000, 93 min, 35mm; Czech w/ subtitles; Matej Minac, Director)—Home and family are everything to small-town doctor Jacob Silberstein.  But as life becomes harder for Jews, Jacob and his wife must decide whether to keep the family together or to send their only son to England.  A loving tribute to the ties that bind, this emotionally-charged feature was inspired by recollections of the director’s mother, one of hundreds of Czech Jewish children saved by a Kindertransport organized by English stockbroker Nicholas Winton.   Special Guests: Tiferet This screening is part of our Days and Nights of Music. Sunday, March 11 12:00 pm Arguing the World (USA, 1997, 107 min, 16mm; Joseph Dorman, Director)— A portrait of four prominent Jewish intellectuals -- Irving Howe, Irving Kristol, Daniel Bell and Nathan Glazer – all of who attended City College in the 1930s.  Weaving personal reminiscence, archival footage, images of New York, and interviews with friends, critics, and historians, the film explores the passions, the issues, and the era that helped shape intellectual and political life in America. 2:00 pm Dreams and Nightmares (USA, 1974, 54 min, 16mm; Abe Osheroff, Director)—Brooklyn-born carpenter Abe Osheroff, now of Seattle, was wounded while fighting the fascists during the Spanish Civil War.  He was a member of the International Brigade, whose ranks were over twenty-five percent   Jewish, with Yiddish as the common language.  Some 35 years later he returns with a camera to Spain, still under Franco’s rule, in search of validation of his youthful passion.  Special Guest: Abe Osheroff, Filmmaker 4:00 pm The Life of the Jews in Palestine (Northwest Premiere; Russia, 1913, 80 min, 35mm; silent w/English titles; Noah Sokolovsky, Director)—“Tears of happiness gleamed in the eyes of Jewish audiences, thirsty for redemption,” said film exhibitor Yaacov Davidson, when The Life of the Jews in Palestine was first shown in European ghettos and market towns in 1913.  The film depicts Middle Eastern and European Jews tilling fields, building schools, and laboring side by side to build the nation that would become Israel.  This newly rediscovered and restored film, shot by Russian documentarian and active Zionist Noah Sokolovsky, is a striking document of political and cinema history, a call for the Jews of the Diaspora to make aliya and join their brethren living, working, and praying in the land of milk and honey.   Musical accompaniment by Lori Goldston, Kyle Hanson and Don Crevie of the Black Cat Orchestra. This screening is part of our Days and Nights of Music.   Special Guest:  Chaya Blaut, Teacher of Jewish History at Northwest Yeshiva High School 7:30 pm Sunshine   (Canada/Hungary, 2000, 180 min, 35mm; Istvan Szabo, Director)—Ralph Fiennes gives a tour-de-force performance as the patriarch of three successive generations of the Sonnenschein family.  Academy Award winner Istvan Szabo and acclaimed playwright Israel Horovitz bring us the story of a Jewish family whose many fevered longings include the dream of someday belonging.  Set in director Szabo’s native Hungary, amidst political turmoil and war, the film spans 60 years of the 20th century.  At once witty, seductive, and serious, Sunshine enters a fascinating territory where desire, family, politics, and a sextet of entangled lives converge.   Special Guests:  Dr. Sarah Abrevaya Stein, Jewish Studies Program, University of Washington; and Veronika Szabo, Lecturer in Yiddish in the Division of Literature, Cultures, and Language, Stanford University. Monday, March 12   7:00 pm Voyages (Northwest Premiere; France, 1999, 111 min, 35mm; French w/ subtitles; Emmanuel Finkiel, Director)  A triptych of fictional stories exploring the lingering effects of loss, and the urgency of living in the here and now.  A Parisian widow receives a call from a man claiming to be her long-lost father. A newly arrived 85 year-old Russian immigrant wanders the streets of Tel Aviv looking for a distant cousin. A woman on a bus tour of Poland is left behind at a Jewish cemetery. An outstanding film from an important new voice in world cinema. 9:00 pm Shorts Program:  Village of Idiots, Obsessed With Jews, Babcha and Pleasures of Urban Decay, Trailers Village of Idiots (Canada, 1999, 13 min, video; Eugene Fedorenko and Rose Newlove, Directors) Based on a familiar Jewish folktale, the charmingly animated story of a Shmendrik, who leaves his village of Chelm in search of something better and discovers another village exactly like his own. Obsessed With Jews (West Coast Premiere, USA 2000, 8 min, video; Jeff Krulik, Director)—Jeff Krulik is a brilliant chronicler of the odd side of American culture.  Here, he introduces us to accountant Neil Keller, who has amassed a remarkable collection of over 7000 trading cards, photographs, matchbook covers, pins and autographs of prominent Jewish people. Neil shows us his collection, and tells how he methodically catalogs the accomplishments, and documents the genealogy, of every famous, and infamous, Jew on Earth. Babcha (Northwest Premiere; Israel, 1999, 24 min, 16mm; Hebrew w/ subtitles; Micky Zilbershtein, Director)—Dror, a hip Israeli, “oldie-sits” his grandmother, a camp Survivor.  With the help of a motorcycle, a trip to the beach and much black humor, they both try to cope with the past, and prepare for the future. Pleasures of Urban Decay (Northwest Premiere; Canada/USA, 1999, 18 min, 16mm; Sam Ball, Director) An offbeat film about MacArthur Award recipient Ben Katchor, the creator of the great comic strip Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer. Katchor’s Yiddish-inflected voice guides us through a vast and shadowy landscape of old skyscrapers, neglected warehouses and all-night cafeterias, peering behind the city’s facades and through its cracks, turning New York’s everyday trappings into urban poetry.   Trailers (U.S. Premiere  USA 2000  3 min, video  Jeff Krulik, Director)   Two very funny trailers that Krulik created for another Jewish film festival.  They were rejected, and we are pleased to present them here. Tuesday, March 13 7:00 pm Sister/Wife (US Premiere; Israel, 2000, 60 min, video; English/Hebrew w/subtitles)--In the outskirts of Dimona lives another society, composed of African-Americans who believe they are descendants of one of the lost tribes of Israel. The film follows the story of Zipora, a religious and loving woman, who after 21 years of marriage, wakes up one morning to a new reality. According to the customs of the Hebrew Israelites, who adopted their version of the Law of the Torah, a man can marry up to seven women. Her husband, Hazriel, is about to take a second wife who is 14 years younger than she. Both will have to live under the same roof and share the same man.  A stunning, heart-rending film. 9:00 pm Genesis  (France/Mali, 1998, 100 min, 35mm; Bambara w subtitles; Cheick Oumar Sissoko, Director)  The breathtakingly beautiful desert plains of Mali provide the setting for this unusual African epic, a deeply poetic rendering of the story of Jacob and Esau. The dense, unusual narrative combines the drama and gravity of Greek theater with the liveliness of African storytelling, making Genesis both a gripping retelling of Biblical events and a profound parable for the fratricidal strife that has ravaged so many parts of the world. Starring the great African stage actor Sotigui Kouyate as Jacob and the world-famous Malian singer Salif Keita as his brother Esau. Special Screening at the Seattle Art Museum 7:30 pm The Engagement Party  (USA, 2000, 88 mins, DV; William Azaroff, Director) Bring in 'da goys! Bring in 'da Jews! A prematurely-planned engagement party tests the love, faith and patience of a young couple. Can the betrothed-to-be withstand neurotic parental pressures, traditional religious values and unorthodox family secrets? Or, will their marriage be shattered before the first glass has been stomped? The Engagement Party will be screened at the Seattle Art Museum as part of TheWarrenReport's DISTINGUISHING FEATURES series, which presents regionally produced feature-length films every month at the Seattle Art Museum. Each showing is followed by a discussion between the movie's makers and the audience, moderated by Warren Etheredge.  Wednesday, March 14 2:00 pm Free-for-Seniors Matinee Shorts Program:  Pleasures of Urban Decay, Madame Jacques Sur La Croisette and Mah-Jongg – The Tiles That Bind Pleasures of Urban Decay (Northwest Premiere; Canada/USA, 1999, 18 min, 16mm; Sam Ball, Director) An offbeat film about MacArthur Award recipient Ben Katchor, the creator of the great comic strip Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer. Katchor’s Yiddish-inflected voice guides us through a vast and shadowy landscape of old skyscrapers, neglected warehouses and all-night cafeterias, peering behind the city’s facades and through its cracks, turning New York’s everyday trappings into urban poetry.   Madame Jacques Sur La Croisette  (Northwest Premiere; France, 1995, 37 min, video; French w/ subtitles; Emmanuel Finkiel, Director)-- Every Spring, a group of elderly, Yiddish speaking French Jews gather in Cannes to reminisce. Breaking away from the group and its monotonous rhythm, widower Maurice pursues Madame Jacques. Overcoming their differences and the gossip of their friends, Maurice and Madame Jacques come together. This is the first film from Emmanuel Finkiel, director of Voyages. Mah-Jongg – The Tiles That Bind (Seattle Premiere; USA, 1998, 31 min, video; Bari Pearlman, Phyllis Heller, Directors)--With mah-jongg, two seemingly unrelated cultures in America--Chinese and Jewish--converge. Mah-jongg has been played in Asia since the time of Confucius. In the early 1920s an English language version was imported to the United States and quickly picked up by urban Jewish women, who learned it from friends and relatives in immigrant neighborhoods. For the women who play, the game provides a constant source of amusement as well as a unique support network for life, love and loss. 7:00 pm Homo Sapiens 1900 (Sweden, 1999, 85 min, 35mm; Peter Cohen, Director)—A deliberately paced, devastatingly effective telling of the rise and fall of the Eugenics movement, the “science” of improving the human race by selective breeding.  Eugenics found enthusiastic support in the US, where by 1907 over 20 states had enacted compulsory sterilization laws; in Sweden, which integrated the ideology into the social policies of a welfare state; in communist Russia, where eugenics theorists were first celebrated and then brutally silenced; and finally in Nazi Germany, which made “racial hygiene” a crucial part of its agenda.  With today’s rise of genetic technology already resurrecting many of the principles underlying the Eugenics movement, this is a must-see film.  Special Guests:  Dr. Marshall Horwitz, Associate Professor, Division of Medical Genetics,  University of Washington School of Medicine; Phillip Thurtle, School of Communications, UW; Professor Maynard V. Olson, Genome Center and Medicine, UW; Professor Emeritus Arno G. Motulsky, Medicine and Genetics, UW 9:30 pm Evgueni Khaldei: Photographer under Stalin (Northwest Premiere; Director)—At the age of one, Khaldei was orphaned by a pogrom.  At 12, he ground an eyeglass lens into his first camera.  He went on to become one of the greatest Russian photographers.  From Red Square to the Budapest Ghetto, the fall of the Reichstag to Yalta and the Nuremberg trials, Khaldei chronicled many of the world’s most important events with an artist’s eye and a journalist’s timing.  He was handpicked by Stalin, yet was continually the victim of state-approved anti-Semitism.  Here for the first time he opens his entire studio, giving us an astounding look into the life of the man who photographed Communism. Thursday, March 15 7:00 pm  Cours Toujours (Dad on the Run)  (Northwest Premiere; France, 2000, 92 min, 35mm; Dante Desarthe, Director) Set against the backdrop of the Pope's August 1997 visit to Paris, when tens of thousands of Catholic youth were mobilized, this screwball comedy rises to the level of religious allegory. Jonas and Paco  are best friends and professional Bar-Mitzvah entertainers. Paco, a volatile young man off-stage, croons in an outrageously romantic style, as if trying to seduce every woman in the audience while Jonas, more reserved, and in love with one woman, plays keyboards. After the birth of his first child, Jonas' stable world plunges into chaos. Because their family is of mixed Sephardic and Ashkenazi heritage, he and Julie are unsure of which ritual to observe for their son's circumcision. Finally, they decide to follow a North African custom and, three days after the bris, Jonas must bury the foreskin. Exhausted from a grueling Bar-Mitzvah performance, Jonas loses the precious bit of flesh in an attempt to bury it in a construction zone, and goes off on a wild chase through the city. 9:00 pm Last Resort  (West Coast Premiere; Israel, 1999, 93 min, 35mm; Hebrew w/ subtitles; Aner Preminger, Director)—A psychologically gripping feature from renowned Israeli director Aner Preminger. The year is 1993.  As the Oslo agreement is being signed in Washington, Noam Wax gathers six former members of the Nahal Settlement—the Israeli Army’s communal living experiment—on Mount Hazon in the lower Galilee.  His purpose is to complete a documentary film about the settlement that will help him overcome the trauma and scars left over from those days.  Their night together turns into a moral stocktaking that reflects the road Israel traveled in the decade between the Lebanon war and the Oslo agreement. Friday,  March 16           No Screenings Saturday, March 17       7:00 pm The Optimists  (US Premiere; USA, 2001, 84 min, 16mm; Jacky Comforty, Director)— The largely unknown story of how Bulgarian Christians and Muslims helped save 50,000 Bulgarian Jews during the Holocaust despite their government's collaboration with the Nazis. Shot in Israel and Europe, the footage includes oral histories from witnesses and survivors; unique archival film footage from newly-opened Bulgarian archives; and rare photos of Bulgarian Jewish life before and during WWII.  A fascinating story of the best and worst sides of human nature, narrated by director Jacky Comforty, whose family was among those saved.     Special Guest: Jacky Comforty, Filmmaker.  Music by Balkan Time Zone. This screening is part of our Days and Nights of Music. 9:00 pm Fighter  (Northwest Premiere; USA, 2000, 90 min, 35mm; English and Czech w/ subtitles; Amir Bar-Lev, Director)--Two Czech-born survivors of World War II, Arnost Lustig and Jan Wiener, are inspired by their post-war friendship to return to Europe, retracing their lives during and after the war. An unforgettable road trip, Fighter delivers a complex and fascinating portrait of the cathartic and destructive powers of memory, and of an unlikely friendship brought to the brink of collapse. Sunday, March 18 – Closing Day 10:00 am Bagel and Film Brunch 10:30 am Jews and Buddism: Belief Amended, Faith Revealed, and Seder Trek 10:30 am Jews and Buddism: Belief Amended, Faith Revealed (Seattle Premiere; USA, 1999, 41 min, video; Bill Chayes, Isaac Solotaroff, Directors)This illuminating and uplifting film examines the similarities and differences of Judaism and Buddhism and the surging interest in Buddhism by American Jews.  Narrated by Sharon Stone, the film includes footage of a fascinating meeting between the Dalai Lama and various Jewish scholars, and a dialogue between the Burmese Prime Minister and the first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion. Special Guest:  Filmmaker Bill Chayes Seder Trek (West Coast Premiere; Israel/Nepal, 1999, 56 min, video; English/Hebrew w/ subtitles; Shachar Zefania, Director Set primarily in Nepal, Seder Trek bobs back and forth between two stories.  One concerns director Zefania’s trek to Gokio Peak, in the Mount Everest region of the Himalayas; the other focuses on the inspiration and preparations behind “the largest seder in the world,” in Katmandu.  A sweet story of communion and adventure, and a cinematic plea for the end of hostility between religious and secular Jews in Israel. 12:30 pm Jazzman from the Gulag, Lieba Perla  Jazzman from the Gulag (Northwest Premiere; France/Netherlands, 1999, 58 min, video; English/Russian w/ subtitles; Pierre-Henry Salfati, Director) As a jazz trumpeter, Eddie Rosner was world-class, earning comparison even to Louis Armstrong.  As a Polish Jew born in Berlin, however, Rosner was continually on the wrong side of history.  A member of the Weintraub Syncopators, he fled the Nazis only to run afoul of Stalinism, and later spent years in Siberia as a suspected American spy--surviving only because of his awesome talent. French director Pierre-Henry Salfati and Russian writer Natalya Sazonova movingly chronicle an extraordinary man who over and over again lost virtually everything—except for his deep love of jazz.   Live Jazz  at Cinerama with Trumpeter Jim Knodle and Bassist Jon Sampson.   This screening is part of our Days and Nights of Music. Lieba Perla (Seattle Premiere; Israel, 2000, 55 min, video)-- During the Nazi regime, Dr. Josef Mengele conducted "scientific" experiments on and shot "research" footage of a Hungarian Jewish family of dwarfs. Fifty years later, Hannelore Witkofski, a "short-statured" woman born in post-war Germany, befriends the only surviving family member, Perla, an actress, now living in Israel. Perla asks Hannelore to search Germany for a lost film in which Mengele displays her entire family naked. Hannelore reports back to Perla on her search, calling and writing from Auschwitz, the Max Planck Institute, and the home of one of Mengele's photographers. An astounding, intimate, loving story of past horror and present-day renewal. 3:00 pm Film and Memory   Special Guests:  Filmmakers Peter Forgacs, Joan Stein, Jacky Comforty; Miriam Greenbaum…Moderated by Regina Hackett, Senior Art Critic, Seattle Post-Intelligencer 3:00 pm The March, One Day Crossing, Maelstrom – A Family Chronicle The March (Seattle Premiere; USA, 1999, 24 min, 16mm; Abraham Ravett, Director)-- Utilizing a series of conversations conducted over a 13-year period, influential experimental filmmaker Abraham Ravett details his mother's recollections of the 1945 Death March, when the SS hastily liquidated Auschwitz as Soviet troops drew near. One Day Crossing (Northwest Premiere; USA/Hungary, 2000, 25 min, 16mm; Hungarian w/ subtitles; Joan Stein, Director) A young Jewish mother poses as a Christian to protect her son from the Arrow Cross, the Hungarian fascists. An intense black-and-white short about the struggle to maintain identity and extend compassion in times of oppression and horror. Maelstrom – A Family Chronicle  Special Guests include: Filmmaker Peter Forgacs (West Coast Premiere; Netherlands, 1998, 60 min, video; Peter Forgacs, Director)— A pioneer in the use of “found footage,” the brilliant Hungarian director Peter Forgacs chronicles the lives of the Dutch Jewish Peereboom family during the period 1933 to 1942, using the family’s own home movies, along with segments filmed by the family of the Nazi governor of Holland. The irony created by the juxtaposition of the two families, and our knowledge of subsequent events, turn these innocent images of the Peereboom family--at the beach, getting married, having children, growing up--into something particularly bitter-sweet. Our feeling of helplessness grows into a suppressed scream as the final images appear on screen: this nice Jewish family is preparing clothes for the journey to the "labor camps" in Germany.  Special Guests: Filmmaker Peter Forgacs; Miriam Greenbaum, Executive Director of Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center and Joanne Rudof, Director Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University. 7:30 pm Les Fantômes de Louba (West Coast Premiere; France, 2000, 104 min, 35mm; French w/ subtitles; Martine Dugowson, Director)— Director Martine Dugowson (Mina Tannenbaum, SJFF ’96) returns with a complex drama about a young Jewish woman whose every relationship is haunted by the past.  Embroiled in a dangerous game of mistaken identity and deceit, Louba (portrayed by Elsa Zylberstein in a stunning performance) struggles to make a meaningful connection in what she sees as a world of betrayal.  Both an edge-of-your-seat thriller and a profound meditation on the relationship of the individual to society, Les Fantomes is a triumph. Schedule Subject to change without notice.  All screenings except "The Engagement Party" at Cinerama, located at 4th and Blanchard in downtown Seattle.  We will be regularly updating this schedule with information about special guest speakers and community sponsors, so please check back with us. We are no longer taking submissions for this year's festival. Please click here for print source information.

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