Man is a Woman
|
|
* NY PREMIERE
AFTER THE END OF THE WORLD
Ivan Nichev, Bulgaria/Germany/Greece, 1999, 108m, 35mm
Bulgarian,Greek,
Romani and Turkish with English subtitles
In this richly textured romantic tale, an Israeli scholar flies back to his
native Bulgaria for a conference and is reunited with his long-lost childhood
sweetheart. They reminisce about their childhood adventures and evoke a lost
world of relative harmony among Armenians, Greeks, Gypsies, Jews, Turks, and
ethnic Bulgarians.
Sun Jan 16: 6:30; Mon Jan 17: 3
* NY PREMIERE
FROM SWASTIKA TO JIM CROW
Lori Cheatle, Steven Fischler,
Joel Sucher and Martin D. Toub, USA, 1999, 60m, video
Based on the book by Gabrielle Simon Edgcomb, this fascinating documentary
tells the little-known story of Jewish intellectuals who escaped Nazi Germany
to the U.S. in the 1930s. Confronted with anti-Semitism at American
universities and public distrust of foreigners, they secured teaching
positions at traditionally black colleges in the then-segregated South. The
complex interactions between these two groups are recalled through historic
footage and moving firsthand testimonials by African American and Jewish
scholars, activists and artists.
preceded by
* NY PREMIERE
PURIM
Madeline Schwartzman, USA, 1998, 3m, video, silent
This surprising and provocative silent short observes Hasidic children
masquerading for the holiday of Purim in Boro Park, Brooklyn.
Sun Jan 16: 9:15; Mon Jan 17: 1 and 6
JEW-BOY LEVI
Didi Danquart, Germany, 1999, 95m, 35mm, color; English subtitles
Set in the Black Forest region in Germany, circa 1935, JEW-BOY LEVI tells of
a Jewish cattle salesman whose amicable relations with Christian Germans turn
sour as a new era is ushered in by the Nazi movement. Based on stories told
to the late playwright Thomas Strittmatter by his father and grandfather,
this moving film presents a powerful tale with subtle restraint and quiet
humor.
Mon Jan 17: 8; Tues Jan 18: 6; Wed Jan 19: 3:30
* US PREMIERE
GLOOMY SUNDAY
Rolf Schübel, Germany, 1999,112m, 35mm, English
subtitles
Budapest, 1930s: Laszlo hires pianist Andras to play in his restaurant. Both
men fall in love with the beautiful waitress, Ilona, who inspires Andras to
create his successful, yet dangerous, composition, "Gloomy Sunday." The
fragile balance of their erotic ménage à trois spirals out of control when
the German, Hans (The Harmonists star Ben Becker), falls in love with Ilona
as well. This highly charged dramatic romance conjures both an intensely
personal and political tale.
Tues Jan 18: 1 and 8:15; Thurs Jan 20: 6
* US PREMIERE
CLOSED COUNTRY
Kaspar Kasics, based on research by Stefan Mächler, Switzerland, 1999; 86m,
English subtitles
Many years after WWII, evidence showing a connection between Swiss policy and
the deportation and murder of
Charles and Sabine Sonabend's parents at Auschwitz falls into Charles' hands.
This startling film documents the journey of brother and sister back to
Switzerland, where they confront people from their past, including a former
government border official and a nun from a monastery where the children
briefly hid.
Tues Jan 18: 3:15; Wed Jan 19: 1 and 9
* US PREMIERE
THE MYSTERY OF PAUL
Abraham Segal, France, 1999, 105m, 35mm, French, English, and Italian with
English subtitles
Who really was Saul of Tarsus, this zealous Jew from the first century who
became Paul, the Apostle of Christ, after his conversion on the road to
Damascus? A renegade? A saint? A mystical revolutionary? The founder of
Christianity? THE MYSTERY OF PAUL is in the style of a road movie: the
investigator, Didier Sandre, travels from Jerusalem to Tarsus, from Nicosia
to Athens, from Ephesus to New York and to Rome. He questions historians,
biblical scholars and philosophers, both Jews and Christians. How did a
dissident sect of Judaism become a worldwide religion? What were the twists
and turns in the journey that led from Damascus to Rome?
Please join us for a Panel Discussion on
THE MYSTERY OF PAUL
with Abraham Segal, Filmmaker;
Virginia Burres, Associate Prof. of Early Church History.
Drew University;
Wayne A. Meeks, Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies,
Yale University;
Alan F. Segal, Professor of Religion and Ingeborg Rennert
Professor of Jewish Studies, Barnard College
Wednesday, January 19, 6:00 pm
(the panel discussion will begin at approximately 7:45, immediately
following the conclusion of THE MYSTERY OF PAUL)
Wed Jan 19: 6
Sun Jan 23: 5:30; Mon Jan 24: 1
* NY PREMIERE
MAN IS A WOMAN
Jean-Jacques Zilberman, France, 1997; 96m, 35mm, color;
French and Yiddish with English subtitles
Oops! The groom is gay in this smart, offbeat romantic comedy. A surprise
blockbuster in France (at one point beating Titanic at the box office), this
rollicking bittersweet tale presents the bride (a charming, extroverted
Yiddish folksinger) to the groom (a handsome, cynical klezmer player)--a
marriage of convenience ... or is it? The protagonists are forced to
confront and question the nature of love, commitment and sexuality in this
poignant film.
preceded by
* WORLD PREMIERE
ALMONDS AND WINE
Arnie Lipsey, Canada, 1999; 5m, 35mm
Cheerful animation brings a Yiddish folk song to life as the journey of a
young bride and groom from Eastern Europe to North America is set to joyful,
rollicking music by the noted klezmer band Kapelye.
Thurs Jan 20: 8:15; Sat Jan 22: 9; Mon Jan 24: 6;
Thurs Jan 27: 8:15
A VISITOR FROM THE LIVING
Claude Lanzmann, France, 1997, 66m, DVC-PRO, English
subtitles
Claude Lanzmann constructed this most complex and powerful documentary around
an interview he conducted with Maurice Rossel in 1979, during the filming of
Shoah. As an International Red Cross (IRC) representative in Berlin during
WWII, Rossel was the only IRC representative to go to Auschwitz, where he
talked with the elegant camp commandant and later led the IRC delegation that
inspected the "model ghetto" at Theresienstadt in June 1944. In this
shattering interview, Lanzmann documents how the Holocaust was permitted by a
world of so-called decent human beings.
Sat Jan 22: 7:30; Sun Jan 23: 4 and 8:30; Mon Jan 24: 3:30
SHYLOCK
Pierre Lasry, Canada, 1999, 58m, 35mm
This probing film includes rare footage from portrayals of the
controversial Shakespearean character, from Orson Welles' unfinished Merchant
of Venice to performances by Sir Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman.
Commentary by scholars, actors, and theater directors explore why 400 years
after his creation, Shylock continues to be a contentious figure.
preceded by
* NY PREMIERE
VILLAGE OF IDIOTS
Eugene Fedorenko and Rose Newlove, Canada, 1999, 13m, 35mm
Based on a classic Jewish folktale, this charming animated film is the story
of Shmendrik's new life and its uncanny resemblance to his old one.
Tues Jan 25: 1 and 6; Wed Jan 26: 3:30
* US PREMIERE
MENELIK
Daniel Wachsmann, Israel, 1999, 56m, video, English subtitles
According to legend, King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba had a child, the
black Jewish prince, Menelik. It is believed that many Ethiopians descend
from Menelik. Gadi, a young Ethiopian man subsisting by theft, lives in Tel
Aviv's central bus station. In
a moment of solemn candor, he reveals his loneliness and yearning for his
mother in Ethiopia with whom he has lost touch. This moving film follows him
as he searches for his mother and contemplates his own identity.
preceded by
WOMEN OF THE WALL
Faye Lederman, USA, 1999, 31m, video
Who has the right to pray at the Western Wall? What does it mean to be
disenfranchised? This short documentary explores the issues surrounding a
Jewish women's prayer group in Jerusalem that has spent a decade fighting for
the right to pray at the
Western Wall.
Tues Jan 25: 3; Wed Jan 26: 6
* NY PREMIERE
WHAT I SAW IN HEBRON
Dan Geva and Noit Geva, Israel, 1999, 73m,16mm, Hebrew and Arabic, English
subtitles
"My grandmother never spoke about what she saw in Hebron during the massacre
of 1929 when she was 16 years old. She was so traumatized that until her
dying day, she could never speak about it, except for once. The day after the
massacre she wrote about what she had seen. Only after my eldest daughter was
born did my father decide to let me read what grandmother had written. At the
top of the wrinkled page appear the words: 'What I saw in Hebron.' Once I
started I was unable to stop reading.... My grandmother, granddaughter of the
Sephardic Chief Rabbi Eliyahu Mani of the Jewish community of Hebron, decided
that same day that there is no God..... I discovered, to my disbelief, that
this story had never been told. I located another 12 survivors who present
their testimony here for the first and perhaps the last time. Today, some of
them forgive, others don't, but all of them want to believe...we might see
better days, like ones they remember 70 years ago, when Jews and Arabs lived
together." - Noit Geva
Wed Jan 26: 1 and 8:15
* NY PREMIERE
THE DANUBE EXODUS
Peter Forgács, Hungary, 1998, 60m, video, color
Found-footage pioneer Forgács punctuates--with newsreel images and narration
from private diaries--extraordinary films made by the captain of a Danube
cruise ship between 1938 and 1945. The captain films as his elegant pleasure
ship is transformed into a refugee liner that carries desperate Central
European Jews to Palestine and later, Bessarabian Germans expelled by the
Russians.
preceded by
* NY PREMIERE
PLEASURES OF URBAN DECAY
Sam Ball, USA/Canada, 1999, 18m, 16mm
A lyrical profile of New York artist Ben Katchor, creator of "The Jew of New
York" and the comicstrip Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer. Katchor, a
self-described "middleman in the memory business" guides us through a shadowy
landscape of old skyscrapers, neglected warehouses and all-night cafeterias.
Thurs Jan 27: 1 and 6
* US PREMIERE
THE COMEDIANS, ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF YIDDISH COMEDY THEATER
Arnon Goldfinger; Israel, 1999, 81m, video
This entertaining historical portrait of one of Yiddish theater's most
popular troupes follows the Burstyn family through Europe and Israel all the
way to Second Avenue. Rare clips from musicals, dramatic films and the
family's home movies are interspersed with recent interviews with the last
remaining icons of the Golden Age of Yiddish theater.
Thurs Jan 27: 3:30 and 8:15
* NY PREMIERE
Special Presentation
BERLIN METROPOLIS: JEWS AND JEWISH
CULTURE IN EARLY GERMAN CINEMA
Screenings of historic archival films presented in conjunction with the
exhibition "Berlin Metropolis: Jews and the New Culture, 1890-1918," on view
at The Jewish Museum through April 23. This film series is curated and
introduced by Thomas Y. Levin, Associate Professor of German, Princeton
University. Produced with support from Goethe-Institut New York.
SHOE PALACE PINCUS
Ernst Lubitsch, Germany, 1916; 60m, 35mm, silent with simultaneous
translation of German intertitles.
The first feature-length film to be directed by Ernst Lubitsch, who would go
on to make such Hollywood classics as Ninotchka (1939) and To Be or Not to Be
(1942). This comedy stars Lubitsch himself, alongside silent film diva Ossi
Oswalda as the irrepressibly flirtatious, wily and genial master of Jewish
urban consumer culture.
preceded by
MEYER FROM BERLIN
Ernst Lubitsch, Germany, 1918; 51m, 35mm, silent with
simultaneous translation of German intertitles.
Another rediscovered Lubitsch classic, this beautiful, tinted print features
the ever-flirtatious Lubitsch as a typical Berlin Jew hilariously out of
place in the pastoral landscape of the Bavarian Alps.
Sun Jan 16: 1
THE PRIDE OF THE FIRM: THE STORY OF AN APPRENTICE
Carl Wilhelm, Germany, 1914; 69m, 35mm, silent with
simultaneous translation of German intertitles.
In this earliest surviving film featuring Ernst Lubitsch as an actor, the
young director-to-be stars as the egotistical yet charming social climber
Siegmund Lachmann.
preceded by
WHEN I WAS DEAD
Ernst Lubitsch, Germany, 1916; 37m, 35mm, silent with simultaneous
translation of German intertitles; courtesy of Slovenian Cinemathèque.
A rare, tinted fragment of a long-lost farce in which Lubitsch plays the role
of a harassed young husband who is able to get the better of a particularly
bothersome mother-in-law. This fragment of the film marking Lubitsch's
directorial debut was recently rediscovered by the Slovenian Cinematheque in
Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Sun Jan 23: 1
* US PREMIERE:
DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS
Richard Oswald, Germany, 1919; 42m, 35mm, silent with
simultaneous translation of German intertitles.
This pioneering and controversial educational fiction film attacking the
criminalization of homosexuality--made by Jewish director Oswald in
collaboration with the famous sex-researcher Magnus Hirschfeld--provoked
violent homophobic reactions upon its release that were often articulated in
both nationalistic and
anti-Semitic terms. Long thought lost, a 40-minute fragment of the original
feature-length film that had been incorporated into a 1927 documentary by
Hirschfeld was discovered in a Ukrainian export copy and recently restored by
the Munich Filmmuseum.
Tues Jan 25: 8 (followed by panel discussion)
Special Presentation
REDISCOVERED TREASURES
Screenings of rare films introduced by J. Hoberman, Senior Film Critic,
The
Village Voice and author of Bridge of Light: Yiddish Films Between Two
Worlds.
* WORLD PREMIERE OF RESTORED PRINT
DER VANDERNER YID / THE WANDERING JEW
George Roland, USA, 1933; 100m, 35mm, Yiddish with English
subtitles.
This newly rediscovered Yiddish-language featurette is a movie of great
historical import. Shot in New York during the summer of 1933, incorporating
newsreel footage into its drama, DER VANDERNER YID was the first American
movie made in opposition to the Hitler regime. It also featured the great
Yiddish actor Jacob Ben-Ami in his lone film role-that of a Jewish painter
driven from Nazi Germany.
Sun Jan 16: 4; Thurs Jan 20: 1;
Thurs Jan 27: 3:30
MARRIAGE IN THE SHADOWS
Kurt Mätzig, East Germany, 1947; 96m, 16mm, English subtitles.
A German actor resists the Nazis, refusing to leave his Jewish wife,
concealing her from the Gestapo. Based on the true story of Joachim
Gottschalk, this somber, little-known drama--long out of circulation--was East
Germany's official contribution to post-war Holocaust films.
Thurs Jan 20: 3:30; Mon Jan 24: 9:15
|
