Cabaret Berlin: The Wild Scene / Cabaret Berlin: La Scène Sauvage

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

Berlin’s Weimar Republic cabaret scene was home to Europe’s most innovative and experimental artists, writers and musicians. Built like a cabaret show and emceed by actor Ulrich Tukur (The Lives of Others, The White Ribbon), Rousso-Lenoir’s mesmerizing and thoroughly entertaining assemblage of archival film, sound and visual culture offers a front row seat to the best show in town. Jewish entertainers played a leading role in the cabarets and, with the Nazis rise to power, a great many paid an early price for their wit and irreverence. (Photo: Louise Brooks in Pandora’s Box)

Germany/France | 2010 | 70 min | English narration, German & French w/ English subtitles | Digital | Director: Fabienne Rousso-Lenoir

SPONSORS Goethe-Institut Boston; Consulate General of France in Boston; Center for German and European Studies; Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry

Gainsbourg / Gainsbourg (Vie Heroique)

MASSACHUSETTS PREMIERE

SPECIAL GUEST AT MFA & BRANDEIS
Anne Miller, Cultural Attachée, Consulate General of France in Boston

Artist Joann Sfar’s stylish, sexy and boldly imaginative biopic of French Jewish singer and provocateur Serge Gainsbourg (the uncanny Eric Elmosnino) follows the musician from his childhood in Nazi-occupied Paris though his painting and musical careers and his romantic entanglements with, among others, the ravishing Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin. Shot through with wit, sensitivity and unique surrealistic touches, Gainsbourg is a one of kind and not to be missed. Winner of the Best Actor Award at the Tribeca Film Festival.

France | 2010 | 136 min | French w/ English subtitles | 35mm | Director: Joann Sfar

Trailer

CO-PRESENTED BY Consulate General of France in Boston; Center for German and European Studies
SPONSORS Eveline & Guy Weyl; Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry; Department of Romance Languages

Grace Paley: Collected Shorts

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

PANEL DISCUSSION
Filmmaker Lilly Rivlin with Sylvia Barack Fishman, Co-Director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute & Joyce Antler, Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
Frederick Lawrence, President, Brandeis University

Lilly Rivlin’s intimate documentary is a rich portrait of writer, activist and New York icon Grace Paley (1922-2007). Paley’s brilliant, frank and clever stories celebrating the authentic, daily lives of women are classics of American literature. A child of Russian Jewish refugees who became Poet Laureate of Vermont and State Author of New York, Paley spent a lifetime on the front lines of the feminist and anti-war movements. Winner Best Documentary Audience Award at the Starz Denver, Woodstock International and Washington Jewish film festivals. Palm Springs International Film Festival “Best of Fest.”

USA | 2010 | 75 min | Digital | Director: Lilly Rivlin

Film Site & Trailer

CO-PRESENTED BY Hadassah-Brandeis Institute
SPONSOR American Studies

Gruber’s Journey / Calatoria lui Gruber

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

An Italian pro-Fascist journalist, Curzio Malaparte (Florin Piersic Jr.), suffering from debilitating allergies searches for a Jewish doctor named Gruber amid the outrageous, and increasingly sinister, bureaucracy of Nazi-occupied Romania. What begins as an absurdist wild-goose-chase leads directly to the heart of the final solution, and the disastrous fate of the local Jews. Radu Gabrea’s “perfect yet subdued” film is Romania’s first drama about the Holocaust. Based on Malaparte’s inventive 1944 autobiographical novel Kaputt.

“This is an exceptionally good film that sneaks up on the subject in an unexpected and compelling way.” –San Francisco Chronicle

Romania | 2008 |100 min | Romanian, German & Italian with English Subtitles | 35mm | Director: Radu Gabrea

Film Site

CO-PRESENTED BY Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry

The Human Resources Manager / Shlichuto Shel HaMemune Al Mashabei Enosh

MASSACHUSETTS PREMIERE

SPECIAL GUEST AT MFA
Ilan Troen, Director Schusterman Center for Israel Studies

When a foreign worker at Israel’s largest bakery is killed in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem, a forlorn HR manager (Mark Ivanir) finds himself leading an awkward funerary road trip that includes the dead woman’s rebellious son, a pesky journalist, corrupt politicians and an eccentric Israeli consul in this dark comedy directed by Eran Riklis (Lemon Tree, The Syrian Bride) based on a novel by A. B. Yehoshua. Winner of 5 Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Picture & Best Screenplay.

“A humane and…thoughtful tale (it) has wit and character!” –Hollywood Reporter

Israel/Germany/France/Romania | 2010 | 103 min | Hebrew w/ English subtitles | 35mm | Director: Eran Riklis

Trailer

CO-PRESENTED BY Schusterman Center for Israel Studies
SPONSORS Israel Campus Roundtable; Hebrew Language Program

Pini Schatz's funny and original film (subtitled How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Blood) proves there’s no reason to be afraid of the liquid that flows in our veins. Meet a cross section of unique Israeli characters including the director of Magen David Adom. And learn how to mix the perfect bloody mary. Winner 2010 Best Int’l Documentary, NY Independent Film & Video Festival. Film Page

Israel | 2008 | 50 min | Hebrew w/ English subtitles | Digital | Director: Pini Schatz

Clementine

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

The director of The Green Dumpster Mystery (Jewishfilm.2009) embarks on another fascinating investigation that mirrors the development of Israel itself. Shaking his own family tree in this beautifully-crafted documentary, Tal Yoffe discovers a pioneering kibbutznik filmmaker, a Czarist army officer, a Nazi-trained blacksmith, several war heroes and a much missed father.

Israel | 2009 | 48 min | Hebrew w/ English subtitles | Digital | Director: Tal Haim Yoffe

CO-PRESENTED BY Schusterman Center for Israel Studies
SPONSORS Israel Campus Roundtable; Hebrew Language Program

Brooklyn band One Ring Zero (“gypsy-klezmer-circus-flea-cartoon-music you mainly hear in your dreams”) performs live for one of silent cinema’s greatest treasures. Solomon Mikhoels is brilliant as Sholem Aleichem’s daydreaming entrepreneur Menakhem Mendl whose calamitous strike-it-rich schemes are by turns hilarious and tragic. Directed by pioneering Yiddish modernist Alexander Granovsky, shot by Eduard Tisse (Battleship Potemkin), with intertitles by Isaac Babel, this Russian classic has been beautifully restored by The National Center for Jewish Film. The band will do a mini-set after the film.

USSR | 1925 | 100 min | Silent w/ new English intertitles | 35mm | Director: Alexander Granovsky

Film Site

Co-Presented with Boston Jewish Music Festival.
For tickets & to watch film clip with One Ring Zero score www.bostonjewishmusicfestival.com

Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Q&A with filmmaker Jonathan Gruber & Jonathan D. Sarna, Professor Brandeis University and editor of Jews and the Civil War. Book signing with Dr. Sarna will follow.

Coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, this exploration of the little-known history of the Jews who fought for both the Confederacy and Union is the first documentary devoted to the subject. Allegiances during the War Between the States split the Jewish community as deeply as the national debate in the country at large: some prominent Jewish voices cited the Torah to justify slavery, while others led the abolitionist movement. A dramatic and visually rich film with Sam Waterson voicing Abraham Lincoln.

USA | 2011 | 86 min | Digital | Director: Jonathan Gruber

CO-PRESENTED BY Bernard & Rhoda Sarnat Center for the Study of Anti-Jewishness
SPONSORS Near Eastern & Judaic Studies Department; American Studies; American Jewish Historical Society Boston
SPECIAL THANKS Shapell Manuscript Foundation and Indigo Film Production

Louder Than a Bomb

BOSTON PREMIERE

Teens from four urban Chicago high schools prepare to compete in the world’s largest youth poetry slam in this rousing, inspiring, irresistible documentary. In a series of dizzying solo and group performances, student poets elevate wordplay to the level of art. Among them is Adam Gottlieb, whose powerful recitation on his Jewish roots will leave viewers astonished. The film captures the turbulent lives of these unforgettable kids, exploring the ways writing and language shape their world. An encouragement to speak out and find your own voice. Winner of 11 film festival awards!

USA | 2010 | 97 min | Digital | Directors: Greg Jacobs & Jon Siskel

Film Site

CO-PRESENTED BY Roxbury Center for Arts (Roxbury Center for Arts (RCA is screening Louder Than A Bomb March 7 at 8 pm at Hibernian Hall, Boston. RCA tickets www.madison-park.org)
SPONSOR The Rashi School

Mahler on the Couch / Mahler auf der Couch

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

SPECIAL GUESTS
Jeffrey Gantz, Former Boston Phoenix Arts Editor (Mar. 13)

Detlef Gericke-Schoenhagen, Director Goethe-Institut Boston (Mar. 26)

This exuberant imagining of the real-life marriage of Gustav Mahler (Johannes Silberschneider) and his tempestuous wife Alma Schindler Mahler (the luminous Barbara Romaner) is a sensory feast of art, sex and celebrity in fin-de-siècle Vienna. Chafing under her agreement to give up her own musical ambitions, Alma seeks passion in the arms of the young, dashing architect Walter Gropius, which sends a tormented Mahler to Sigmund Freud for consultation. “Cameos” by Gustav Klimt and Max Burckhard. Moving and funny (the sessions with Freud are sly gems) the film is filled with Mahler’s sublime music conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Directed by Percy Aldon (Bagdad Café) and his son Felix.

Austria/Germany | 2010 | 97 min | German w/ English subtitles | 35mm | Directors: Percy Adlon & Felix Adlon

Trailer (Unsubtitled. Film at screening is subtitled.)

CO-PRESENTED BY Goethe-Institut Boston; Center for German and European Studies
SPONSOR Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry

Opening Night Film
The Matchmaker (Once I Was) / Pa'am hayiti

MASSACHUSETTS PREMIERE

SPECIAL GUEST
Charles Radin, Director of Global Operations at Brandeis University and former Middle East bureau chief for The Boston Globe

In the summer of 1968, Haifa teenager Arik learns about life, love and loyalty when he gets a job working as a detective for the mysterious Yankele Bride, a Holocaust survivor who works as a matchmaker promising clients “what you need, not what you want.” From his seedy office in the back of a movie theater run by Romanian dwarfs (also survivors) that screens only love stories, Yankele introduces Arik to a new world built on the ruins of an old one. Arik falls for a girl just returned from America, full of talk of free love and rock & roll. From the director of Turn Left at the End of the World (Jewishfilm.2005). Nominated for 7 Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Israel | 2010 | 112 min | Hebrew w/ English subtitles | 35mm | Director: Avi Nesher

Trailer

CO-PRESENTED BY Schusterman Center for Israel Studies
SPONSOR Israel Campus Roundtable; Jack and Ziva Paley

Precious Life / Chaim Yekarim

MASSACHUSETTS PREMIERE

SPECIAL GUESTS
Robert Leikind, Director AJC Boston (Mar. 6)

Gannit Ankori, Chair in Israeli Art, Schusterman Center, Brandeis University (Mar. 10)

A four-month-old Palestinian boy from Gaza requires a bone marrow transplant, which can only be done in an Israeli hospital. With war about to erupt in Gaza, veteran Israeli journalist Shlomi Eldar chronicles the race against the clock to save the boy’s life. As events take a series of unexpected turns, ethical contradictions envelope the filmmaker, the doctor and the boy’s Muslim parents. Short-listed for a Best Documentary Oscar nomination.

“Remarkable documentary …Eldar’s film reflects the Middle East I know—one full of amazing compassion, even among enemies, and breathtaking cruelty, even among neighbors.” –Thomas Friedman, New York Times

Israel | 2010 | 90 min | Hebrew & Arabic w/ English subtitles | Digital | Director: Shlomi Eldar

Thomas Friedman New York Times column Trailer

CO-PRESENTED BY Schusterman Center for Israel Studies
SPONSOR American Jewish Committee Boston; Israel Campus Roundtable

Robert Jay Lifton: Nazi Doctors

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE

Presented in conjunction with Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race, an exhibition produced by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum opening April 14 at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine

SPECIAL GUESTS
Dr. Robert Jay Lifton & Susan Bachrach, curator Deadly Medicine exhibit

World renowned psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton discusses how ordinary doctors became murderers, issues at the heart of his groundbreaking book The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide (LA Times Book Prize & National Jewish Book Award). Dr. Lifton, founding member of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and a pioneer in the field of psychohistory, interviewed doctors who served in Auschwitz. His conclusion: “doctors were at the heart of it.”

Germany | 2009 | 86 min | In English | Digital | Directors: Hannes Karnick & Wolfgang Richter

Film Site

CO-PRESENTED BY Goethe-Institut Boston; Center for German and European Studies

Singing in the Dark

NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE | Second USA Screening!

Newly Restored by The National Center for Jewish Film

SPECIAL GUEST
Sharon Pucker Rivo, NCJF Executive Director & Co-Founder

Moishe Oysher (The Cantor’s Son) stars as a concentration camp survivor suffering from traumatic amnesia who becomes a singing sensation. A quirky combination of 1950s movie conventions (the musical, gangster and mystery movies) and the period’s fascination with psychiatry, this virtually unknown film is one of the first American features to dramatize the Holocaust. Produced by borscht belt comedian Joey Adams and shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Boris Kaufman (On The Waterfront) on location in New York and in Berlin among the ruins of the important Levetzow synagogue.

"This strange, threadbare drama is high Holocaust kitsch... but the film gets its power and its virtue from the psychic liberation of scarred survivors living, unhealed, in plain sight and silence." –The New Yorker (Jan. 2011) Full Review (PDF)

USA | 1956 | 86m | English | 35mm | Director: Max Nosseck

Film Site

SPONSORS Mavis Lopater in Memory of Hans Lopater; Goethe-Institut Boston

ENCORE SCREENING at Irish Film Festival, Boston
Till the Tenth Generation

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

SPECIAL GUESTS
Director Gerry Gregg & Film Protagonist Tomi Reichental

The first Irish documentary about the Holocaust tells the story of Dublin resident Tomi Reichental, who for nearly 60 years remained silent about his boyhood in Bergen-Belsen. One of three remaining Holocaust survivors in Ireland, Tomi travels back to Slovakia where he recalls the life and death of Slovakia’s Jews. The Irish Minister of Integration has organized the distribution of the film to all secondary schools in Ireland where the film will play a central role in promoting racial and religious tolerance.

Ireland | 2009 | 80 min | Digital | Director: Gerry Gregg

Film Site Article on Tomi Reichental

Co-Presented by Irish Film Festival Boston. Tickets available soon at www.irishfilmfestival.com