Jewish film blog

Zucker brothers up for 10 awards

Alles auf Zucker, the first German Jewish comedy, since, well.. er... has picked up a record breaking 10 nominations in 15 categories at the annual German Film Prize.

The awards, the German version of the Oscars will be announced in July.

Alles auf Zucker, or Go for Zucker is about a secular German Jew from east Germany and his brother from west Germany and how they deal with the death of their mother. According to the mother's will, they will only get their  get their inheritance if they reconcile and arrange an Orthodox funeral for her in Berlin.

Among the awards, Alles auf Zucker has been nominated for are best picture, best actor, best picture, best acress and best director.

Montreal Jewish Film Festival turns 10

If you are in and around Montreal in Canada this month between May 10 and May 19, then make a point of visting the Montreal Jewish Film Festival.

Now in its 10th year, there are some great films being shown.

Among the highlights:

Waiting for Woody Allen (Yiddish)

Two quarrelsome Hassidim, Mendel and Yossel, sit on a bench in Central Park. Disillusioned with religion, therapy and their friendship, they wait for Woody Allen to come and give meaning to their lives. A tragicomedy in one act.

Looking for Victoria (Spanish/English)

Between 1976 and 1983, approximately 30,000 citizens, among them 2,000 Jews, disappeared in Argentina. The military dictatorship called it "a dirty but necessary war against leftist terrorists." Adriana Lewi was eighteen months old when the police abducted her and her parents. She was returned to her family, but she never saw her mother and father again.

Twenty-five years later when her son, Fede, turned the same age she was when her parents were taken, Adriana begins to learn the truth about their beliefs, their radical choices and their tragic deaths.

American Matchmaker (Yiddish)

Leo Fuchs, the 'Yiddish Fred Astaire' stars in this 1940 urbane musical comedy as Nat Silver, a debonair New York businessman whose recent engagement (his eighth) goes awry. Determined to find a wife, Nat reinvents himself as a matchmaker and sets off on his new venture in the Bronx, outfitted in a morning coat. A neophyte in a profession with traditions rooted in the shtetl, his unorthodox approach soon finds him in conflict with the local shadkhonim.

Toronto turns 13

Congrats to the Toronto Jewish Film Festival which turns 13 with this year's annual event.

In 13 years, the festival has grown into an essential fixture of the Jewish film festival circuit and is now the biggest event of its kind.

This year's event which kicks off on May 7 and runs until may 15 will screen 100 films.

Among the highlights:

Protocols of Zion

In 1905, the infamous anti-Semitic propaganda treatise called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was first published. In 1920, Henry Ford, notorious Jew-hater and friend of Hitler, gave a free copy with every car sold. Probably written around the turn of the century by agents of the Russian Czar’s secret police, the Protocols have returned and proliferated with a vengeance since the 9/11 attack. The filmmaker interrogates the mistaken but widely held belief that no Jews died in the bombing. With remarkable restraint, from the streets of New York to the mountains of West Virginia, he interviews White supremacists, Holocaust deniers, newspaper publishers and radio hosts who, sometimes coming out with inadvertently hilarious remarks, have propagated the claim of a diabolical plot by Jews to control.

The Aryan Couple

Joseph and Rachel Krauzenberg are prosperous Hungarian Jews in 1944 who, over the years, have provided work for some 3000 employees, including a young Aryan couple. The Krauzenbergs are ordered to host a dinner for Gestapo officers Himmler and Eichmann at which they are expected to trade their fortune for freedom and a plane to Palestine. Bitter irony and almost unbearable emotional undercurrents emerge from various acts of uncommon kindness as well as common cruelty. Gripping performances and lush cinematography.

Awake Zion

Growing up Jewish in Miami Beach, the director was not only intrigued by Rastafarian culture and its message of truth, love and understanding, but found it oddly familiar. She travels to Jamaica, Los Angeles, Israel and New York to discover historical intersections of Jews and Black Africans in a multi-layered, upbeat, music-filled history of the bloodlines of ancient kings. Is Rasta and reggae a missing piece of Judaism? Whose history is it anyway?

The Devil and Manny Schmeckstein

In this delightfully dark claymation short, an elderly stand-up comic passes away at the microphone. It wouldn’t be the first time a comic died onstage, but then the Devil consigns him to Hell for not getting a single laugh since 1968.

Harrisburg Jewish Fim Festival

If you can get to Harrisburg in Pennsylvania, then you will be in for a treat as until May 19, the town is holding its annual Jewish Film Festival.

Now in its 12th year, the Harrisburg Jewish Fim Festival has some great cinema delights including:

Watermarks (2004)

The story of the champion women swimmers of the legendary Jewish sports club, Hakoah Vienna. Ha-koah ("The Strength" in Hebrew) was founded in 1909 in response to the notorious Aryan Paragraph, which forbade Austrian sports clubs from accepting Jewish athletes. Hakoah rapidly grew into one of Europe's biggest athletic clubs, achieving astonishing success in many diverse sports.

James’ Journey To Jerusalem (2003)

In the imaginary village of Entshongweni, the young James is chosen to undertake a pilgrimage to Holy Jerusalem. But Israel is no longer the Holy Land that James and his people imagined. At the airport, James is suspected of trying to infiltrate the country in order to work illegally. He is jailed and destined for deportation. Inside the dark cell, as James prays to God to allow him to complete his mission, a miracle occurs.

Go For Zucker set for awards

The idea of a German Jewish comedy being made would have been unthinkable 20 years ago, or even a decade ago, but now, Go For Zucker is being lined up for a string of awards at the annual German version of the Oscars.

Reuters reports:

A daring comedy that lampoons Jewish life in Germany and shatters post-war taboos in the process is the top favourite to win the most nominations next week for the annual German Film Prize awards.

The first German-Jewish comedy since World War Two, director Dani Levy's "Alles auf Zucker" (Go for Zucker: An Unorthodox Comedy) was short-listed in 10 categories for the country's equivalent of the Oscars, which will be awarded in July.

Poking fun at German and Jewish cliches while ignoring rules about "political correctness" in Germany's uneasy relationship with Jews, "Alles auf Zucker" is about two estranged Jewish brothers raised on opposite sides of the Berlin Wall.

Jakob Zucker, who grew up in Communist East Germany, is a former sportswriter turned cash-strapped gambler who distanced himself from Jewish traditions after his mother and his Orthodox brother Samuel Zuckermann fled West before the Wall went up.

When their mother dies, the brothers meet for the first time in 40 years. They learn they will only get their inheritance if they reconcile and arrange an Orthodox funeral for her in Berlin including a seven-day mourning, or shiva, with their families.

Twin Sisters London preview

Fancy catching a sneak peek of the Jewish-themed Dutch drama Twin Sisters (certificate 12A) before it opens? Well, now's your chance thanks to two special screenings of the film taking place in London this week.

Based on the novel by Dutch author Tessa de Loo, Twin Sisters follows the relationship between siblings Anna and Lotte who are separated from each other at the age of six after their parents die. While Lotte moves to the Netherlands, Anna grows up on a farm in Germany, and their lives take very different paths – Lotte becomes engaged to a Jew, while Anna is romanced by a Nazi officer. Eventually, the pair are reconciled in old age, and have the chance to settle the differences that kept them apart when they were younger.

The film opens in cinemas on May 6, but the following preview screenings are being held:

May 4 Barbican Cinema (box office: 020 7638 8891)
May 5 Screen on the Hill, 203 Haverstock Hill, London NW3 4QG (box
office: 020 7435 3366)

Both screenings start at 7pm and are followed by a Q&A with author Tessa de Loo.

Kung Fu Jew

If you have never come across Kung Fu Jew from Freed Pictures (Written, Produced and Directed by: Jon Fine and Michael Schiller), let us educate you about this classic film from the 1990s.

This low-budget spoof follows a Jewish martial arts legacy from the twelve tribes of Israel through to modern day Brooklyn – with lots of ultra-Orthodox characters showing off some impressive kung-fu moves along the way. From its bizarre characters (check out black revolutionary Shazzam Shabazz Shabbat Shalom) and even sillier dialogue (half in Hebrew, half in English), to a filming style that actually makes it look like a low-budget 1970s martial arts movie, this has cult status written all over it.

There's a website at: www.kungfujew.com  but if it doesn't work, then visit the Internet Archive's stored copy of Kung Fu Jew here.

Freed Pictures also has some details of Kung Fu Jew on its own website.

UK Jewish Film Festival dates

Time to pencil in the UK Jewish Film Festival for 2005/2006.

This great annual event kicks off in the West End of London with a special gala night on November 2.

Screenings in London start at the Screen on the Hill in Belsize Park and run from November 5 to November 10. After this, the festival moves on to a number of other London cinemas until November 15 when the festival goes on a UK tour covering various cities until the end of March 2006.

As soon as we get more details of films and screenings these will be added on JewishFilm.co.uk

Warsaw Jewish film festival

The second Warsaw Jewish Film Festival starts later this month.

From May 19th to 24th, the festival will be showing a mixture of films including comedy, drama and documentary.

Good to see that The Hebrew Hammer gets a screening along with Only Human from Spain. Jewishfilm.co.uk blogger Caroline Westbrook says of Only Human: "The dark comedy is about a Spanish Jewish family who get a surprise when one of the siblings brings home her Palestinian boyfriend and the evening goes from bad to worse when he thinks he has accidentially killed his future father-in-law by dropping a block of frozen soup on his head."

Full list of films (taken directly from the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival website):

(film types: D- documentary, F- feature, E-experimental or animation)

To be An Israeli Woman: Rebecca Ziva Postec 2004 D Israel 66 minutes

Behind Enemy Lines Dov Gil-Har 2004 D Israel 64 minutes

Remembrance Marcela Arteaga 2003 D Mexico 86 minutes

Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and The Holocaust Daniel Anker 2004 D USA 90 minutes

Olga and Rabinovich Alexander Stoliarov 2004 D Russia 39 minutes

The Hebrew Hammer Jonathan Kesselman 2003 F USA 85 minutes

Line of Life Serge Avedikian 2003 E France 12 minutes

Pasion of Life Leszek Allerhand 2004 D Poland 55 minutes

Journey to Jerusalem Ivan Nichev 2003 F Bulgaria 112 minutes

The Kiss Paul Fischer 2004 E USA 9 minutes

Anya-in and out of focus Marian Marzyński 2004 D USA 91 minutes

Leila & Lena Michael Pfeifenberger 2005 F Israel - Austria 85 minutes

No. 17 David Ofek 2003 D Israel 76 minutes

Only Human Teresa De Pelegri, Dominic Harari 2004 F Spain 89 minutes

Miracle in Cracow Diana Groo 2004 F Hungary 94 minutes

Tea spoon of Life Michał Nekanda-Trepka 2004 D Poland 22 minutes

Suzie Gold Ric Cantor 2004 F U.K. 93 minutes

The Loser who won Jack Feldstein 2004 E Australia 20 minutes

Le Grand Role Steve Suissa 2003 F France 89 minutes

Followers of seeing from Lublin Leszek Wiśniewski 2005 D Poland 27 minutes

The Material That love Is Made Of Ari Folman 2004 D Israel 168 minutes

Documents Jacob Dammas 2004 D Denmark 9 minutes

Władysław Szpilman 1911-2000 - by own words Marek Drążewski 2004 D Poland 57 minutes

Roads to Kfar Qasem Leon Prudovsky 2003 D Israel 24 minutes

Jews For Sale-Payment on Delivery Axel Brandt 2005 D Germany 89 minutes

Serso Marek Pacholec 2004 E Francja 8 minutes

Earth, Wind and Rust Amnon Titelbaum 2003 D Israel 75 minutes

The stones Raphael Nadjari 2005 F Israel-France 107 minutes

You will never understand this Anna Salomonowitz 2003 D Austria 52 minutes

Divan Pearl Gluck 2003 D USA / Hungary 77 minutes

Between a star and a crescent (Bricha) Peter Bok 2003 D Czech 52 minutes

L'Chayim Comrade Stalin!  Yale Strom  2003 D USA 85 minutes

The Last Sephardic Jew Miguel Angel Nieto 2003 D Spain 90 minutes

Rosenstrasse Margarette von Trotta 2003 F Germany 136 minutes

Nina's Tragedies Savi Gabizon 2003 F Israel 106 minutes