Jewish film blog

2006 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival

The 6th annual Atlanta Jewish Film Festival will be taking place from January 23 to January 29 2006 and they are now inviting entries.

For more info, visit the AJFF site here.

Jewish Impact Films

Not sure how long they have been around, but the folks behind Jewish Impact Films really rock.

They've created a series of short Jewish films to inspire, educate and educate all things Jewish, so check them out.

How Jewish is Star Wars?

So the ongoing discussion continues - what is the hidden religious message behind Star Wars? And which faith has a better claim over the films?

The Houston Chronicle reports:

Some believers in Judaism see their view of the human condition depicted in Lucas' movies. Rabbi Alexander Seinfeld sees clear similarities between Star Wars mythology and Jewish mysticism.

"I remember after having learned more about Jewish tradition, I became convinced that Lucas must be Jewish!" says the rabbi, author of The Art of Amazement: Judaism's Forgotten Spirituality.

Boston Jewish film festival

If you can't wait until November for the next Boston Jewish Film Festival, you can still get a taste of the highlights from last year's event at Encore and More 2005.

The films being shown are

Le Grand Rôle by Steve Suissa (France, 2003, 89 min.)
For years, friends and actors Maurice, Sami, Simon, Elie, and Edouard have been waiting for their big break. The future looks bright when famous American director Rudolph Grichenberg (Peter Coyote) offers Maurice the part of Shylock in his Yiddish screen adaptation of The Merchant of Venice.

Paper Snow by Lina and Slava Chaplin (Israel, 2003, 98 min.)
The Russian-Israeli directing team known for A Trumpet in the Wadi directs this account of the wildly tempestuous affair between the Russian-born actress Hanna Rovina and her younger lover

The Rashevski's Tango by Sam Garbarski (Le Tango des Rashevski, Belgium/France/ Luxembourg, 2003, 97 min.)
Family matriarch Rosa Rashevski believed that a tango was as good as chicken soup and better than organized religion. Her death sets off identity crises among three generations of Rashevskis.

Or (My Treasure) by Keren Yedaya (Mon Trésor, France/Israel, 2003, 100 min.)
Or is the emotionally charged portrait of a 17-year-old woman in Tel Aviv and her attempts to wean her mother (played by Ronit Elkabetz) from a life of prostitution.

Alila by Amos Gitai (France/Israel, 2003, 122 min.)
Against the backdrop of a crowded apartment block in a working-class Tel Aviv neighborhood, the turbulent and often poignant lives of twelve characters converge.

To Take a Wife by Ronit and Shlomi Elkabetz (Ve Lakechta Lecha Isha, Israel/France, 2004, 97 min.)
In the confines of a small apartment building in Haifa, 1979, Vivian is surrounded by family who try to convince her not to divorce her traditionalist husband, Eliyahu.

Late Marriage by Dover Kosashvili (Hatuna Meuheret, Israel/France, 2001, 102 min.)
Zaza (Walk on Water 's Lior Askenazi), a 32-year-old Georgian living in Israel, is forced to choose as his parents' plans for his arranged marriage are threatened by his passionate affair with Judith, an older, divorced single mother.

The Ninth Day by Volker Schlöndorff (Der Neunte Tag, Germany/Luxembourg, 2004, 98 min.)
Based on a real-life 1945 memoir, the film tells the story of Henri Kremer (Ulrich Matthes), a priest from Luxembourg who is imprisoned in the Dachau concentration camp. On the verge of mental and physical collapse, Kremer is suddenly set free and given nine days by a young Gestapo officer to convince the local bishop to support the Nazi occupiers.