October 16, 2005
"A Cantor’s Tale" film at Boston Jewish Film Festival
Sunday, November 6
12:00 pm
A Cantor’s Tale
Coolidge Corner Theatre
http://www.bjff.org/festival/The Boston Jewish Film Festival features a film about Cantor Jacob Mendelson with original music by Frank London. http://www.jewishvideo.com/cantorstale.htm
In director Erik Greenberg Anjou’s exhilarating documentary tribute to Chazzanut, the cantorial art, Jacob (Jack) Mendelson, a cantor with a personality as big as his voice, takes Eric and the viewer on a guided tour of his Boro Park neighborhood, where, when Jack was a boy, cantors reigned supreme and music was the air he breathed.
Show Times
12:00 pm Sunday, November 6, Coolidge Corner Theatre (Purchase tickets)
Sponsored by: Tufts University College of Arts & Sciences, Tufts Hillel, and Program in Judaic Studies
Visiting Artist: Director Erik Greenberg Anjou and Film Subject Cantor Jacob Mendelson
New England Premiere
Director: Erik Greenberg Anjou
USA, released 2005
Duration: 95 min., Video
Language: English
SYNOPSIS
"The tradition of Eastern European Jewish cantorial music is alive and well in modern America in no small part thanks to the efforts of Brooklyn-born Cantor Jacob Mendelson. "Jackie," as he is affectionately called by everyone, explores the American roots of "hazzanut"( Jewish liturgical music) while taking us on a musical voyage that spans the Atlantic, originating in his birthplace of Boro Park, Brooklyn and reaching all the way to Jerusalem. There’s music in the air, everywhere. The experience of hearing the world’s most renowned cantors in the synagogue was part of a lifestyle that provided American Jewry with a rich cultural heirloom. It is Cantor Mendelson’s mission to insure that this legacy is passed on to this and the next generation and generations to come, in a way that is both true to its origins and relevant to the modern world. This feature-length documentary provides a nostalgic journey through family, neighborhood, and tradition. It also treats us to appearances by renowned cantors and aficionados Joseph Malovany, Ben-Zion Miller, Alberto Mizrahi, Matthew Lazar, Neil Shicoff, Jackie Mason and Alan Dershowitz. A Cantor’s Tale is very much like "Levy’s Real Jewish Rye", you don’t have to be Jewish to love it! "
Posted by jmwc at October 16, 2005 04:19 PM