THE CANTOR'S SON film screening

On Sunday, March 30 at 4:15 pm The National Center for Jewish Film will screen the newly-restored 1937 Yiddish feature film THE CANTOR'S SON, starring Moishe Oysher, with new English subtitles. The screening is part of JEWISHFILM.2008 NCJF's 11th Annual Film Festival running from March 29-April 13.



Restoration of the film was made possible by her friends through the Miriam Saul Krant Preservation Fund, and by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation, the National Foundation for Jewish Culture & the Eastman Kodak Company, with support from Brandeis University & the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The restored version of THE CANTOR'S SON had its world premiere at the Jerusalem Film Festival in July 2006 and its American premiere at the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center in January 2007. The March 30th screening at JEWISHFILM.2008 will be the film's New England premiere.

We hope to see you at the screening of THE CANTOR'S SON on Sunday March 30 at 4:15 pm at Wasserman Cinematheque at Brandeis University.

For more information visit www.jewishfilm.org or call 781.736.8600. A flyer announcing the screening is attached below. Restoration of THE CANTOR'S SON honors the memory of MIRIAM SAUL KRANT, The National Center for Jewish Film's co-founder and associate director for 30 years. Mimi passed away two years ago last month.

Edwin Geist music at Italian National Holocaust Remembrance Day

The music of Edwin Geist, a composer who was murdered by the Nazis, will be performed for the first time in the USA. There will be a screening and discussion of the film, Musica Concentrationaria (with English subtitles) by Francesco Lotoro (a member of Allgenerations).

American Jewish Committee • The Consulate General of Israel The Consulate General of Italy • Dante Alighieri Society Proudly Presents A Commemoration of
Italian National Holocaust Remembrance Day

A Screening and Discussion of the Film
Musica Concentrationaria Interviews, documents and original score In original languages with English subtitles By Francesco Lotoro
Free and open to the public Please RVSP to the Dante 617-876-5160, seating is limited
RSVP to 617-457-8700 or boston@ajc.org
41 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, MA

A Cantor's Tale on CD

The CD release of the movie "A Cantor's Tale" that warm and funny documentary starring Cantor Jackie Jacobson of New York is now available. Sal Kluger can get you a copy for $39.00 . Sal Kluger 11 imbrook lane aberdeen, n.j. 07747
www.simchasales.com
cell 908-461-3619
fax 732-566-6997
office 732-566-7538

New York Film Premiere in NY about Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman

The League for Yiddish and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research are pleased to Invite you to
An Evening In Honor of Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman
Poet, songwriter, singer
Featuring the NEW YORK PREMIERE of the second film in the series
Worlds within a World: Conversations with Yiddish Writers
BEYLE SCHAECHTER-GOTTESMAN
SONG OF AUTUMN
Yiddish (with English subtitles)

A film by Josh Waletzky produced by the League for Yiddish
Musical Program: Janet Leuchter, Esther Gottesman and Binyumen Schaechter,
Refreshments
Admission $10.00, Wednesday, July 11th 2007, 6:30 P.M.
at the Center for JewishHistory, 15 West 16 St, NYC.
Please reserve your tickets 917-606-8200
Di Yidish-Lige un der Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institut-YIVO
Hobn dem fargenign aykh tsu farbetn af
An ovnt lekoved Beyle Shaechter-Gottesman
Poetese, kompozitorn un zingerin
In Program: Di Nyu-Yorker Premyere fun dem tsveytn
film in der serye
A Velt mit Veltelekh: Shmuesn mit yidishe Shraybers
Beyle Shaechter-Gottesman
Harbstlid
A film fun Dzhash Valetski, Produtsirt fun der Yidish-Lige

Muzikalishe Program - Frimet-Mirl Loykhter, Ester Gotesman, Binyumen Shekhter
Kibed vet servirt vern, arayntret $10.00
Mitvokh, dem 11tn Yuli 2007, 6:30 in Tsenter far yidisher geshikhte
15 Vest 16ste Gas, Nyu-York
Tsu bashteln biletn klingt 917 606-8200

West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and more at MFA

The Boston Jewish Film Festival and The MFA Film Program are pleased to present two special music documentaries at the MFA’s Remis Auditorium on Sunday, June 3: Knowledge Is the Beginning at 1:30 pm and The Ramallah Concert at 3:45 pm. Both of these films chronicle the formation and livelihood of The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, founded by conductor and Pianist Daniel Barenboim and writer Edward Said as a way of promoting peace in the Middle East through collaborative artistic effort. Daniel Barenboim is featured as the conductor of the orchestra in both films.

Conversation and discussion following Knowledge Is the Beginning with Matthew Guerrieri, composer and music critic, and Amir Milstein, flutist who co-led Bustan Abraham, a world-music ensemble of Jewish and Arab musicians that combines Eastern and Western musical traditions.
Tickets are $8 for MFA and Boston Jewish Film Fetival (BJFF) members, seniors, and students; $9 for general admission. Reduced price for both shows: $14, $15. Tickets can be purchased online at www.mfa.org/film
Or, in advance, by calling the MFA’s Remis Auditorium Box Office at 617-369-3306 (no same-day phone orders). Tickets can also be purchased in person at the MFA’s Remis Auditorium Box Office.

Knowledge Is the Beginning
Sun, Jun 3, 1:30 pm
Knowledge Is the Beginning, by Paul Smaczny (Germany, 2005, 90 min. Video). What does it sound like when peace becomes audible? As a metaphor for what could be achieved in the Middle East and based on the notion that "music is the language of peace," conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim and comparative literature professor Edward Said brought together Arab and Israeli musicians, along with a handful of other artists, to perform in Weimar on the 250th anniversary of the birth of Goethe. The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a name derived from a collection of poems by Goethe, today embraces eighty Arab and Israeli musicians ages thirteen to twenty-six. Director Paul Smaczny follows the unique musical collaboration, dedicated to furthering the cause of peaceful coexistence in the Middle East, bringing together young musicians from both sides of the divide: Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Palestinian's, and Israeli's.

The Ramallah Concert
Sun, Jun 3, 3:45 pm
The Ramallah Concert co-directed by Michael Beyer and Ayellet Heller, (Germany, 2005, 112 min). Recorded live in the Cultural Palace in Ramallah, Palestine, on August 21st, 2005, this concert on film showcases the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra performing Sinfonia concertante in E flat major, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Symphony No. 5 in C minor, op. 36, by Ludwig van Beethoven; and Nimrod from Enigma Variations, op. 36, by Edward Elgar. As a prelude to the concert the viewer is given the unique and unprecedented experience of witnessing this significant cultural event, taking place in Ramallah and signifying the attempt to heal and unify with music. Mariam Said, the widow of Edward Said is also recognized in the film for her husband's achievement in making this project possible.

A Tickle in the Heart at MFA

A Tickle in the Heart
Thursday, January 11, 6:30 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Part of the Series, "Swiss Films with Rhythm"
Tickets: $9 general admission; $8 for memberes of The Boston Jewish Film
Festival, the MFA, students, and seniors
On Sale at MFA Box Office Only (Please call the Box Office at 617 369 3306 for advance ticket orders.)

A Tickle in the Heart
Director: Stefan Schwietert
Country: Germany, Switzerland, released 1996
Duration: 90 min., Video
Language: English, Yiddish
w/subtitles Film image
The Epstein Brothers were the kings of klezmer, the traditional music of Eastern European Jewry, for more than 60 years. Beginning in the 1930s, they played their joyous, sentimental blend of tangos, horas, Russian folk dances and Gypsy drinking songs throughout New York. Today, as klezmer music enjoys an upswing in popularity from Manhattan to Berlin, they live and continue to play their memory-laden melodies in America's retirement paradise, Florida. The music is the star of Stefan Schwietert's documentary about The Epstein Brothers' 1995 European tour.

Boston Jewish Film Festival has music too

Several film at the Boston Jewish Film Festival this year feature music themes. The festival is running Nov. 1-12, 2006. For information on these features , see this PDF
http://www.jmwc.org/pdf/bjff-music.pdf

A JOURNEY OF SPIRIT comes to Massachusetts

Even while you and the family enjoy the sun and surf of Cape Cod, you can learn something about Jewish music. Next month on August 12, 2006, Ann Coppel, producer of "A Journey of Spirit," a documentary about Debbie Friedman, will show the documentary in Hyannis, MA at Cape Cod Synagogue. Check the synagogue website for more info: www.ccsynagogue.org

A JOURNEY OF SPIRIT has been traveling the country, coast to coast, the past couple of months including screenings in Minneapolis at Shir Tikvah, the Manhattan JCC (which Debbie attended to lead the post-film discussion), Falmouth Jewish Congregation in Massachusetts and Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, California. Now it's returning to Cape Cod and you can see it there August 12. http://www.ccsynagogue.org/aboutus/directions/ Call for time and more information. The Cape Cod Synagogue,145 Winter Street, Hyannis, MA 02601, Phone: 508-775-2988

Jewish Cinema in Geneva

Ciné - Concert exceptionnel !
Le "Sound & Light Cinematic Duo":
Merlin SHEPHERD: clarinettes & Polina SHEPHERD: piano
accompagne la projection de
films juifs d'Ukraine de 1910 à 1945
dimanche 21 mai 2006 à 18h15
à l'Aula du Collège des Colombières, route de St-Loup à Versoix.
Train depuis Genève (billet Unireso à 3 FS)
facilité de parking et d'accès aux personnes handicapées.

Les archives "Yuri Morozov" de Kiev recèlent les premières représentations cinématographiques de la vie des Juifs d'Europe de l'Est. Films muets en noir et blanc, documentaires, films de propagande ou à scénario, ils montrent la vie quotidienne des Juifs d'Ukraine et décrivent leurs préoccupations morales, religieuses et politiques au début du vingtième siècle sous un angle critique, tragique ou comique. Beaucoup de ces films n'ont jamais été projetés en dehors d'Ukraine et certains étaient censurés depuis plus de 80 ans.

Comme aux débuts du septième art, Merlin et Polina Shepherd, accompagnent magnifiquement cette série de documents historiques étonnants. Grâce à leur talent et à leur expérience musicale, ils font revivre ces films comme par magie, en utilisant des morceaux de musique juive traditionnelle et des compositions originales.

Ce voyage exceptionnel dans l'art et l'histoire nous fera toucher, par le son et l'image, l'essence de l'âme juive - la "yiddishkeyt" - au passé et au présent.

Billets: 25 Frs
Membres AMJ et Ecole & Quartier: 20 Frs
AVS; chômeurs, AI, étudiants: 15 Frs
Enfants en dessous de 12 ans: gratuit
Organisation: Les Amis de la Musique Juive www.amj.ch & tél: 022 755 41 23
CinéVersoix: www.cineversoix.ch & tél: 022 755 27 18
Ecole et Quartier www.aeqv.ch & tél: 022 388 24 44

SP!EL @ the Hampstead Theatre London

Sunday 23rd April 7pm – 11pm
Tracy Ann Oberman, Maureen Lipman, David Aaronovitch, Norman Lebrecht, Max Wigram and more…
SP!EL @ the Hampstead Theatre and the new Jewish Community Centre for London
Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue Swiss Cottage, NW3 3EU
Price: £12 /£11 concessions
Book on 0207 722 9301 or online at www.hampsteadtheatre.com

At SP!EL, four guests including Maureen Lipman, Tracy Ann Oberman, Norman Lebrecht and Max Wigram with host David Aaronovitch will chew the fat over contemporary cultural events, surrounded by sneak live previews of new albums, plays, performance and books by visiting bands, actors and contemporary dancers.

We will feature a performance from Three Admirers, a newly commissioned piece from the works of Isaac Bashevis Singer, adapted by the award-winning Samuel Adamson and directed by Mark Rosenblatt plus dj Max Reinhardt in the bar after the show.

Discussion includes Andy Warhol’s Ten Portrait Of Jews at the National Portrait Gallery, the new novel Journey to the land of No by Roya Hakakian and Ushpizin, showing at Screen on the Hill and the Odeon Swiss Cottage.

Produced by YaD Arts for the Jewish Community Centre www.hampsteadtheatre.com & www.jewishcommunitycentre.org.uk

Posted by jmwc at 08:35 PM

"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! "

"Yiddish Celluloid Closet" with 7-piece MetroKlezmer

At Jewish Music & Heritage Festival Wednesday, 9/21 at 8pm
"Yiddish Celluloid Closet" with 7-piece MetroKlezmer lineup
at Makor 35 W 67th, NYC $15
212-601-1000 www.makor.org
Dazzling archival film clips/talk plus live band,
cultural insights and subtexts galore!
With lush reinterpretations of soundtrack tunes...
Classics, lesser-known gems & even Soviet Yiddish newsreel
Info on Eve Sicular's lecture: metropolitanklezmer.com/celluloid.html

Thursday, 9/22 from 5:30pm-6:30pm
Tribeca Hebrew KLEZ FOR KIDZ show
Metropolitan Klezmer special quartet
Pizza included! $20 per kid, parents free.
Limit 25 kids per session
67 Hudson Street / 1 Jay St.
tribecahebrew.org 212.608.0555
music & instrument workshop for kids of all ages!

Screening at Museum of Television and Radio

The Museum of Television and Radio
cordially invites you to a private screening of
Regina Resnik Presents
The American Jewish Composers in Classical Song

Regina Resnik, Narrator
Roslyn Jhunever Barak, Soprano
Michael Philip Davis, Tenor
Charles Robert Stephens, Baritone
Vlad Iftinca, Piano
Thursday, May 12, 2005 at 6 p.m.
25 West 52nd Street
New York City
This concert was videotaped before an invited audience on January 19, 2005 at the Elebash Recital Hall, CUNY Graduate Center. The program includes four world premieres, including a work by composer John Corigliano and librettist William M. Hoffman, written especially for the program, two American premieres and a New York premiere.
RSVP Michael Philip Davis at
mickeypd@earthlink.net
or (212) 769-4083

PRIPETSHIK SINGERS FILM

an ENTERTAINING FILM in Yiddish (with English subtitles) and English;
a film for YIDDISH EXPERTS as well as THE YIDDISH-CHALLENGED;
a film for THOSE WHO LOVE YIDDISH MUSIC;
a film FOR ALL AGES; a film available in DVD and VHS;
a film FOR EVERYBODY!

PRIPETSHIK SINGS YIDDISH!
Academy Award®-nominated director Joshua Waletzky,
best known for IMAGE BEFORE MY EYES and PARTISANS OF VILNA, brings us an entertaining new film that celebrates Yiddish culture through song, performed exclusively by Yiddish-speaking children & teens. Executive Producer/Musical Director Binyumen Schaechter provides us with the fascinating history and background of the group, as well as informative introductions to each of the songs.
For additional info: http://www.yugntruf.org/PRIPETSHIK_SINGERS/IntroE.htm To order:
http://www.ergomedia.com/ or http://yiddishstore.com/prip.html

A NAYER YIDISHER FILM!!

"PRIPETSHIK ZINGT!"
A nayer dor zingt af yidish!
S'iz nor vos aroys der DVD/video PRIPETSHIK SINGS YIDDISH!
"Dos iz a film vos dervaremt dos harts, vos me zol hern yidish fun di mayler fun yunge kinder"
- THEODORE BIKEL

"Yidishe kinder redn yidish un zingen yidishe lider:
zoln zey zayn gebentsht!" - ELIE WIESEL

AKADEMYE-PREMYE-nominirter rezhisor JOSHUA WALETZKY, tsum bestn bakant far "Partisans of Vilna" un "Image Before My Eyes", brengt undz a farvaylerishn nayem film vos git op koved der yidisher kultur durkh lider, oysgefirt durkhoys fun di Pripetshik-zingers, untern rezhi fun muzik-direktor BINYUMEN SCHAECHTER.

A lebedike forshtelung hot men durkhgeflokhtn mit intervyuen mit di artistn, vi oykh mit stsenes fun di probes, un tsuzamen molt es undz oys a farvaylerish bild fun di talantirte kinder un zeyer libshaft farn yidishn loshn.

Tsvishn di BALIBTE LIDER in film zenen "Az der rebe lakht", "Mu asapru", "Yome, Yome", "Kh'bin a kleyner tshaynik" un "Lomir geyn tsu dem bolshpil".

Video: Af yidish un english. Dos yidishe mit englishe unterkeplekh.
DVD: Af yidish un english. A breyre: englishe, yidishe unterkeplekh.
Nokh protim vegn PRIPETSHIK SINGS YIDDISH!: http://www.ergomedia.com/
Nokh protim vegn di Pripetshik-zingers:
http://www.yugntruf.org/PRIPETSHIK_SINGERS/IntroE.htm

The Sound and Light Cinematic Duo

The Sound and Light Cinematic Duo film program
5th December, Sallis Benny Theatre, Brighton UK
23th December, Makor Centre, New York, USA
26-31th December, KlezKamp, Kerhonkson, NY USA

2005
2th January, The Yiddish Book Centre, Amherst, MA USA
16th January, The FACT Centre, Liverpool UK
23th January, Arts Picture House, Cambridge UK
31st January, Forum Cinema, Northampton UK
For more info http://www.ashkenazim.ru

The Sound and Light Cinematic Duo

The Sound and Light Cinematic Duo (Merlin Shepherd/ clarinet, bass clarinet and Polina Shepherd / piano) are performing new and traditional Jewish music to accompany the Yuri Morozov Jewish Film Archive (Kiev).
and as part of the UK Jewish Film Festival

17th October, London, the Screen on the Hill
14th November, Birmingham, Mac
18th November, Manchester, The Cornerhouse
28th November, Nottingham, Broadway Cinema
also as part of the Brighton Festival of Jewish Music

5th December, Brighton, Sallis Benny Theatre
for more information http://www.ukjewishfilmfestival.org.uk/

The unique UK Premiere of the Yuri Morozov archive contains some of the earliest cinematic representations of east European Jewish communities and more. Black and White silent films as early as 1910 depict the Jews of Ukraine and their daily lives in both narrative and documentary forms. Many of these films have never been seen outside of Ukraine and some have not been screened for over 80 years. Merlin and Polina Shepherd represent two nations although their families come from very close geographical locations. At the end of the 19th Century, Merlin's great-grandparents emigrated from Ukraine and Romania to escape pogroms and seek a better world in the west. Polina's grandparents escaped from the Sho'ah (Holocaust) by fleeing from Kiev/Odessa to Siberia. The different and yet vital sustenance of his western Jewish upbringing and her eastern one have brought them to a unique closeness in musical, creative and spiritual terms. Their playing acts as the perfect foil for these amazing historic documents. With their deep training, musical experience and by using tradition musical pieces and stylistically accurate new compositions, these films are magically brought back to life almost a century after their first screenings. By transportation backwards in time with this historically accurate visual and aural experience, these two world class musicians bring their audiences forward to a deeper understanding of present and latter day Yiddishkeit.
The films:

L'chaim, Dir A. Mietr and K. Ganzer, 1910 9 mins.
Sore's Grief Dir A. Arkatov, 1913, 13 mins.
Jews and the Land, Dir. Abram Room, 1927, 17 mins.
Against Fathers' Will (Mabul) Dir Evgeny Ivanov-Barkov, 1926, 43 mins.

Film: DIVAN

Pearl Gluck's film with music by Frank London will be shown again at the Museum of Fine Arts on Thursday, June 24, 8pm & Sunday, June 27, 2pm. Worth seeing (and the music is good!).
From Jewish Film Festival's press release:
DIVAN
Pearl Gluck
USA/Hungary, 2003
77 min., Video
English/Yiddish/Hungarian w/subtitles

Director Pearl Gluck takes a renegade approach to healing a personal breach with her father. Raised in a Hassidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, she travels to her family's homeland, Hungary. She searches for a turn-of-the-century family heirloom, a couch upon which revered rebbes once slept. Bringing back this couch, or divan, she hopes, will compensate her father for the fact that she did not get married and return to the Hassidic world. En route to the ancestral divan, Pearl encounters a colorful cast of characters. A chorus of Pearl's friends, all former Orthodox Jews actively reclaiming Jewish culture, frame the tale. Divan is a marvelous visual parable in which reupholstering a couch stands as a means of reclaiming family heritage.