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TITLE: Some early silent films from the USA dealing w/ Jewish subjects
YEAR: mixed
DIR/PROD: mixed
COUNTRY: USA
LANGUAGE:
TIME:
SOURCE:
TEXT: COHEN SAVES THE FLAG (1913) deals with characters named Levy and and Cohen, both Union Army soldiers after the same woman, Rebecca
LEVI AND COHEN - THE IRISH COMEDIANS (1903)
THE SONG OF SOLOMON (1914) about an Irving Berlin like character who writes songs and makes it into the bigtime
A WOODLANDS CHRISTMAS IN CALIFORNIA (1912) about a Jewish father who sells curios
THE MISSING DIAMOND (1914) about an absent minded diamond merchant named Jacob Levy
DAUGHTER OF ISRAEL (1914) about Israel Levy who deals in antiques
A TAILOR-MADE MAN (1922) about an Abraham Nathan, a shipping magnate
ABIE'S IMPORTED BRIDE (1925) focuses on the son of a shipping magnate. The son collects charity for poor Russians.
MERCHANT OF VENICE (1908 and 1921)
SHYLOCK (1913)
OLIVER TWIST, JR (1921)
THE YELLOW TICKET (1918) about a Jewish woman's attempts to apply for an exit visa to leave the Pale Settlement area of Russia
HIS PEOPLE (1925) which was directed by Ed Sloman, is an artristic picture that uses many techniques that later used by Orson Well's Citizen Kane. The story focuses on Rabbi Cominsky of New York's Lower East Side. He has a melodramatic family, an ungrateful son, and some nice Irish neighbors.
THE JEWISH CHRISTMAS (1913) about Rabbi Isaac and his daughter Leah. She marries a non-Jew and is disowned by her father. Eventually, to please his granddaughter, the rabbi sells a sacred book to buy a very large christmas tree for the child, and the family is reconciled.
COHEN'S FIRE SALE (1907) was produced by Thomas Edison's company. A Jewish hat shop owner sets fire to his shop to collect the insurance money.
Other American Television
TITLE: Selected American TV shows
YEAR: varied
COUNTRY: USA
LANGUAGE: English
SOURCE: Nat. Jewish Archive of Broadcasting/Jewish Museum, 1109 5th Ave, NY NY 10128, USA
(1.1) Babylon 5. TKO (1995). Commander Ivanova (a Russian Jewish woman) equivocates whether or not she will sit Shiva for her father. Theodore Bikel portrays her rabbi (Bikel also portrayed Worf's adoptive father in Star Trek TNG)
(1.2) Barney Miller. The Accusation (1976). A rabbi is arrested for running a casino with an expired permit (Hey didnt that really happen in Brooklyn in 1995?)
(2) Barney Miller. The Riot (1978). Hasidic Jewish demonstration turns into a riot.
(3) Big Brother Jake. A Dreidel Grows in Brooklyn (1990). At the foster home where Jake works, the Christmas preparations cause Jake to explore his Jewish roots.
(4) Blossom (199x). one episode focused on 'Losing Your Religion.'
(5) Bridget Loves Bernie (1972-3)
(6) Brooklyn Bridge. Focuses on a 3 generation Jewish family in post WWII Brooklyn
(7) Busting Loose (1977) Adam Arkin as a young engineer named Lenny Markowitz
(8) Car 54 Where Are You (1961-3). a variety of the episodes featured Molly Picon.
(9) Cheers. For Real Men Only. Fraser and Lilith have a circumcision for their son at the bar.
(10) Chicken Soup (1989). A Carsey Werner production featuring Jackie Mason and Lynn Redgrave as neighbors
(11) Days and Nights of Molly Dodd. Good Guys Sometimes Wear Black (1987). Piano teacher falls in love with Hasidic pupil.
(12) Dick Van Dyke Show. Buddy Sorrell, Man and Boy (1963). The character Buddy is sneaking off somewhere at night. He is actually studying to become a Bar Mitzvah, but his family thinks he is having an affair or seeing an analyst.
(13) Fish (1977). a spin-off from the Barney Miller show.
(14) Flying Nun. Rabbi and the Nun (1968). Sister Bertrille (Sally Field) helps a Jewish couple solve their differences and then prompts them to marry in the convent garden. Also, in the Reconversion of Sister Shapiro (1969), Sister Bertrille befriends a little Jewish girl who becomes so enchanted with the nun that she announces her decision to be a nun. Sister Bertrille must convince her otherwise
.
(15) Gunsmoke. The Golden Land (1973). In this episode a Jewish immigrant in Kansas in 1870 faces a dilemma when he is forced to confront a hooligan who has accidentally killed his son.
(16) LA Law (1986-90). In Full Marital Jacket Kelsey and Markowitz marry. Kelsey's mother apologizes for her bigoted statements about Jews. In Pay's Lousy but the Tips are Great (1990), a mohel is on trial for damages.
(17) Late Night With David Letterman. Bar Mitzvah of Barry Weil (1982). Letterman presents the reception for a bar mitzvah on his show, with guest Robert Klein.
(18) Little House on the Prairie. Come Let Us Reason Together (1981). The Olsen's and their in-laws, the Cohen's lock horns over whether their grandchild will be raised Christian or Jewish. In The Craftsman, Albert befriends and learns from the local Jewish carpenter who makes coffins.
(19) Lou Grant. American Nazis (1977). Newspaper reporter Billie Newman (Linda Kelsey) is assigned by Lou Grant (Ed Asner) to investigate the leader of a neo-Nazi group that disrupts a Jewish demonstration.
(20) Love American Style. Love and the Anniversary Crisis (1972). A couple (Lou Jacobi and KayMedford) celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary and must tell their children that they want a divorce. Love and the Heavy Set (1972). A mother arranges a date for her overweight daughter.
(21) M.A.S.H. Life with Father (1974). Father Mulcahey (William Christopher) must perfrom a circumcision (bris)
(22) The Marshall Chronicles. (Spring 1990). A short lived syndicated series about Marshall Brightman (Joshua Rifkind), a Woody Allen-like high school student, who agonizes over every decision in lengthy monologues to the audience. Directed by James Burrows.
(23) Marshall Efron's Illustrated, Simplified and Painless Sunday School. A variety of bible lessons broadcast on CBS in the early 1970's, hosted by the comic Marshall Efron
(24) The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Some of My Best Friends Are Rhoda (1972). Mary's new friend (Mary Frann) keeps excluding Rhoda, who is Jewish, from all their plans. Mary realizes that her friend is bigoted.
(25) Mr. Novak. Sparrow on the Wire (1964). Starring James Franciscus and Beau Bridges. In a classroon debate, a student make anti-Jewish remarks toward a fellow debater. Mr. Novak demands an apology. The student refuses, and the drama focuses on how far the standoff will go.
(26) Nature. The Holy Land, A Wilderness like Eden. (1987). This episode in the BBC / PBS series focused on animal and plant life in the Negev desert.
(26.5) Pete and Pete (1994). Nickelodeon TV, Yellow Fever episode, written by Joe Stillman. Big Pete and his class take a bus excursion. Along the way, Wendel, a classmate who's life goal is to become a crooner/MC for weddings and Bar Mitzvah celebrations uses renditions of 'The Hokey Pokey' and 'Hava Nagila' to save the class of adolescents riding on a runaway bus.
(27) Playhouse 90. In the Presence of Mine Enemies (1960), A gentle religious man (Charles Laughton) tries to find a code by which he can survive in a asociety bereft of religion. Child of Our Time (1959), a young boy survives a concentration camp, and finds his parents after the War. Neither of them want to take care of him.
(28) Quantum Leap. Thou Shalt Not (1989). In this NBC series episode, time-traveling Sam Beckett surfaces as a rabbi who must counsel a grieving family that has losts its son to death.
(29) Rhoda. Rhoda's Wedding (1974). One of the highest rated shows in network history, the show focused on Rhoda Morgenstern's (Valerie Harper) wedding to Joey (David Groh). Also Parents' Day (1974) in which Rhoda's Jewish parents meet Joe's non-Jewish parents.
(30) Sanford and Son. In Steinberg and Son (1976) a network rips off Fred Sanford's (Redd Fox) life to a television show starring Lou Jacobi. Fred sues the network.
(31) Seinfeld. enough said
(32) Soap. Jewish Mafia Princess (1978). Burt and Mary's son Danny is forced to marr a Jewish Mafia Princess.
(33) Square Pegs. Muffy's Bat Mitzvah (1982). Muffy's new wave Bat Mitzvah is the social event of the season. But Lauren (Sarah Jessica Parker), Patty, Johnny, and Marshall are not invited.
(34) STAR TREK. Patterns of Force (1968) Kirk and Spock investigate a planet patterned after Nazi Germany. Let That Be Your Last Battelfield (1969) An allegorical tale of racism. One half black/half white alien battles a half white/half black one. They are unable to put their hatred aside.
(35) Third Rock From The Sun (1996). Episode on ethnicity. John Lithgow and his cast of space aliens discover that they are Jewish
(36) The Twilight Zone. He's Alive (1963) focuses on a would-be neo-Nazi who gets an excellent tutor -- Hitler; in Death's Head Revisited (1961) Gunther Lutze is a former director at the Dachau death camp. The Jewish and other ghosts of those whom he murdered return to haunt him.
A Day in the Warsaw Ghetto
TITLE: A DAY IN THE WARSAW GHETTO--A BIRTHDAY TRIP IN HELL
YEAR: 1994
DIR/PROD: Jack Kuper
COUNTRY: Canada
LANGUAGE: English
TIME: 30 minutes black and white
SOURCE: Filmmakers Library, 124 East 40th Street, Suite 901, New York, NY 10016, (212) 889-3820
TEXT: German sergeant Heinz Joest spent his 43rd birthday by illegally taking photos inside the Warsaw ghetto. He kept them hidden for some 40 years until he knew he was dying. Accompanied by a soundtrack of dramatic narratives from illegally kept diaries of Ghetto residents, plus songs and sounds of the day, these haunting photographs come to life, uniquely revealing the horrors of the holocaust.
A Hole in the Moon
TITLE: A Hole in the Moon
YEAR: 1964
DIR/PROD: Uri Zohar
COUNTRY: Israel
LANGUAGE: Hebrew w/ French and English subtitles
TIME: 90
SOURCE: Israel Film Archive
TEXT: Uri Zohar's first comic film. A zany parody based in 1960's Israel, about an immigrant who arrives in Israel on a raft, and opens a kiosk in the middle of the Negev. His only customer is the other kiosk that opens across the road from him. They make a living trading between each other, until they decide to start making movies.
A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden
TITLE: A Jumpin' Night in the Garden of Eden
YEAR: 1988
DIR/PROD: Michal Goldman
COUNTRY: USA
LANGUAGE: English
TIME: 75
SOURCE: First Run Pictures, 153 Waverly Place, New York, NY 10014
TEXT: The Jewish immigrants to the US in the early 20th Century leaned heavily upon the Eastern European klezmer influences for their wedding, celebration, pop, and folk music. In the 1950's, Klezmer faded away, only to be resurrected in the 70's. Michal Goldman's fresh and touching film portrays its recent revival, and traces the careers of two band leaders: Henry Spoznik from New York and Hankus Netsky from Boston.
A Kiss To This Land (Un Beso a esta Tierra)
TITLE: A Kiss To This Land - Un Beso a Esta Tierra
YEAR: 1994
DIR/PROD: Daniel Goldberg
COUNTRY: Mexico
LANGUAGE: Spanish w/ English subtitles
TIME: 93 (35mm)
SOURCE: Daniel Goldberg, Goldberg Lerner Productions, Monte Chimborazo 625-701, Mexico D.F. 11000, tel: (525) 202-4855, fax:(525) 202-5317
TEXT: This is one of my favorites. It was shown in the U.S. at The Margaret Meade Film Festival. It's an imaginative, fascinating documentary focusing on Jewish immigration to Mexico in the
1920s and 30s. With great dignity and humanity, A KISS TO THIS LAND presents the
memories and oral histories--together with remarkable archival footage--of Jewish immigrants
who arrived in Mexico from Syria, Turkey, Poland and the Ukraine. Among those interviewed are a musician, a Socialist trade union worker, an actor, and a factory owner.
A Pinteleh Yid
TITLE: A Pinteleh Yid - A Spark of Jewishness
YEAR: 1996
DIR/PROD:
COUNTRY: Israel
LANGUAGE: Hebrew and English
TIME: 20
SOURCE: Maaleh School of Film, Jerusalem
TEXT: a student film focusing on a black American-born Israeli immigrant whose parents converted to Judaism. The film chronicles his father's visit to Israel for his grandson's bar mitzvah celebration.
A Stranger Among Us
TITLE: A Stranger Among Us
YEAR: 1992
DIR/PROD: Sidney Lumet / Sandy Gallin and Carol Baum
COUNTRY: USA
LANGUAGE: English
TIME: 109
SOURCE: Hollywood Pix
TEXT: Actress Melanie Griffith plays Emily Eden, a New York City Police detective, who must go undercover in a Brooklyn Hasidic family in order to investigate a homicide. Well photographed in soft colors, many termed this story the Yiddish-like version of the Harrison Ford movie, "Witness," in which a police detective hides out with an Amish family. Filled with lessons about Hasidic life in Boro Park (actually shot in Ridgewood Queens), Eden fall in love with Ariel, the son of the sect's rebbe.
ABC Afterschool Special
TITLE: ABC Afterschool Special (1) The Kid Who Wouldn't Quit (2) Seasonal Difference
YEAR: (1)1987 (2) 1987
DIR/PROD: ABC
COUNTRY: USA
LANGUAGE: English
TIME: 60 each
SOURCE: Nat. Jewish Archive of Broadcasting/Jewish Museum, 1109 5th Ave, NY NY 10128, USA
TEXT: (1) The Kid Who Wouldn't Quit is the true story of Brad Silverman, a boy with Down's Syndrome who struggles to lead a normal life and find a synagogue at which he can celebrate his becoming a Bar Mitzvoth.
(2) Seasonal Differences with Frank Whaley, Uta Hagen, and Melba Moore focuses on a couple who attend a mixed faith high school that becomes divided over the issue of a nativity scene on school property. The Jewish students become the target of hate when they successfully ban the scene.
Abraham and Eugenia
TITLE: Abraham and Eugenia: Stories from Jewish Cuba
YEAR: 1995
DIR/PROD: Bonnie Burt
COUNTRY: USA
LANGUAGE: Spanish w/ English subtitles
TIME: 30
SOURCE: Bonnie Burt Productions, 2600 Tenth St., Suite 205, Berkeley, CA 94710, tel: (510) 548-1745, fax:(510) 658-1583. OR $50 from Sephardic Society in New York City, Ph. 212.496.2173 Sephardic@Juno.com
TEXT: Personal interviews with Sephardic and Ashkenazi Cuban Jews, focusing on 2 keepers of the faith in post-revolutionary Cuba.
Adam's Circus
TITLE: Adam's Circus
YEAR: 1994
DIR/PROD: Lihi Hanoch
COUNTRY: Israel video
LANGUAGE: Russian, Hebrew, English, and German w/ English subtitles
TIME: 101
SOURCE: Lihi Hanoch, 25 Dubnov St., Tel Aviv 64369 Israel, tel: (972) 3/696-5726, fax:(972) 3/696-6779
TEXT:
A group of Russian Jewish actors who have fled their disintegrating "motherland" arrive in Israel in
1990. In a circus tent in Tel Aviv they perform a bizarre cabaret about a group of German Jewish
actors, led by the famous clown Adam Stein, who came to Israel straight from the death camps.
As the dividing line between their true identities and the characters they play becomes blurred, the
creative process explodes the boundaries between reality and fantasy; gas masks become theater
masks, Holocaust becomes carnival. An extraordinary inquiry into the riddle of the Holocaust, the
complex reality of modern Israel, the enigma of faith, and the interchangeability of art and life,
mask and face. With magnificent performances by members of the Gesher Theater and gorgeous
art direction.
All Hell Broke Loose
TITLE: All Hell Broke Loose
YEAR: 1995
DIR/PROD: Amir Feldman
COUNTRY: Israel
LANGUAGE: Hebrew w/ English subs
TIME: 45, video documentary
SOURCE: Amythos TV & Film Productions, Amit Breuer, 8 Hataasia Street, Tel Aviv 67139 Israel, Tel 011-972-3-561-6141
TEXT: A look at the teenage survivors of a car bomb attack on a bus in northern Israel (Afula). One year after the attack, the filmmakers interviews the Jews and Arabs who were on the bus and discuss the effects the bombing had on their lives and attitudes. Fear, prejudice, tolerance, forgiveness, and other feelings are elucidated. This is a highly stylized video, similar to those used on 'A Current Affair' with lots of splicing and quick cuts and dramatic music.
All in the Family
TITLE: All in the Family
YEAR: 1973-78
DIR/PROD: CBS
COUNTRY: USA
LANGUAGE: English
TIME: 30 each
SOURCE: Nat. Jewish Archive of Broadcasting/Jewish Museum, 1109 5th Ave, NY NY 10128, USA
TEXT: (1) Archie Finds a Friend (1977). Archie befriends a Jewish watch maker. They have a get rich quick scheme.
(2) Archie is Branded (1977). A swastika is painted on Archie's door when his house is mistaken for that of a Jewish radical.
(3) Archie, The Liberal (1977). Archie tries to get a black Jewish man into his social club.
(4) Oh My Aching Back (1973). Archie hires a Jewish lawyer when he gets whiplash.
(5) Stephanie's Conversion (1978). Edith discovers that Stephanie has been trying to hide the fact that she is Jewish from Archie
Andreyevs of Brighton Beach
TITLE: Andreyev's of Brighton Beach
YEAR: 1994
DIR/PROD: Natalie Reuss
COUNTRY: US
LANGUAGE: English
TIME: 40
SOURCE: Natalie Reuss /207 W. 106th St. #3D/ New York, NY 10025/fax: (212) 941-8875
TEXT: A young Russian couple who, in 1991 left the former Soviet Union for Brighton Beach, Marina
and Andrew Andreyev are raconteurs extraordinaires who explore the meaning of freedom,
compare two radically different societies, and reflect on what it means to be a Jew--a
"non-Russian"--in the Soviet Union.
Altalena
TITLE: Altalena
YEAR: 1994
DIR/PROD: Ilana Tsur
COUNTRY: Israel Video
LANGUAGE: Hebrew w/ English subtitles
TIME: 53
SOURCE: The National Center for Jewish Film / Brandeis University, Lown Hall, Bldg 102 / Waltham, MA 02254 / Tel: 617-899-7044 / Fax: 617-736-2070, or Zavit Productions, Tel Aviv
TEXT:
The startling story of the ship which nearly caused a civil war in the newborn State of Israel. The
Altalena sailed on June 11, 1948 from France to Israel, carrying more than 900 refugees together
with a large load of arms for the Irgun, the underground military unit led by Menachem Begin. The
arrival of the ship posed serious problems for the state. Prime Minister David Ben Gurion insisted
the Irgun unconditionally turn over the weapons. The decisions and actions of these two seminal
leaders, Begin and Ben Gurion, led to the bombing of the ship. The political battle--in which Jews
fired on Jews--has an uncanny resonance today.
Aviha's Summer
TITLE: Aviha's Summer (Ha'Kayitz Shel Aviha)
YEAR: 1988
DIR/PROD: Eli Cohen/Gila Almagor and Eitan Evan
COUNTRY: Israel
LANGUAGE: Hebrew w/ English subtitles
TIME: 96,
SOURCE: Screen Entertainment Ltd. / 40, Merkaz Balei Melacha St./Tel-Aviv 63824, Israel/tel: (972) 3/528-1191/ fax:(972) 3/528-1192
TEXT:One summer in the life of a young girl, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, during the years after Israel's independence. Aviha's mother was a partisan fighter, and has a blue number tattooed on her arm. She walks a thin line between madness and sanity. Aviha is 10 years old and has a shaved head, because her mother thought she saw 'fleas.' The mother falls deeper into mental illness, and Aviha must grow up quickly.
Avoda
TITLE: Avoda
YEAR: 1935
DIR/PROD: Helmer Lerski
COUNTRY: Palestine
LANGUAGE: just music
TIME: 47
SOURCE: Israel Film Archives
TEXT: Recalling the national pathos of the 1930's, Lerski's film is an enthusiastic exposition on the Zionist progress and labor.
Atalia
TITLE: Atalia
YEAR: 1984
DIR/PROD: Akiva Tevet
COUNTRY: Israel
LANGUAGE: Hebrew w/ English subtitles
TIME:
SOURCE: Jerusalem Capital Studios, or Ergo Media, 668 Front Street, Teaneck, NJ 07666.
TEXT: Michal Bat Adam won an award for her portrayal of a middle aged woman who has an affair with a teenage boy, ostracizing them from kibbutz society in the months leading up to the Yom Kippur War.
Almonds and Raisins
TITLE: Almonds and Raisins
YEAR: 1984
DIR/PROD: Russ Karol
COUNTRY: Britain
LANGUAGE: English
TIME: 90 minutes
SOURCE: Ergo Media, 668 Front Street, Teaneck, NJ 07666.
TEXT: Theodore Bikel narrarates a documentary on the Yiddish speaking Jews in early 20th Century USA (1927-1939). Includes clips from nine of the most famous Yiddish films.
Anne Frank Remembered
TITLE: Anne Frank Remembered
YEAR: 1995
DIR/PROD: Jon Blair
COUNTRY: USA
LANGUAGE: English
TIME: 122
SOURCE: Sony Picture Classics. See website at www.annefrank.com or www.movienet.com/ soncl/ annefrank/ index.html
TEXT: Narrarated by Kenneth Branaugh and Glenn Close. Interviews with family and friends of Anne Frank. Focus is on Otto Frank and Mrs. Geis. Shows an astute Anne Frank who rewrote her diary when she thought hre book might get published.
Angry Harvest / Bittere ernte
TITLE: Angry Harvest / Bittere ernte
YEAR: 1987
DIR/PROD: Agnieszka Holland
COUNTRY: Germany
LANGUAGE: German w/ English subtitles
TIME:
SOURCE: Euro-American Home Video
TEXT: Starring Armin Mueller-Sathl and Elizabeth Trissenaar. A Jewish woman escapes from a train taking her to a death camp, and she is given refuge by a Catholic farmer. Film focuses on their co-dependent relationship.
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
TITLE: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
YEAR: 1974
DIR/PROD: Ted Kotcheff / John Kemeny
COUNTRY: Canada
LANGUAGE: English
TIME: 121
SOURCE: Paramount
TEXT: a dramatic comedy about an ambitious young man in Montreal's Jewish community. He is determined to get ahead no matter who he has to step on. With Richard Dreyfuss, Denholm Elliot and Randy Quaid. Written by Mordechai Richler.
Au revoir les enfants
TITLE: Au revoir les enfants
YEAR: 1985
DIR/PROD: Louis Malle / Louis Malle
COUNTRY: France
LANGUAGE: French w/ English subs
TIME: 103
SOURCE: Orion Home Video
TEXT: Louis Malle's autobiographical story set in a Catholic boarding school during the Nazi occupation of Vichy France. The story focuses on Julien Quentin (Malle), a stubborn, sensitive 12 year old boy who befriends the new student in his class, Jean Bonnet. Bonnet is actually a Jewish boy in hiding.
Amazing Grace
TITLE: Amazing Grace
YEAR: 1992
DIR/PROD: Amos Gutman
COUNTRY: Israel
LANGUAGE: Hebrew w/ English subs
TIME: 95, video
SOURCE: Amazing Grace Films Limited, Tel Aviv, Israel. Fax 972-3-525-1166, or in North America: 49 Mid-Bar films, 175 5th Avenue #2582, NYC 10010.
TEXT: The story of a relationship between 2 men. First Israeli film to deal w/ AIDS. Winner of Best Film at the 1992 Jerusalem International Film Festival.
August Snow / Sheleg B'August
TITLE: August Snow / Sheleg B'August
YEAR: 1993
DIR/PROD: Hagai Levi
COUNTRY: Israel
LANGUAGE: Hebrew and Italian English subs
TIME: 82
SOURCE:
TEXT: Amid the bonfires of Lag B'Omer (May), Dani, who has fallen away from the Rome Synagogue in Jerusalem, persuades a religious, Ashkenazi woman, Na'ama, to sleep with him. After the tryst, she disappears. A look at the contrasts between Ashkanazi and Sfardi, male and female, TA and Jerusalem.
Austeria
TITLE: Austeria
YEAR: 1983
DIR/PROD: Jerzy Kawalerowicz
COUNTRY: Poland
LANGUAGE: Polish
TIME: 109
SOURCE:
TEXT: It is 1914 in southern Poland (galicia), and a Jew runs a village Inn. The Jews in a neighboring town arrive at the Inn seeking desparate refuge from marauding Cossacks. They mix with the other guests at the Inn. Music by Loepold Kozlowski (The Last Klezmer).
Ebredas / Awakening
TITLE: Ebredas / Awakening
YEAR: 1994
DIR/PROD: Judit Eler
COUNTRY: Hungary
LANGUAGE: Hungarian w/ English subtitles
TIME: 110
SOURCE: Katalin Vajda, Magyar Filmunio, Varosligeti Fasor 38, H-1068 Budapest Hungary Tel: 36-1-351-77-60
TEXT: The scene is Stalinist Budapest in the 1950's. Thirteen year old Kati is sent to live in a communal apartment when her father is exiled to a labor camp and her mother dies suddenly.
The Believers: Stories from Jewish Havana
TITLE: The Believers: Stories from the Jewish Havana
YEAR: 1994
DIR/PROD: Bonnie Burt
COUNTRY: USA
LANGUAGE: Spanish w/ English subtitles
TIME: 15 minutes
SOURCE: $50 from Sephardic Society in New York City, Ph. 212.496.2173 Sephardic@Juno.com
TEXT: Lives and community rebirth of the 1300 Jews living in Havana, Cuba.
BYE BYE AMERICA
TITLE: BYE BYE AMERICA
YEAR: 1993
DIR/PROD: Jan Schutte
COUNTRY: Germany
LANGUAGE: German, Polish and Yiddish w/ English subtitles
TIME: 86
SOURCE: Pyramide / 5, rue Richepanse / 75008 Paris, France / tel: (33) 1/42-96-01-01 / fax:(33) 1/40-20-02-21
TEXT:
A road movie with a new twist, BYE BYE AMERICA centers on three winsomely naive
characters in Brighton Beach, N.Y., all past the prime of life but full of dreams and expectations.
Genovefa, a zaftig Polish cleaning lady; her husband Moshe, a diminutive Polish Jew; and their
best friend Isaac, a sad-sack German Jew, board a Polish freighter for the Poland. Their
ensuing adventures, together and apart, make it clear that "home" is elusive: in America they are
immigrants, in Berlin they are Jews, and in Poland they are Americans. Their warm reunion in
Gdansk reveals the transforming power of any journey. For comic relief, Josh Mostel appears as a dutiful son who is also traveling to Poland with is father's body to bury him in his Polish birthplace.
Brand New Day
TITLE: Brand New Day
YEAR: 1987
DIR/PROD: Amos Gitai, John Stewart
COUNTRY: UK/France
LANGUAGE: English
TIME: 93
SOURCE:
TEXT: Seen at the Jerusalem Film Festival in 1988, this is a Gitai venture that follows Annie Lenox and her band in Japan. Gitai is known for his documentaries House, Wadi Rushmia, and Field Diary.
Burning Memories
TITLE: Burning Memories
YEAR: 1988
DIR/PROD: Yossi Somer
COUNTRY: Israel
LANGUAGE: Hebrew w/ English subtitles
TIME: 93
SOURCE:
TEXT: Traumatized by the Lebanon War, a shell-shocked Israeli soldier is sent to a Haifa hospital for therapy. The patient is haunted by more than just the war in this psychodrama.
Beyond the Walls
TITLE: Beyond the Walls
YEAR: 1984
DIR/PROD: Uri Barbash / Rudy Cohen
COUNTRY: Israel
LANGUAGE: Hebrew w/ English subtitles
TIME:
SOURCE: April Films, Ltd., Tel Aviv
TEXT: Oscar nominated drama about life and Arab/Jewish coexistence in an Israeli prison.
Ben-Hur
TITLE: Ben-Hur
YEAR: 1994
DIR/PROD: Willaim (billy) Wyler / Sam Zimbalist
COUNTRY: USA
LANGUAGE: English
TIME: 281 (over 4 hours)
SOURCE: MGM Home Video
TEXT: a Christian story of Ben-Hur of the Jewish house of Hur, oppressed by Roman rule in Jerusalem. Hur befriends the Roman centurian named Messala. But Messala hates Jews and arrests Ben-Hurs whole family. Ben-Hur becomes a slave, then a famed chariot driver. Then he returns to Judea, etc.
Baba Luba
TITLE: Baba Luba
YEAR: 1994
DIR/PROD: Julie Shles / Amit Breuer
COUNTRY: Israel
LANGUAGE: Hebrew w/ English subtitles
TIME: unknown
SOURCE: Amythos Productions
TEXT: The film follows the well-known rock singer, Dani Bassan, aged 40, as he returns to his native Brazil to find his father, Dick, who abandoned his family. After two event filled weeks while searching through all available channels, Dani finds a police file on his father. The piece of information leads to further discoveries. Finally, Dick Bassan is located - father and son meet after 35 years of separation. The film is not an attempt to reconstruct the past, but to follow the moving and very personal drama of their 1994 reunion. Moreover, the film examines the complex issues of fatherhood, family and belonging.
Bread
TITLE: Bread
YEAR: 1987
DIR/PROD: Ram Loevy
COUNTRY: Israel
LANGUAGE: Hebrew w/ English subs
TIME: 84
SOURCE: Nat. Jewish Archive of Broadcasting/Jewish Museum, 1109 5th Ave, NY NY 10128, USA
TEXT: First broadcast on Israeli television, this award winning show is about a poor Sephardic working-class family struggles as the economy and their bread bakery jobs drastically worsen over a short period of time.
Bene Israel
TITLE: Bene Israel
YEAR: 1994
DIR/PROD: Karen Nathanso and Jean - Francois Fernandez
COUNTRY: USA
LANGUAGE: Marathi with English subtitles
TIME: 33 minute video
SOURCE:
TEXT: a documentary portrait of the less than 6,000 Bene Israel, Baghdadi, and Cochini Jews still living in East India. Focus is on the Wakrulkar family of Bene Israel Jews.
Betrothed
TITLE: Betrothed
YEAR: 1996
DIR/PROD: Anat Masens
COUNTRY: Israel
LANGUAGE: Hebrew
TIME: 20
SOURCE: Maaleh School of Film, Jerusalem
TEXT: a student film documentary on a husband and wife who met and married in the 1948 War of Independence. Later, the husband becomes a Lubavitcher Hasid, while the wife remains secular.
Bad Jews in My Kitchen
TITLE: Bad Jews in My Kitchen
YEAR: 1996
DIR/PROD: Alessandra Ogren and Tai Uhlmann
COUNTRY: USA
LANGUAGE: English
TIME: 21 minutes, black & white
SOURCE: 415 Capp Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 Tel: (415) 550-1617
TEXT: Vignettes of Jewish Lesbians, interviewed around their kitchen tables
Bye Bye Braverman
TITLE: Bye Bye Braverman
YEAR: 1968
DIR/PROD: Sidney Lumet
COUNTRY: USA
LANGUAGE: English
TIME: 92
SOURCE: Warner Brothers
TEXT: A satirical look at a New York City Jewish intellectuals on the Upper West Side, as they pile into a car to bury Mr. Braverman at a local cemetery. Script by Herbert Sargent.
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