Media Center
REELAbilitiesBoston Festival
announced for 2012
NEWTON, MA. – Dec. 5, 2011 – Six films from around the world about people with disabilities will highlight the first REELAbilitiesBoston Film Festival being held Feb. 2-8.
My Spectacular Theatre, a Chinese film from Director Yu Lang, will be the opening night film on Feb. 2, 2012 at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown.
Other films in the REELAbilitiesBoston Film Festival include War Eagle, Arkansas (Canada/England/US); Shooting Beauty (USA); Snow Cake (Canada/England/USA); Warrior Champions (China/US); and Anita (Argentina) as the closing night film.
“We are excited to be part of the inaugural REELAbilitiesBoston Festival,” said Boston Jewish Film Festival Managing Director Jaymie Saks. “This will enable the public to see films about the lives, stories and art of people with disabilities from around the world.”
“REELAbilitiesBoston is a unique experience for us because the films are not necessarily Jewish in content,” Saks said. “Disabilities are universal. They affect people in all communities. We want to unite the entire community around this issue through film.”
The films:
My Spectacular Theatre – Feb. 2, 6:30 p.m., Perkins School for the Blind, Watertown. A young man finds refuge in a Beijing movie theatre where all of the patrons are blind in this movie about love, acceptance and heartbreak. Directed by Yu Lang, 120 minutes. In Mandarin with English subtitles.
War Eagle, Arkansas – Saturday, Feb. 4, 7 pm, Arlington Capitol Theatre. Enoch Cass (Luke Grimes, TV’s Brothers & Sisters), a star pitcher with a debilitating stutter, has a chance for a college scholarship – his ticket out of his small-town home. But that may mean leaving behind his lifelong best friend, “Wheels,” whose cerebral palsy gives him his nickname. Based upon a true story. With Brian Dennehy as Enoch’s grandfather, Mare Winningham as Enoch’s mother and Mary Kay Place as Wheels’ mom. Directed by Robert Milazzo, 90 minutes.
Shooting Beauty – Sunday, Feb. 5, noon, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Alfond Auditorium). Local photographer Courtney Bent discovers a hidden world of beauty in people living with cerebral palsy at a community program in Watertown. When Bent begins inventing cameras her new friends can use, an unforgettable story unfolds about living with a disability – and without one – in this documentary. Directed by George Kachadorian, 62 minutes.
Snow Cake – Sunday, Feb. 5, 2:30 pm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Alfond Auditorium). Alex (Alan Rickman of Harry Potter), an ex-con on a road trip, picks up Vivienne, an eccentric hitchhiker. After Vivienne dies in a car accident, Alex visits her mother (Sigourney Weaver), a woman with high-functioning autism, to tell her the news. Directed by Marc Evans, 112 minutes.
Warrior Champions – Tuesday, Feb. 7, 7 pm, West Newton Cinema. Four Iraq War veterans turn their nightmares into Olympic dreams in this documentary. After losing limbs and suffering paralysis fighting for their country, they set out to do what many thought impossible in the sports world. Directed by Brent Renaud and Craig Renaud, 80 minutes.
Anita – Wednesday, Feb. 8, 7 pm, West Newton Cinema. Anita Feldman (an extraordinary debut by Alejandra Manzo), who has Down Syndrome, helps run her mother’s (Oscar nominee Norma Aleandro) small store in their Buenos Aires Jewish neighborhood. That all changes when a bomb explodes outside the Jewish community center, killing and injuring hundreds. Anita wanders the city for days – trusting and deeply affecting everyone she meets. Presented at 2010 Boston Jewish Film Festival. Directed by Marcos Carnevale, 104 minutes, in Spanish with English subtitles.
REELAbilitiesBoston presenting partners are J.E. & Z.B. Butler Foundation, Ruderman Family Foundation, the Cambridge Trust Co., the Saul Schottenstein Foundation B and the Nancy Lurie Marks Foundation.
Tickets go on sale in early January. Films will be $10 general admission, $9 for seniors, students and members of the MFA, Coolidge Corner Theatre and WGBH and $6 for groups of at least 10 people. Some films will have a question-answer session afterward with a guest speaker.
Festival earns NEA grant
NEWTON, MA., Nov. 17, 2011 – The Boston Jewish Film Festival will receive a $10,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, it was announced today. This marked the first time that The Festival received a grant from the organization.
“We are very excited to receive the support from the NEA,” said Jaymie Saks, Managing Director of The Boston Jewish Film Festival. “It’s gratifying to be recognized nationally for our efforts in bringing Jewish film and culture to the Greater Boston community.”
“The grant will make a difference and enable us to achieve a greater impact in the community,” Saks said. “We will use the money for increased outreach, a goal that is very important to us.” The funds are to be used in 2012.
The Festival, which just concluded its 23rd Festival earlier this week, is looking to extend its audience to various religious, cultural and social organizations and groups in the Greater Boston area. A total of 1,686 applications were submitted for funding. The grant was one of 863 from the NEA to organizations and individual writers around the U.S. with awards totaling more than $22.5 million. The Festival’s grant came through the NEA Art Works program.
The Festival was one of only three Jewish film festivals in the U.S. to receive the honor and one of two organizations in New England to receive funding in the Media Arts category.
NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman said the projects “demonstrate the imaginative and innovative capacities of artists and arts organizations to enhance the quality of life in their communities.”
Festival award winners
Nov. 20, 2011 - Kaddish for a Friend, the debut film of director Leo Khasin, and Beating Time, a documentary about the struggle to overcome ALS, were the winners of The 23rd Boston Jewish Film Festival’s Audience Awards for Best Feature and Best Documentary films respectively.
“I feel very honored to win this year’s Audience Award at the Boston Jewish Film Festival,” said Khasin. “I had the chance to be here in Boston and be part of a wonderful vivid, receptive and, at the same time, profound audience. That’s why this award is so special and important to me – a spontaneous impartial and truthful approval of my work.”
Kaddish for a Friend director Leo Khasin
“And because a film is not a creation of a person alone, I want to take this prize in the name of all those, who put all their passion in this project, starting with the producers, the crew and finally the wonderful actors who gave all their heart to the roles and made out of anti-heroes true heroes. Thank you!”
Kaddish for a Friend is about the relationship between an aging Russian Jewish widower and a teenage neighbor in Berlin, originally from a Palestinian refugee camp. The youth, Ali, vandalizes Alexander’s apartment, jeopardizing his family’s immigration status. Ali then refurbishes the dwelling, leading to a friendship with Alexander.
Khasin was born in Russia and now lives in Berlin. He turned to directing full-time two years ago after a career as a dentist. Kaddish for a Friend was the Opening Night film of The Festival.
Beating Time director Odett Orr
Beating Time Director Odett Orr won the award for her first effort as a feature documentary director. The film tells the story of Avi Kremer, an Israeli and Harvard Business School graduate, who learns he has ALS. Beating Time follows his personal fight against ALS and his efforts supporting research.
“What a wonderful surprise,” Orr said of the award. “Thank you very much. This kind of response is what a film maker waits for at the end of the day. You know that making this film was not easy and at the same time I feel that I was privileged to follow Avi Kremer’s battle against ALS for five years, a battle which has had enormous impact on science and the research of ALS.”
Starring David (David de Ster) previously was announced as the winner of the first annual Short Films Competition. The film from Ester Gould is about a boy born to a Jewish father and Chinese mother, who converts prior to celebrating his bar mitzvah in the Netherlands. “”That’s absolutely great news!” Gould said. “Wow, I’m so pleased and I just forwarded the message to David, the ‘star’ of my short doc.”
Those attending the film screenings voted for the awards.
Khasin will receive Media Composer 5 film editing software from Avid, while Orr and Gould will receive Sony Vegas Pro 11 film editing software.
Boston Jewish Film Festival
announces 2011 schedule
NEWTON, MA., Sept. 13, 2011– The theme “Neighbors Near and Far” will be explored at the 23rd annual Boston Jewish Film Festival, which opens Nov. 2 and continues through Nov. 13.
The Boston Jewish Film Festival presents 32 of the most innovative films on Jewish themes from around the world in Greater Boston area theatres. Films are accentuated by panel discussions and with visits by more than a dozen directors, actors and subjects from such countries as Israel, France, Germany and Hungary.
“Our films this year center on intriguing aspects of being neighbors,” says Artistic Director Sara L. Rubin. “Neighbors share the bonds formed by people who live near one another. But neighbors are also people who share dreams and goals, no matter how far away they live. At the same time, neighbors can find themselves in conflict with one another. Our filmmakers surprise us with tensions and rapport as they explore these shifting relationships, whether in works of fiction or nonfiction.”
Highlights this year include 3 North American premieres, 5 U.S. premieres, 2 East Coast premieres and 14 New England premieres. The Festival also will screen a program of shorts. Suburban screenings begin Oct. 25 and run through Nov. 15.
The Festival is New England’s largest Jewish cultural event, with last year’s attendance at about 10,000 people.
Neighbor-Themed Films
The opening night film is Kaddish for a Friend. Muslim teen Ali Messalam and his family move into Berlin’s Kreuzberg area where he is pressured by friends to vandalize the apartment of his elderly, feisty Russian neighbor, Alexander Zamskoy. To avoid being deported, Ali’s parents send him back to Zamskoy’s place to repair the damage. This coming-of-age story, inspired by two real people, is a stirring feature debut by Moscow-born, German filmmaker Leo Khasin, who will be present.
The Centerpiece Film is Deaf Jam. Teen Aneta Brodski attends a school for the deaf in Queens and inhabits the exuberant world of American Sign Language (ASL) poetry. Filmmaker Judy Lieff chronicles Aneta’s bold entry into Manhattan’s spoken-word slam scene, where Aneta, an Israeli immigrant, meets Tahani, a hearing Palestinian-American slam poet. The two collaborate on a powerful duet that mirrors the complex worlds they share. Deaf Jam uses innovative film techniques to honor ASL as a three-dimensional language that exists in space, like dance. Brodski will be present, and Ayisha Knight-Shaw, a deaf poet, will perform, signing in ASL.
Closing night features Mabul (Flood). As Yoni chants the story of Noah and the Ark in preparation for his Bar Mitzvah, his autistic older brother, Tomer, unexpectedly returns home, forcing the entire family to cope with his presence. Their mother is a gifted day-care director in a troubled marriage to a crop duster too stoned to fly. Mabul garnered awards in Haifa and Berlin, nominated for six Ophir (Israeli Oscars). Director Guy Nattiv will be present.
New for 2011
The Festival presents the inaugural “Caffeine and Conversation,” an event where audiences can meet film artists, including directors, actors and documentary film subjects.
Meet ALS patient Avi Kremer, the mesmerizing star of Beating Time. Kremer, who graduated from Harvard Business School, is slated to speak about his battle to find a cure; neurologist Dr. Robert Brown, UMass Medical Center, Worcester, will join him.
The eye-opening film Standing Silent. This film breaks a compelling news story about child molestation by Orthodox rabbis in Baltimore. A distinguished panel, including the journalist who broke the story, will tackle this controversial and alarming issue.
The Festival inaugurates a “Short Films Competition.” Short films, long known as the “calling cards” of young filmmakers, are increasingly popular. Viewers will watch top selections and then vote for a winner.
Watch the newest in Israeli TV shows. Directors often migrate between film and TV in this small marketplace, and the quality of shows is high. See new visions of Israel in The Office, Yellow Peppers and Another Life.
The Festival offers a “Surprise Screening,” reserved for a last-minute new film or a reprise of a smash hit. Check our website, Facebook or Twitter to find late-breaking news.
Festival Locations, Tickets, Sponsors
Primary venues are the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), the West Newton Cinema and the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline. Screenings also take place at AMC Framingham, the Arlington Capitol Theatre, Hollywood Hits Premiere Theatres in Danvers, Showcase Cinema de Lux Patriot Place in Foxboro, Showcase Cinemas Randolph and Fenway Community Health in Boston.
The Festival’s website offers film descriptions and schedule information. Tickets can be purchased through www.bjff.org.
The Festival offers two pass options: the all-access Friends Pass, at $225 and the REELPass, a $30 three-film pass.
Tickets for most films are $12 for general admission and $11 for seniors, students, and current members of The Boston Jewish Film Festival, MFA, Coolidge Corner Theatre, and WGBH. Discount tickets for groups of 10 or more are available at $9 per person. For more information, or to request a mailed brochure, contact the Festival office at info@bjff.org or 617-244-9899 x200.
Lead Festival sponsors are the Cambridge Trust Co., Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Consulate General of Israel to New England, CBIZ Tofias, Hebrew SeniorLife, Pageo Fine Jewelry, Staples Advantage and SwissAir.
Luminaries and Legends Gala
honors three
NEWTON, MA., Aug. 16, 2011 – The Boston Jewish Film Festival is excited to announce “Luminaries and Legends,” our major fall 2011 fundraiser. Three Luminaries will be honored for their leadership in film in New England on Oct. 22 – Judy Ganz, Lisa Gossels and Kaj Wilson.
Judy Ganz, Festival architect and visionary. Judy has been at the heart of the Festival since its inception, serving as Board Chair from 2002 – 2009. During her tenure, the Festival enjoyed exponential growth in attendance and stature. Judy lives in Belmont.
Lisa Gossels, a documentarian who believes in the power of film to affect social change. Lisa’s films include Emmy award-winning The Children of Chabannes and award-winning My So-Called Enemy. Lisa’s movies reflect Jewish history and offer profound messages about building bridges of understanding during times of great conflict. Lisa is a native of Wayland.
Kaj Wilson, Festival artistic director for over a decade. Kaj brought creative vision and acumen to the Festival and broader Jewish community. The winner of honors from the Boston Society of Film Critics and Women in Film and Video/New England, she was artistic liaison for the Boston-Haifa Connection, curated film series for Jewish Women’s Archive and the New Center for Arts and Culture. Kaj lives in Newton.
The work of a film legend will be shown at “Luminaries and Legends” with scenes from the work-in-progress documentary, Sidney Lumet: The Moral Lens. The late Sidney Lumet directed more than 40 films, including Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, The Pawnbroker, 12 Angry Men, Long Day’s Journey into Night, Murder on the Orient Express and Equus. Director Daniel Anker will share insights on Lumet, the moral questions he raised, and the impact of Lumet’s Jewish upbringing on his films. Daniel will share clips from his documentary Sidney Lumet: The Moral Lens.
The event takes place Saturday, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m. at WGBH, One Guest St., Boston. Co-chairs are Maya Katz and Adam Riemer. The evening features both silent and live auctions. A list of items will be available on the Festival website. Cocktails, supper and dessert will be offered. Tickets are $250 each, available through our web site.
The fundraiser kicks off this year’s 23rd Annual Festival, Nov. 2 – 13 with suburban screenings Oct. 25-Nov. 15.
See you there for a great night of fun!
