by Ara Rubyan | Sep 20, 2009
Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 7:00 PM
(Spain, 2007, Color, Spanish w/English subtitles, 93 mins. Director: Eduard Cortes)
The Clown And The Fuhrer
It is Berlin, 1944. Internationally acclaimed Spanish clown Charlie Rivel (Ferran Rane) and partner Witzi (Jordi Martinez) have been performing at the Scala Theater in Berlin to much fanfare.
They are approached by formidable Gestapo agent Krauss (Manel Barcelo) who invites the comedic duo to entertain Adolf Hitler on his birthday. The SS officer, who always yearned to be a clown, imposes ever greater editorial control over the act. Witzi is replaced with a new sidekick, Golo, a clown with a dubious story.
Loosely based on a real-life event, this award-winning film is a provocative rumination on the role of the entertainment in the face of barbarism.
Winner, Best Narrative Film, 2008 San Joaquin International Film Festival
Winner, Best Film, 2008 Anchorage International Film Festival
Punto de Encuentro Section, 52 Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid
Speaker: Kenneth Hoffman, Director of Education, National World War II Museum, New Orleans
by Ara Rubyan | Sep 20, 2009
Thursday, January 21, 2010, 7:00 PM
(Israel 2007, Color, Hebrew/Mandarin with English subtitles, 100 mins. Director: Ayelet Menhemi)
Noodle
Returning home from work one day, flight attendant Miri (Mili Avital) is recruited by the family’s Chinese housekeeper (Vicky Lyn) to watch her young son as she runs an important errand. When the housekeeper mysteriously fails to return, Miri and her trusty airline co-workers make it their mission in life to reunite mother and son through whatever means possible.
In this touching comic drama, Miri is a two-time war widow who has long since lost her lust for life, but finds new meaning in her quest to reunite the boy, nicknamed Noodle, with his missing mother.
Winner, Special Grand Prize of the Jury, 2007 Montréal World Film Festival
Winner, Award of the Israeli Film Academy, 2007 Best Supporting Actress Anat Waxman
by Ara Rubyan | Sep 20, 2009
Saturday, January 23, 2010, 7:30 PM
(USA, 2008, Color, 77 mins. Director: Michael Yohay)
The Case For Israel: Democracy’s Outpost
Led by famed attorney Alan Dershowitz, The Case for Israel is a point-by-point defense of the Jewish state. Utilizing archival footage and compelling interviews with top experts, the film presents a stirring rebuttal to growing criticism from the media, academic and international communities. In particular, Dershowitz challenges former President Jimmy Carter and his provocative book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, which was criticized for characterizing Israeli policy in the territories as apartheid.
The experts include Prime Minister Netanyahu, former Price Ministers Barak and Peres; Middle East envoy Dennis Ross and former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky.
Remi Winner, 42nd Annual WorldFest – 2009 Houston International Film Festival
Speaker: Filmmaker Gloria Greenfield
by Ara Rubyan | Sep 20, 2009
Sunday, January 24, 2010, 1:00 PM
(Israel 2007, Color, English, 89 mins. Director: Lynn Roth)
The Little Traitor
Precocious 11-year-old Israeli Proffy Liebowitz (Ido Port) is captured while violating curfew in British Mandate Palestine. He forms an improbable friendship with British soldier Sergeant Dunlop (Alfred Molina), setting the stage for this touching tale of trust and betrayal. Based on the Amos Oz novel, Panther in the Basement.
Winner, Audience Award, 2008 Palm Beach International Film Festival
by Ara Rubyan | Sep 20, 2009
Sunday, January 24, 2010, 3:30 PM
(Israel 2008, Color, English, 53 mins. Director: Alan Rosenthal)
Waves Of Freedom
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In one of the least known, but most dramatic stories of Americans’ support of Israel, 27 returning US veterans are recruited to rescue 2,000 displaced Jews from post-war Europe and break the British blockade of Jewish Palestine. Undaunted by warnings that they could be hanged if the British Navy catches them, they sail a rust-bucket ship across the Atlantic to pick up their precious human cargo. En route to Palestine, they are captured by British destroyers, yet the sailors bring their passengers to Israel. They return to the US not as heroes, but as subjects of an FBI investigation.
Speaker: Ship’s Officer (and rescuer) Paul Kaye.
by Ara Rubyan | Sep 19, 2009
Thursday, January 14, 2010 -10:00 AM &
Friday, January 15, 2010 – 10:00 AM,
BREC Theater, Independence Park, Baton Rouge
We Must Remember
(USA, 2008, English, Color, 63 mins. Director: Doug Green)
This is the story of 16 American high school students who set out to learn about the Holocaust through a small extracurricular broadcasting project. They are inspored by the 2008 Boston Globe article Adolf Who? that reported that 25 percent of 17 year olds didn’t know who Adolf Hitler was.
The documentary focuses on firsthand accounts from Holocaust survivors, US veterans who liberated Dachuau, and the students as they travel to Poland and Germany, where they film inside the Dachau, Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camp sites. The filmmakers visit high schools in Munich and Dachau to interview German teenagers and talk candidly about what happened there during the Holocaust in their grandparents’ lifetime.
Speakers: Filmmaker/teacher Doug Green and student filmmaker
