Currently Browsing: June 2013
In the opening moments of the new Czech film In the Shadow, a police captain named “Hakl” (Ivan Trojan) arrives at the Jewish Community Center in Prague, demanding to see a man named “Kirsch” (Miroslav Krobot). “You know he has a problem with alcohol?” Hakl knows. “You know he spent two years in Auschwitz?” Hakl knows. When […]
‘Hava Nagila: The Movie’ opens May 3 in Chicago What do Harry Belafonte (a Caribbean-American guy from Harlem, NY) and Connie Francis (an Italian-American gal from Newark, NJ) have in common with Glen Campbell (a Scottish-American guy from Pike County, Arkansas)? Like dozens of well-known performers, they have all recorded covers of “Hava Nagila,” in […]
“Thank you for listening.” In the opening moments of Robert Redford’s wonderful new filmThe Company You Keep, a middle aged woman pulls into a rural New York gas station, where she is immediately encircled by police cars and arrested by the FBI. Although she looks like an ordinary suburban matron, it turns out that this seemingly […]
Anatevka is alive and well on the Fox River A new Anatevka has sprung to life on the shores of the Fox River, and the cast and crew are getting thunderous applause from audiences and rave reviews from critics. Are there any Jewish readers anywhere who need me to describe Anatevka? Well, just in case, here […]
Tzivi gives “Koch” a Plus Here is a new definition of chutzpah: Dying on the day that a documentary film based on your life is scheduled for release in your own home town! But it gets even better. In 2008, Ed Koch, the third of New York City’s four Jewish mayors (to date), purchased a […]
Tzivi’s Take on the 2013 Oscar Docs After an extraordinary run of Oscar nominations for narrative features in the Best Foreign Language Film category (Beaufortin 2008, Waltz with Bashir in 2009, Ajami in 2010, and Footnotein 2012), this year two of the five Best Documentary slots are filled by films from Israel. The Gatekeepers and 5 Broken Cameras couldn’t be more different, but […]
Tzivi’s Take on the 2013 Oscar Docs After an extraordinary run of Oscar nominations for narrative features in the Best Foreign Language Film category (Beaufortin 2008, Waltz with Bashir in 2009, Ajami in 2010, and Footnotein 2012), this year two of the five Best Documentary slots are filled by films from Israel. The Gatekeepers and 5 Broken Cameras couldn’t be more different, but taken […]
Buried Holocaust story “found” by OWN Oprah Winfrey, now living in LA, has returned to Metro Chicago for the first episode of her new OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) series Lost & Found. “Lost,” in this case, was a young German-Jewish girl named Gerda Katz, who sought refuge in America in 1938. The person who had long […]