By Marvin Glassman, Special to JTNews At 71, singer/songwriter Neil Diamond could easily settle into retirement, looking back on his nearly 50-year recording career, 125 million records sold and 39 top-40 hit songs. But Diamond is not ready to get out of the limelight yet. He is currently on aContinue Reading
By Danielle Berrin, other (L.A. Jewish Journal)—Aaron Sorkin, the playwright, television writer and Oscar-winning screenwriter of “The Social Network,” is causing a stir with his new HBO series, “The Newsroom,” about the inside antics of a cable news show and its commentary on American journalism. Sorkin’s “The West Wing” andContinue Reading
By Herb Krohn, Special to JTNews The 36th Annual Seattle International Film Festival kicks off 25 days of non stop cinema on Thurs., May 17. Tickets can be purchased online at www.siff.net, by phone at 206-324-9996, as well as during business hours at any SIFF venue on festival days, subjectContinue Reading
By Jason Miller, JTA World News Service WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (JTA) — A few months after my first child was born, I went to a bookstore to buy a few books that I thought needed to be on the bookshelf of my new baby’s nursery. Maurice Sendak’s “Where the WildContinue Reading
By Dikla Tuchman , JTNews Correspondent Opera can tell a story in a way no other musical composition can. The level of emotional intensity opera achieves in its mix of lofty vocals and orchestral accompaniment makes it an ideal format for telling tragic but heroic tales of Holocaust survival. SuchContinue Reading
By Alice Kaderlan , JTNews Correspondent In the mid ‘60s, in the small German village of Efringen-Kirchen on the French border, a preteen boy and his friends came upon an old, overgrown cemetery. The headstones, many of which were falling over, had strange writing on them; the boys had neverContinue Reading
By Dvora Meyers , JTA World News Service NEW YORK (JTA) — As a student at an all-girls day school in Brooklyn, the first thing I learned about the Beastie Boys turned out to be untrue. According to a yeshiva urban legend, two of the founding members of the BeastieContinue Reading
By Alice Kaderlan, JTNews Correspondent It will come as no surprise to anyone who has seen Frank Ferrante at Teatro ZinZanni that this is a man who knows how to ad-lib. The wisecracking Ferrante has starred in several ZinZanni productions, most recently in “Hail Caesar!” but he has a wholeContinue Reading
By Debra Rubin , JTA World News Service WASHINGTON (JTA) — Emotional. Raw. Frustrating. That’s how Oz Fishman describes his reaction to “Bully,” a documentary that follows five students who face daily bullying. The movie also focuses on two victims of bullying who killed themselves. “I think every single personContinue Reading
By Dikla Tuchman , Special to JTNews As the spring quarter launches into full bloom at the University of Washington, the Stroum Jewish Studies Program prepares for a special visitor to arrive on campus from Israel. Selected as one of 10 sites nationwide to participate in the Schusterman visiting artistContinue Reading
By Michael Fox , Special to JTNews If movies can truly make a difference, then the timing of the soulful French wartime drama “Free Men” couldn’t be better. Based on actual events, the engrossing second film by the Moroccan-born director Ismael Ferroukhi reveals the largely forgotten efforts of the directorContinue Reading
By Danielle Berrin, other At Sioux City Middle School in Iowa, 12-year-old Alex Libby is the odd-man-out. Seen by his peers as different, he has golden hair, gentle eyes, a wide, flat nose and permanently puckered lips. Together, they might seem to express something both pouty and vulnerable, sweet andContinue Reading
By Alice Kaderlan , Special to JTNews It’s hard to decide which story is more compelling — the one about Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic who saved 2,500 Jewish children during the Holocaust, or that of four Protestant high school girls in tiny Uniontown, Kansas, who are almost single-handedly responsibleContinue Reading
By Dikla Tuchman, Special to JTNews Long after the wine has been quaffed, the fingers pointed, the hushed comments disappeared into the ether, the paintings still hang. Since late last month, visitors to Hillel at the University of Washington have been treated to a rare viewing of Salvador DalÑs scenesContinue Reading
By , JTNews Correspondent If we’re to get a taste of Jewish life through film, then there’s no better place in our corner of the world to go than the AJC Seattle Jewish Film Festival. The theme this year is Vidas Largas — live large. You can learn about SephardicContinue Reading
By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews So many secrets, so little time. But in communist-era Poland, secrets are the currency of choice. Such is the case for Kamila, known to her handlers in the secret police as Little Rose, for whom this film is named, and she’s got more of theseContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Assistant Editor, JTNews A few things should happen in a slasher flick. One, somebody should get slashed, preferably in the beginning. Two, the villain should be evil enough that we want him to die, and the protagonists should be likeable enough that we want them toContinue Reading
By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews Here’s a synopsis: Uptight, repressed Valley girl spends some time in the city, learns about herself, and finds love. Deb Dorfman lives with her uptight, depressed, not-so-recently widowed father. He spouts a lot of Yiddish and complains a lot — that’s how we know they’reContinue Reading
By Michael Fox , Special to JTNews The curtain rises on the riveting, roller-coaster drama Wunderkinder (Child Prodigies) in a present-day concert hall with a white-haired violinist rehearsing for her recital. The arrival of a surprise visitor catapults Hanna Reich, and us, back to 1941 and Poltava, Ukraine, where twoContinue Reading
By Emily K. Alhadeff, Assistant Editor, JTNews Achoti HaYafah translates to My Lovely Sister, but it may as well translate to “My Really Dysfunctional Family.” But it’s beautiful dysfunction, and the film is a rare specimen of Israel’s finer productions. Following tropes of Moroccan Jewish folklore, it’s an interwoven taleContinue Reading
