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
By Dikla Tuchman , Special to JTNews Seattle filmmaker Lisa Cohen worked in technical post-production for 15 years before leaving her job to stay at home with her two young children. About two years ago, the idea for her first documentary film, B-Boy, came to her by happenstance, and theContinue Reading
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By Ben Magalnick, Special to JTNews Steve Sheinkin, the creator of the “Rabbi Harvey” graphic novel series, rolled through town on the last weekend of February to talk to local synagogues and schools about the popular Wild West wiseman. Seven-year-old Ben spoke with Sheinkin about this new take on JewishContinue Reading
By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews Ben Gurion Hosting is a documentary in the truest sense: The entire film is based upon the first Israeli prime minister’s life and writings. But don’t expect a Ken Burns miniseries for this entry at the AJC Seattle Jewish Film Festival: It’s 12 minutes longContinue Reading
By Michael Fox, Special to JTNews Like a native Angeleno, Dani Menkin effortlessly conducts a phone interview from his car without missing a beat — or his exit. The energetic filmmaker divides his time between Southern California and his native Israel. Last year he was also a visiting artist atContinue Reading
By Charlene Kahn, Special to JTNews It’s a real mystery: How did Samuel Solomonovich Koteliansky become close to the major figures in modern English literature of the early 20th century? He lived through the eruption of two world wars, genocide of his people, endured anti-Semitism. Yet through his peripheral yetContinue Reading
By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews The Seattle area is unique in that such a large Sephardic population settled here more than a century ago. While many of the families whose ancestors grew their families and fortunes here do their best to keep their culture and traditions alive, sometimes it’s bestContinue Reading
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By Charlene Kahn, Special to JTNews Although cold February winds blew outside the doors, in the social hall of Congregation Beth Shalom in Seattle’s North End, all was warmth and friendship. A post-Shabbat evening of interactive art drew a crowd of adults from Seattle and the Eastside on Feb. 11Continue Reading
By Janis Siegel , JTNews Correspondent On Feb. 10, Seattleite Cecelia Benzaquen, inside a packed movie house in Berlin, sat on the edge of her seat as she waited to watch the premiere of a Holocaust survival story. The Academy Award-nominated In Darkness, for which a production crew built aContinue Reading
By Diana Brement, JTNews Correspondent Where is Israel going? And where has it been? These questions are explored in four new books — non-fiction and fiction — that highlight aspects of Israeli history, life and culture. Hirsch Goodman will give you a good sense of where Israel is going inContinue Reading
