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Berkshire Jewish Film Festival 2008
Festival features outstanding National and International Jewish Films Pre-theatrical releases and superb hard to find classics. All tickets are for general admission and will be sold at the door. NEW! Matinee films at 4 pm - $5
View Larger Map From the Massachusetts Turnpike Exit 2 - Lee From Great Barrington Area From Pittsfield Area Duffin Theater entrance is near the parking lot exit. BERKSHIRE JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL MOVIE SCHEDULE July 7 - 4:00 PM
The Year My Parents Went on Vacation 105 mins. Director: Cao Hamburger 1970 was the year of both political upheaval and World Cup soccer in Brazil. The director drew on his childhood memories to create this lovely and deeply felt drama about a 12 year-old boy whose political activist parents are forced to go underground, " on vacation," leaving him in the care of an elderly Jewish man. July 7 - 8:00 PM
Then She Found Me Adapted from Elinor Lipman's novel of the same name, Helen Hunt makes her feature directing debut with this touching story of schoolteacher April Epner (Hunt) and her very unlikely path towards personal fulfillment. According to Hunt "You can't really love till you've made peace with betrayal." The fabulous cast also includes Bette Midler, Colin Firth and Matthew Broderick. Elinor Lipman began her post college writing career doing TV press releases for Boston’s WGBH and editing newsletters for various organizations. At age 28 she enrolled at Brandeis in an adult creative writing course and thus was the beginning of her career as an author. Beginning with short stories, which first appeared in Yankee Magazine, she moved on to novels. These include Then She Found Me, Isabel’s Bed, The Inn at Lake Devine, The Ladies’ Man, The Dearly Departed, The Pursuit of Alice Thrift and My Latest Grievance. She received the New England Book Award for fiction for a body of work in 2001. In 2007 she received a lifetime achievement award from New England Library and Information Network and The Poetry Center’s Paterson Fiction Prize for My Latest Grief. Ms. Lipman has taught writing at her alma mater Simmons College and also at Smith and Hampshire Colleges.
July 14 - 4:00 PM Israel, 2006 Hebrew/English subtitles 90 mins. Director: Eitan Anner Chen is caught in the middle of the cultural conflict raging between his Russian-born mother and his Israeli father. One day he stumbles on a ballroom dance class for young people and sees Natalie, a stunning young Russian girl with whom he immediately falls in love. His interest in Natalie results in his taking ballroom dancing classes and ultimately bridging the cultural divide in his own family-with the help of the Cha-cha-cha and the Tango. Chen's teachers are former world champions from Russia who never quite fulfilled their potential and who find themselves battling their own demons while training their young students.
Orthodox Stance Orthodox Stance portrays seemingly incompatible cultures and characters. Twenty-four year old Dmitriy Salita, a Ukrainian émigré, is a champion boxer and an uncompromising Orthodox Jew. He shows remarkable devotion to his religion and the pursuit of the professional boxing title, while searching for his meaning in life. Appearing in person: Jimmy O’Pharrow - Dmitriy Salita’s trainer Jimmy O’Pharrow is the founder and executive director of the Starrett City Boxing Club. Mr. O’Pharrow, a former boxer, is a certified coach and trainer by the US Amateur Boxing Federation. He began the club in 1978 in the East NY section of Brooklyn for youth from all neighborhoods and ethnic backgrounds. The philosophy of the boxing club is, “Our intent is to rescue young men and women from an atmosphere of hopelessness that seems to pervade areas of high crime and high unemployment by contributing to the bolstering of self-esteem and building individual confidence and character through systematic training in the value of discipline and the acquisition of skills in areas that are relevant to a variety of sports.”
July 21 - 4:00 PM Sweet Mud A powerful coming of age drama, set in the 1970’s, challenges myths and romantic notions about kibbutz life. On the surface, it is a simple story of a son’s relationship with his fragile and mentally unstable mother. But with its subtle complexity, it is a richly woven tapestry of culture, idealism, love, and freedom.
July 21 - 8:00 PM
Sixty-Six Bernie Rubens can’t wait for his bar mitzvah day to arrive: For once he will be the center of attention! Who knew that on Bernie’s big day, in the summer of 1966, all of England would be consumed by soccer’s World Cup Final fever? This riotous British coming-of-age comedy stars Helena Bonham Carter and Stephen Rea.
July 28 - 4:00 PM
Love One Another A young Jewish girl moves to St. Petersburg, falls in love with a revolutionary, flees the police and returns to her village just as a pogrom breaks out. The movie was filmed by the great Danish director Carl Dreyer and featured a cast from the Moscow Art Theater. Love One Another is a grand protest against anti-Semitism in Czarist Russia. July 28 - 8:00 PM The Secrets In an often repressive Orthodox culture, two brilliant young women discover their own voices. A studious, devoutly religious daughter of a prominent rabbi convinces her father to postpone her marriage for a year so that she might study at a Jewish seminary for women in the ancient Kabalistic seat of Safed. Her quest for individuality takes a defiant turn when she befriends a free-spirited, headstrong fellow student. New horizons open for the young ladies who find themselves caught between the rigid male establishment they grew up in, and the desire to be true to themselves, no matter what the cost. Appearing in person: Professor Justin Cammy Justin Cammy is an Assistant Professor at Smith College in the departments of Jewish Studies and Middle East Studies. Specializing in modern Jewish literature, he received a BA in Middle East Studies and Political Science from McGill University, spending his junior year at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard.
August 4 - 4:00 PM
Knowledge is the Beginning The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, comprised of young Arabs and Jews, perform together in an orchestra dedicated to furthering the cause of peaceful coexistence. The conductor, Daniel Barenboim’s controversial friendship with the late Palestinian-born writer and professor, Edward Said, helps create the richness and commitment to this project. Together great classical works are performed while developing unexpected and enduring friendships among the musicians.
August 4 - 8:00 PM
The Counterfeiters Based on the memoir of Adolf Burger, Salomon Sorowitsch, a pre-World War II criminal and ingenious counterfeiter, is recruited to lead an enormous counterfeiting project in Germany’s Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. His cunning enables him to overcome deadly odds. Placed in a horrific position of moral corruption, Sorowitsch is forced to decide whether or not to save his own life or prevent the Nazis from causing further damage on a grander scale. 2008 Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Film. Appearing in person: Darrell English Darrell English is an auctioneer and major collector of WWII memorabilia. His interest in military collectibles began when he was five years old. His first item was his uncle’s 82nd airborne patch. From relatives his collection expanded with Nazi coins and an iron-cross medal until he had about 200 items collected by the time he was a teenager. He has in his collection of Nazi memorabilia two Operation Bernhard, counterfeit English pounds. He is now trying to build a museum to house his vast collection.
August 11 - 4:00PM
Marlene Dietrich - Her Own Song This documentary, made by her grandson, focuses on the fabulous Marlene Dietrich’s contributions during WWII and the way she was viewed by Germans and the rest of the world due to her activities during this time. These include her becoming an American citizen and entertaining American soldiers despite German efforts to get her back in Berlin and to be supportive of her own country’s war efforts. There are interviews with her daughter, friends and historians throughout, along with home movies, interview footage, and performances. August 11 - 8:00 PM
Fugitive Pieces German/English subtitles 105 mins. The film is a powerful, poetic and emotionally charged drama about love, loss and redemption. This is a story about Jakob Beer, a man whose life is haunted by his childhood experiences during WWII. Over the course of his life, he attempts to deal with the losses he has endured. Through his writing, and then the discovery of true love, Jakob is ultimately freed from the legacy of his past.
Berkshire Jewish Film Festival's
To locate the sources of our films please click here. If you are interested in submitting a film, please send a DVD screener anytime from November through January to: Berkshire Jewish Film Festival |
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