lynn wexler - david magazine january 2012 issue

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By Lynn Wexler-Margolies

RATED PG for PARENTAL GUILTSTRONG JEWISH THEME ADVISORY

A hhhh … the enigma of cinema. Americans and people the world over have been sitting in the dark since the turn of the 20th century, spellbound as stories unfold through moving

pictures … black, white and color … on a large silver screen. It’s indigenous to our species to seek emotional stimulation, question beliefs, challenge prevailing thought and employ voyeurism to re� ect on our own lives. In the safety of the theater we can accomplish all of that, daring to voyage to, engage in or rendezvous with real, imagined and sometimes forbidden people, places or subjects. And, if we’re open to it, for better or for worse, we will be changed by what we witness and experience from that lone seat in the dark. Powerful, to say the least.

Now, let’s harness and focus that power to capture, raise awareness and celebrate Jewish culture, legacy, history, traditions, struggles and search for identity, and present it to Jewish communities in the form of a festival … a Jewish Film Festival. From documentaries to comedies, tragedies to triumphs, the myriad of Jewish � lm genres serve to educate

Jews and non-Jews about the Jewish people. And because Jewish � lms often examine the diversity that naturally exists among the Jewish people, audiences learn about other cultures as well, as they book safe passage to Jewish life for the price of a $10 movie ticket.

Making its debut in San Francisco in 1980, the Jewish Film Festival in America was conceived and founded by human rights activist and � lmmaker Deborah Kaufman. Her vision for the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival was to use the popularity of cinematic dramatization to ignite new and open discussions of politics and culture within the Jewish community, and to challenge Hollywood’s Jewish stereotypes.

An instant hit, the SFJFF gave birth to the Jewish Film Festival in cities across the country. According to the Jewish Outreach Institute, there are now more than 70 Jewish � lm festivals in the states, with more than half a dozen in Canada and another two dozen in foreign cities. Jewish communities rapidly embraced the opportunity to rally ‘round a shared and profound passion and identity in a neutral

2012Las VegasJewish Film Festival

Tickets are available through the Presenting Sponsors or online at: www.brownpapertickets.com (Jewish Film Festival).

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venue, where participants could freely celebrate being Jewish. � e � lms themselves o� ered moviegoers the experience of mutual pride in Jewish courage and accomplishments, along with the opportunity to address critically the tough, painful and controversial issues and challenges Jews face as a people. A recent Jewish Studies survey at Stanford University showed that people who attend Jewish � lm festivals believe it is a valid expression of their Jewish identity — however they choose to de� ne it.

� e 2012 Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival — no stranger to this successful celebration of Jewish life and culture exposed and expounded in � lm — proudly opens its 11th season on Jan. 14 (running through Jan. 29). � is year’s festival is co-produced by Desert Space Foundation and its executive director Joshua Abbey, and the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada. Major support has been provided by the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas, with Host Venue Sponsorship provided by the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Educational Campus. Cinemark Century � eatres is a Host Satellite Sponsor. Steinberg Diagnostic Medical Imaging Centers, Innova Technologies, Manpower and DAVID Magazine are corporate sponsors. Abbey (with the DSF) has been the festival’s producer since its 2002 inception.

JFLV President and CEO Elliot Karp states: “� e Federation’s support of this cinematic gift, highlighting and depicting our cultural treasures and legacies, is integral to the Federation’s vision … to see more Jews doing Jewish. Our mission is not to encourage proscriptive Judaism, but rather support and enable all means of Judaism to take root and � ourish by every productive means possible. � e Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival does just that … it enables creativity, ingenuity and innovation … qualities that sustain the Jewish people and add cultural vibrancy to our community.”

� is year’s festival features 12 narrative dramas and documentaries, mostly contemporary, global in scope and representing a variegated junction of the Jewish culture spanning Eastern Europe to South America, Australia, the United States and Israel; covering Jewish history, festivities and customs, Holocaust memories, Israel-Diaspora relations and personal stories with universal struggles. � emes range from Jews in the Civil War, to the Academy Award-winning Sherman brothers, who were acclaimed songwriters for Disney, to Otto Frank’s lifelong promotion of his daughter’s diary, to the alliance between a lonely Christian woman and an orphaned Jewish girl in Nazi-occupied Warsaw, to the comedic antics of Gustav Mahler’s marriage, to klezmer music’s in� uence on the Argentinean tango, to an Israeli boy’s miraculous recovery from violence through his relationship with a dolphin. All are outstanding. All are worth the time to travel to places on celluloid that will expand your mind, heart and soul and, thus, your life’s possibilities.

� e goals and purposes of Nevada’s longest running and most popular

� lm festival “are manifold,” says Abbey. “Foremost is to inform and strengthen our Jewish community, utilizing relevant stories told through the vibrancy of � lm and cinéma vérité. � e lessons learned and the thoughts provoked by the festival experience are intended to promote community collaboration, entice the una� liated and o� er educational outreach to Jews and non-Jews alike, by enhancing cultural awareness, diversity and tolerance through an appreciation of Jewish identity, history and struggles. � e Jewish community is not separate from the community at large when it comes to universal themes that a� ect us all. � e festival presents a social opportunity, and the � lms present a safe way for many to comfortably explore subjects with no pressure or strings attached.”

Neil Popish, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada says “We at the JCC are pleased to partner with Josh Abbey and the Desert Space Foundation because our missions are similar. � e � lm festival is a perfect � t for our cultural arts

programming.” Additionally, the LVJFF helps

promote solidarity with Israel by screening films that showcase its ethical, technological, scientific and political prowess on the world‘s stage. Abbey takes a more conservative approach in curating the festival, as opposed to the more controversial choices of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Abbey is committed to promoting a positive image of Israel and chooses films suitable to that end. “I believe film is the best way to address misconceptions about Israel, socially and politically, that are perpetuated by the media.”

Schi� man agrees with Abbey’s sentiment toward Israel. “As a presenting sponsor, � e Adelson School chose to screen the full length documentary, Israel Inside ... a movie we thought our students would relate to in understanding the culture, people, climate and great modern inventions happening in Israel today.”

Equally vital is the interactive and educational discourse immediately following each � lm, led by visiting � lmmakers, special guests and community rabbis. “Audience

members and moderators enter into open dialogue, evaluating a � lm’s message and meaning, and hopefully arriving at new understandings and deeper connections to one‘s Jewishness,” Abbey states.

Occasionally, these discussions become heated. “At a previous festival, after the screening of Killing Kastner, audience members disagreed vehemently with Kastner’s daughter, who starred in the � lm and was the guest speaker, for the � lm’s forgiving and positive portrayal of her father,” Abbey says. “People were respectful, but the disagreements were de� nitely impassioned.”

� e LVJFF also creates a forum for local Jewish organizations and synagogues to provide cultural enrichment for their constituents, promote themselves and generate revenue by becoming LVJFF Presenting Sponsors, entitling them to choose a � lm to present at the festival continued p.32



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Mahler on the Couch(Austria, Germany 2010, 100 min, German,

English subtitles)

Presented by: Temple Beth Sholom

Moderated by: Arlene Blut

MAHLER ON THE COUCH is an exuberant recreation of the real-life marriage of Gustav Mahler and his tempes-tuous wife Alma Schindler Mahler, in a sensory feast of art, sex and celebrity set in 1910 Vienna. Frustrated by her agreement to give up her own musical ambitions, Alma seeks passion in the arms of the young, dashing architect Walter Gropius, which sends a tormented Mahler to Sigmund Freud for consultation. Moving and funny, the film is filled with Mahler’s.

Saturday, January 21, 7:00 p.m.

Adelson Educational Campus

$10 | 804-1333

My Australia(Israel 2011, 96 min, Polish & Hebrew, English subtitles)

Presented by: Brandeis National Committee

Moderated by: Ayelet Blit, Jewish Educator

MY AUSTRALIA is a powerful and immensely appealing film about a Polish mother and her two sons, following their escape from the anti-Semitism of postwar Europe and their effort to find refuge in Israel. MY AUSTRALIA, which won the Audience Choice Award at the Jerusa-lem Film Festival, explores the struggles for self-identity while trying to build a new life in a foreign country.

Sunday, Jan. 15, 4:00 p.m.


$10 | 255-6667

The Boys(USA 2010, 102 min, English)

Presented by: Jewish Community Center of So. Nevada

Moderated by: Jeffery and Gregory Sherman, (Producers/Directors)

THE BOYS is an intimate journey through the lives of Rob-ert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman, the astounding-ly prolific, Academy Award winning songwriting team that defined family musical entertainment for five de-cades with unforgettable songs like “Supercalifragilistic-expialidocous” from Mary Poppins, and “It’s a Small World After All.” The documentary takes audiences behind the scenes of Hollywood and offers a rare glimpse into the creative process of extraordinarily talented brothers who were personally estranged from each other throughout much of their unparalleled professional partnership.



$10 | 794-0090


Otto Frank(Netherlands 2010, 75 min, Dutch, English and German with English Subtitles)

Presented by: Governor’s Advisory Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust

Moderated by: Myra Berkovitz, Ed. Advisor, Gov. Council

OTTO FRANK is known by every reader of Anne Frank’s diaries as “Pim,” but his role in the book extends far be-yond the Amsterdam attic. Otto was the only Frank to survive the Holocaust, and after the war he dedicated his life to the diaries, working tirelessly to ensure the book’s status as one of the 20th century’s most impor-tant literary testaments. The film traces Frank’s early years as an assimilated German Jew and details his ob-session in maintaining Anne’s memory.

Sunday, January 15, 1:00 p.m.


Free Admission

Joanna(Poland 2010, 105 min, Polish, English subtitles)

Presented by: Congregation Ner Tamid

Moderated by: Rabbi Sanford Akselrad

JOANNA is the story of a young Jewish girl named Rose who, separated from her mother in German-occupied Warsaw during a roundup, seeks refuge in the pews of a church where Joanna goes to pray. Joanna, a piano teacher waiting to hear news of her soldier husband whom she has not seen in years, takes the child home. They embark on a relationship that helps to heal their respective losses amidst the terror-ridden paranoia of trying to hide a Jewish child and survive during war-time occupation.

Thursday, Jan. 19, 7:00 p.m.

Cinemark Century Theaters, South Point Hotel and Casino

$10 | 733-6292

Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Gray(USA 2011, 86 min, English)

Presented by: Temple Sinai

Moderated by: Stan Armstrong, Documentary; Film Director, Instructor at UNLV

JEWISH SOLDIERS IN BLUE & GRAY explores the little known history of the Civil War Jews who fought on both sides of the battlefield. Brother against brother, Jew against Jew, 10,000 Jewish soldiers fought in the nation’s deadliest war. Allegiances during the War Be-tween the States split the Jewish community as deeply as it did the nation at large.



$10 | 254-5110

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Dolphin Boy(Israel 2011, 72 min, Hebrew, Arabic, English subtitles)

Presented by: Jewish Family Service Agency

Moderated by: Shari Stanton, JFSA Clinical Director

DOLPHIN BOY is the unique story of Morad who, after being bullied and beaten by his classmates, does not speak or respond. He is sent to Eilat, Israel for a special treatment program with Dolphins. As he undergoes this unique therapy, he develops an exceptional rela-tionship with the Dolphins and achieves a miraculous recovery. This true story shows the devastating trauma that violence can cause upon the human soul, and how the healing power of family, nature and love can pro-duce hope and renewal.


$10 | 732-0304

Tango, A Story with Jews(Argentina 2009, 70 min, Spanish, English subtitles)

Presented by: Midbar Kodesh Temple

Moderated by: Adriana Gonorazky, P.E., S.E., Jorge Schapira

TANGO, A STORY WITH JEWS is a captivating docu-mentary that tells the story of how Jewish musicians, who fled Russia for Buenos Aires at the end of the nineteenth century, contributed to the romance of tango music through their festive and deeply lyrical klezmer music. Family memories and seductive his-toric recordings bring the figures in this little-known story of cultural and artistic fusion to life. The film also illuminates tango’s revival among young Argen-tineans today.

Wednesday, January 25, 7:00 p.m.

$10 | 454-4848

Love Etc.(USA 2010, 94 min, English)

Presented by: Temple Bet Knesset Bamidbar

Moderated by: Robert Mirisch, Film Scholar

LOVE ETC. is a witty, poignant and humorous explora-tion about the universal stages of love, depicted through five real stories over the course of one year in New York City. Everyone has experienced love and the joy, and the frustration that comes with it. From teen romance to a de-cades-long marriage; newlyweds to a recent divorcee, and even a bachelor so frustrated in his search that he chooses to have children without a partner, “Love Etc.” documents the intimate journeys of engaging characters and takes an honest look at life’s most challenging pursuit.


$10 | 228-4744

Israel Inside(Israel 2011, 60 min, English)

Presented by: Adelson Educational Campus

Moderated by: Paul Schiffman, Head of School

ISRAEL INSIDE explores the secrets of Israeli success from a humanistic and psychological perspective. By sidestepping the usual conversation of politics, conflict and violence and focusing instead on Israel’s human side and its global contributions, the film shows that deep-seated values such as freedom, education, family, and responsibility (tikkun olam) directly contribute to Israel’s accomplishments in the economic, technologi-cal, and humanitarian spheres.

Wednesday, January 25

Sold Out Student Screening

Intimate Grammar(Israel, 2010, 110 Min, Hebrew, English subtitles)

Presented by: Anti-Defamation League

Moderated by: Phyllis Friedman, Exec. Director, ADL

INTIMATE GRAMMAR, Nir Bergman’s film adaptation of David Grossman’s novel, “The Book of Intimate Gram-mar”, won the award for Best Israeli Feature at the 2010 Jerusalem Film Festival. Thirteen-year-old Aharon is a sensitive, lonely boy whose romantic ideals are at odds with everyone and everything around him. With his bar mitzvah on the horizon, Aharon dreads being initiated into an adult world. The film captures the atmosphere of Israel in the early 1960s, as the country was itself coming of age.


$10 | 862-8600

Jews in Nevada(USA 2012, 60 min, English)

Presented by: Jewish Federation of Las Vegas

Moderated by: Dr. Michael Green, Professor of History, CSN

JEWS IN NEVADA – a production of KNPB Channel 5 Public Broadcasting in Reno – is adapted from John Marschall’s acclaimed book of the same title. The docu-mentary begins with the supportive role of Jewish mer-chants and entrepreneurs during Virginia City’s gold and silver bonanza, and the invention of copper riveted jeans in Reno. It marks the Jewish contributions to the advancement of a statewide tourism-based economy, and the development of a Jewish support infrastructure in Las Vegas. A recurring theme is the importance of ti-kun olam or “repairing the world” in the lives of young people and adults alike.


$10 | 732-0556



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from among many that Abbey offers them. Joining The Adelson School as a presenting sponsor this year are the Anti-Defamation League, Congregation Ner Tamid, the Governor’s Advisory Council on Education Relating to the Holocaust, the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada, Jewish Family Services Agency, Jewish Federation of Las Vegas, Midbar Kodesh Temple, Temple Beth Sholom, Temple Sinai, Brandeis National Committee and Temple Bet Knesset Bamidbar.

Christina Primack, executive director of JFSA, explained why the agency chose to present Dolphin Boy. “It was particularly intriguing, as it tells the story of a boy who completely disconnected himself from humans after a violent attack. This documentary is about the devastating effects human havoc and violence can wreak upon the human soul, and about the healing powers of nature and love. That’s what JFSA is all about.”

“We generally don’t get much participation from the Orthodox congregations,” Abbey says. “I think that’s mostly due to concerns for, what could be viewed as, their endorsement of difficult content in many of the films. Rabbi Harlig of Chabad of Southern Nevada presented previously, as did Shaarei Tefilla; and Rabbi Wyne served as a moderator, but that‘s about it.”

In choosing films, Abbey travels to other festivals, networks with other festival curators, and views films that get sent to him given the success he now enjoys. He looks for films that have not been screened in theaters or on cable, and tries to create a balance between dramas, documentaries, foreign films, English-language films and films produced, directed, written and shot in Israel, by Israelis.

Schiffman hopes “people appreciate the hours that go into preparation for the festival. I think those who do will flock to support it!”

Abbey would like to present far more films than he offers now. “While we have been successful, and we’re growing in prominence, attendance and sponsorship is still not what it should be given the size of the Las Vegas Jewish community and the community in general. If I add more films, I’ll only dilute existing attendance.”

He attributes this problem to a few things: the Strip‘s dominant gaming and entertainment culture that spends millions to capture people’s limited leisure time; a good percentage of the Jewish population moved here as retirees and feel that they’ve paid their dues in their previous communities; a fair portion of the community is not culturally educated, and, therefore, lacks awareness as to why such an event is important to a community’s well-being. “We’re one of the only major metropolises that doesn’t have an art house cinema,” he notes.

That doesn‘t discourage Abbey. “It’s a matter of expanding,” he says. “I’ve been the sole manager of the film festival for these past 10 years. I’m now ready to spread my wings with an advisory committee to help me with ideas on how to evolve into the next generation of growth and potential.” That would involve a business plan and marketing efforts to raise cultural awareness, competing on some level with the lure of gaming and entertainment and creating sponsorship incentives.

For now, Abbey is pleased to be gliding into his 11th year with terrific sponsors, presenters, films, guest speakers and an audience eagerly awaiting the festival‘s opening. Ten of the twelve films will play in the state-of-the-art theater at The Adelson Educational Campus in Summerlin. Two will play at the Cinemark Century Theatres, South Point Hotel and Casinos.

“The (Las Vegas) Jewish Film Festival is my favorite Jewish holiday,”an avid festival-goer said.

And with the growing number of Jewish film festivals in North America and around the world, it’s becoming a “holiday” millions will derive benefit from observing.

From p.29

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lynn wexler - david magazine january 2012 issue

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