Category Arts & Culture

Star-crossed & honky-tonk

photo in Jewish Independent - Bard on the Beach opened its 27th season with Romeo and Juliet

Bard on the Beach opened its 27th season with Romeo and Juliet. (photo by David Blue) William Shakespeare wrote a beautiful but tragic love story in 1595 and called it Romeo and Juliet. Its theme of forbidden love resonates with…

Moving musical

photo in Jewish Independent - Karen Kelm, left, and Judith Chertkow-Levy in Like a Fly in Amber, which premièred at the Toronto Fringe Festival

Karen Kelm, left, and Judith Chertkow-Levy in Like a Fly in Amber, which premièred at the Toronto Fringe Festival. (photo by Victor Dezso) After seeing Like a Fly in Amber, a musical at the Toronto Fringe Festival, I dreamt of…

Learning to live with autism

photo in Jewish Independent - Owen Suskind is the subject of the documentary Life, Animated

Owen Suskind is the subject of the documentary Life, Animated. (photo from A&E Indiefilms) Children’s films – especially the animated variety – always make sure to highlight the moral of the story. But very few children embraced those lessons as…

Songs with meaning

photo in Jewish Independent - Geoff Berner brings his hard-hitting, eminently entertaining klezmer to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival on July 16 and 17

Geoff Berner brings his hard-hitting, eminently entertaining klezmer to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival on July 16 and 17. (photo by Fumie Suzuki) Geoff Berner doesn’t mince words. An excellent musician, he puts them to melodies that range from mournful…

Remembering Muizenberg

photo - Muizenberg, South Africa, was a hub for Jewish families from the 1900s onward

Muizenberg, South Africa, was a hub for Jewish families from the 1900s onward. (photo from Stephen Rom) For Vancouverites who hail from South Africa, the name Muizenberg carries significant resonance. The small seaside town was a hub for Jewish families…

Dancers explore our humanity

photo - Naomi Brand’s En Route will be performed by members of All Bodies Dance Project

Naomi Brand’s En Route will be performed by members of All Bodies Dance Project. (photo by Chris Randle) New works and the pushing of boundaries. Just what audiences expect from the Dancing on the Edge contemporary dance festival, and just…

New award on literary scene

book cover - Bagels on Board

A new Canadian literary prize was announced recently – the Joan Betty Stuchner Oy Vey! Funniest Children’s Book Award. “With this award, we honor Joan Betty Stuchner’s life-affirming humor and encourage other children’s writers to laugh it up on the…

Storytelling overtaken by facts

Isaac Bashevis Singer and Sholem Aleichem gave us delightful fables about the shtetl, the overcrowded villages of Eastern Europe, with endearing characters that contended with abysmal poverty, deadly pogroms and false messiahs. However, life in the shtetl was not always…

Share in collectors’ passions

photo - Yosef Wosk with his collection of circus memorabilia, some of which can be seen in the Museum of Vancouver exhibit All Together Now: Vancouver Collectors and Their Worlds

Yosef Wosk with his collection of circus memorabilia, some of which can be seen in the Museum of Vancouver exhibit All Together Now: Vancouver Collectors and Their Worlds. (photo by Rebecca Blissett) Prosthetics. Menus. Corsets. Artificial eyes. Seeds. Public transit…

Embarking on career

photo - Rami Katz

Rami Katz (photo from Rami Katz) Fish Soup, a 10-minute documentary by Vancouver-based filmmaker Rami Katz, screened at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival last month. The film is an exploration of Katz’s family and their cultural traditions through the making…