{"id":8800,"date":"2014-10-31T00:10:04","date_gmt":"2014-10-31T07:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=8800"},"modified":"2014-10-29T14:00:17","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T21:00:17","slug":"head-to-fifth-avenue-for-vjff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2014\/10\/31\/head-to-fifth-avenue-for-vjff\/","title":{"rendered":"Head to Fifth Avenue for VJFF"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julie Cohen\u2019s The Sturgeon Queens<\/em>\u00a0is informative and delightful.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

From the fraught origins of the state of Israel to what a possible peaceful future for Israel might look like, this year\u2019s Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, which runs Nov. 6-13 at Fifth Avenue Cinemas, should inspire even the most cynical. Documentary or narrative feature, there seems to be an underlying theme of hope. And who couldn\u2019t use more of that. Here are reviews of a handful of films that the Jewish Independent<\/em> was able to preview.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Dove\u2019s Cry<\/em><\/strong> (Israel) follows Hadeel, a 27-year-old Arab Israeli teacher, over the course of a school year as she teaches Arabic and Arab culture to a group of students at a Jewish Israeli primary school near Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Dove\u2019s Cry<\/em>\u00a0follows Hadeel, a 27-year-old Arab Israeli teacher, over the course of a school year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The film begins with a school-wide celebration of Rosh Hashanah. Hadeel is cheerful, energetic and inspired. Her personality is electric and she connects easily with her students. The children vie for her to call on them in class, they are excited to be learning. Her Jewish co-workers seem to respect and admire her.<\/p>\n

About a third of the way through the documentary though, a tearful Hadeel tries to process the racist outburst of one of her students, who calls her a \u201cstinking Arab\u201d after a disciplinary incident. Speaking to her family, Hadeel admits that this is the first time she\u2019s experienced such overt racism in five years of teaching. Her shock and disappointment are palpable.<\/p>\n

More significant, perhaps, are the casual, daily prejudices that Hadeel experiences, most often from her co-workers, the school\u2019s administration and parents. And, however open the children, they know very little about Arabic, Islam, Christianity or Arab culture, and freely express their apprehension about Arabs, Arab neighborhoods and their fears around terrorism. Hadeel is patient, authoritative, good-humored and kind throughout. During a drill, a teacher asks Hadeel if she has a bomb shelter in her community; Hadeel reminds her that, of course, she does, that she is an Israeli, and faces the same physical threats.<\/p>\n

There are stark reminders everywhere that Hadeel is creating a bubble of tolerance in her classroom and, perhaps, at the school, but not beyond that. \u201cIn the classroom, I teach one thing and, at home, they teach the opposite,\u201d Hadeel laments. One of the central relationships in the film is with the principal, who reminds Hadeel of the limits of her program and often sides with the parents.<\/p>\n

By the time Yom Hashoah, Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha\u2019atzmaut arrive, Hadeel expresses how torn she is about her position in the school and, by extension, in Israeli society. \u201cSuddenly, I feel like I don\u2019t belong to the place where I was born,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n

Ganit Ilouz\u2019s documentary is a sobering look at the strictures and complexities faced by Israel\u2019s minority citizens. It is a potent reminder at how much better Israelis would be served if all citizens were conversant in Hebrew and Arabic and knew some basic facts about each other\u2019s culture and customs. It\u2019s something Jewish Diaspora communities should consider, as well. Hadeel\u2019s name means \u201cdove\u2019s cry,\u201d a fitting name for a woman tireless and steadfast in her pursuit of a better Israel.<\/p>\n

\u2013 BL<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

At the centre of Hanna\u2019s Journey<\/em><\/strong> (Germany\/Israel) is Hanna, a smart, driven woman. We first meet her in a waiting room with several other candidates for a job. As one exits her interview, obviously disappointed, Hanna follows her into the bathroom to find out what type of employee the company is seeking. When she finds out that grades alone won\u2019t be enough, that the company wants someone who\u2019s also dug wells in Africa or is an \u201ceco-freak,\u201d she lets down her hair, removes her lipstick and earrings, and undoes the top button of her blouse. When one of the interviewers notes, \u201cthis resum\u00e9 doesn\u2019t wow me with its diversity,\u201d Hanna lies to them, saying that she only just received her acceptance to go work in Israel with people who have mental disabilities. If she provides them with proof, she has a great chance at getting the job.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
At the centre of Hanna\u2019s Journey<\/em>\u00a0is Hanna, a smart, driven woman. Here she is seen with Itay \u2013 someone to love or hate?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Problem: Hanna\u2019s mother, who runs a social-service nonprofit that sends young Germans to Israel, won\u2019t fake the letter. Solution: Hanna actually goes to Israel, both to work at a village for those with mental disabilities, and also to spend time with a Holocaust survivor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Hanna\u2019s Journey<\/em>, I\u2019m attending the question [of the] impact the Holocaust has for Israelis and Germans of the third generation, how the shared past is affecting our lives up to today and inseparably connects us,\u201d writes Julia von Heinz in her director\u2019s statement. \u201cThe mixture of fascination and disgust which forms the German-Israeli relations, the neurotic, gets symbolized by my film\u2019s complicated love story.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the film, Hanna leaves behind her businessman boyfriend Alex. Their relationship seems solid. Certainly no one in the nonprofit\u2019s house where Hanna is billeted will threaten it, as Carsten is gay and Maja is not only unfriendly, but a full-on antisemite. However, Itay, the social worker at the village is another story. The antithesis of Alex, he is not so fond of Germans, at least at first.<\/p>\n

During her time in Israel, Hanna discovers much about herself and her family, in particular, her mother, with whom she doesn\u2019t get along. It turns out that the survivor who Hanna visits knew her mother.<\/p>\n

Billed as a romantic comedy, Hanna\u2019s Journey<\/em> is more contemplative than funny and even the romance part is questionable. It\u2019s really a drama, touching on many important topics and allowing various complexities to remain unresolved. The acting is strong, the script is compelling, and it\u2019s a movie that should be taken seriously.<\/p>\n

\u2013 CR<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Even if you\u2019ve read Russ & Daughters: Reflections and Recipes from the House that Herring Built<\/em> by Mark Russ Federman (click here<\/a> for the review in the JI), Julie Cohen\u2019s The Sturgeon Queens<\/em><\/strong> (United States) is informative and delightful. For whatever reason, the story of Russ & Daughters never fails to captivate.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper are the fourth generation of the family to run Russ & Daughters. The family’s business story is told in The Sturgeon Queens<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Joel Russ came to New York from Germany in 1907. He joined his older sister and started working right away to contribute to the family income. He married Bella in 1908 and, in 1913, the first of their three daughters \u2013 Hattie, Anne and Ida \u2013 was born. In 1914, he opened his first store, on Orchard Street. In 1920, he moved it to Houston Street and there it has remained, joined in 2014 by a new family restaurant, Russ & Daughters Caf\u00e9, located on, appropriately enough, Orchard Street.<\/p>\n

Cohen\u2019s documentary came out during the store\u2019s centennial year and it features interviews with the two surviving \u201csturgeon queens,\u201d Hattie Russ Gold, then 100, and her sister Anne Russ Federman, then 92. Mark Russ Federman, who ran the store from the 1970s until 2008, and his daughter Niki Russ Federman and nephew Josh Russ Tupper, who now run the store, are interviewed, and longtime employee Herman Vargas is also featured.<\/p>\n

Other interviewees include Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Morley Safer and Maggie Gyllenhaal, as well as chef Mario Batali, as an example of how the customer base has expanded beyond the Jewish community, and writer Calvin Trillin, who\u2019s written stories inspired by Russ & Daughters and wrote the foreword to the book Russ & Daughters<\/em>. Narration is provided by a table-full of longtime (from one since 1929 to one since 1976) customers, with other historical and family and business information provided by the family interviewees. The use of animation, music, archival photos and film clips all add to the quality of the documentary and the credits are especially cute: they indicate when the film\u2019s major makers\u2019 families each came to America from a wide range of places around the world.<\/p>\n

\u2013 CR<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The Jewish Cardinal<\/em><\/strong> (France) by Ilan Duran Cohen is based on the true story of Jean-Marie Lustiger, born Aaron Lustiger, a Polish Jew who converted to Catholicism at age 14, during the Holocaust. When we meet him in 1979, he is a vicar in Paris who is being promoted to bishop of the city of Orl\u00e9ans \u2013 the location of his conversion and where he was hidden during the war.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
The Jewish Cardinal<\/em>\u00a0by Ilan Duran Cohen is based on the true story of Jean-Marie Lustiger.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A temperamental and intense man, Lustiger causes a stir when he tells a reporter that he remains a Jew, he is Jewish and Christian, \u201clike Jesus,\u201d he says defiantly. He is \u201cconvinced that God has willed\u201d his nomination. \u201cI am a provocation that compels reflection on Christ,\u201d he says, without a hint\u00a0of irony.<\/p>\n

The more we learn about Lustiger, played by a magnificent Laurent Lucas, the better we understand his fervor to reconcile his identities and make peace with his few remaining family members, including his father.<\/p>\n

Lustiger has advocates in the Church, but also detractors. Though Pope John Paul II is a robust supporter and promotes Lustiger to archbishop of Paris and then, finally, to cardinal and trusted papal advisor, there remains a tension between the two men. (There are several wonderful scenes of Lustiger\u2019s audiences with the Pope, who is deftly \u2013 at times, sinisterly \u2013 played by Aur\u00e9lien Recoing.) Lustiger\u2019s relations with the Jewish community are strained and we see Lustiger harassed by antisemites who accuse him of defiling the Church.<\/p>\n

After a group of Polish Carmelite nuns establishes a convent at Auschwitz (not incidentally the site of Lustiger\u2019s mother\u2019s murder), he is asked by the Jewish community and the Pope to negotiate a solution. Many viewers above age 35 will remember the convent and the turmoil it caused for nearly a decade until it was removed in 1993. The film captures the politics and nuances of the incident with terrific results.<\/p>\n

Throughout, we sense Lustiger\u2019s confusion over how to balance on the edge of Jewish-Catholic relations, once he loses some of his hubris, that is. On a visit to Auschwitz, he can neither say the Lord\u2019s Prayer nor Kaddish for his mother; when his father passes away, he\u2019s distraught, unable to fulfil his promise to say Kaddish.<\/p>\n

Lustiger died in 2007 of lung and bone cancer. Kaddish was recited at his funeral outside the entrance to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.<\/p>\n

\u2013 BL<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Israeli Shaul Cohen and Palestinian Nizar Ahmad cooperate in a joint business venture in Under the Same Sun<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the dreamers of the world, there is Under the Same Sun<\/em><\/strong> (United States\/Israel\/Palestine), written by Yossi Aviram and directed by Sameh Zoabi. The film starts in a mockumentary style, with all hell breaking loose. The media has discovered that Israeli Shaul Cohen and Palestinian Nizar Ahmad are cooperating in a joint business venture to bring solar energy to West Bank villages, and all the talking heads have their opinions about it.<\/p>\n

The film then jumps back a year to a meeting in Marseilles, where Shaul approaches Nizar about the project. From this point to near the end, it\u2019s a regular movie, progressing linearly through time, from the project\u2019s genesis, the difficult search for investors, the effects of the venture on their respective families. Skepticism, anger and obstacles must be overcome. We learn more about each man as each confronts their own prejudices and fears. And all looks lost until Nizar comes up with the idea of using a Facebook campaign to create a groundswell of public opinion that will force political leaders to make peace \u2013 and, hence, let their energy project proceed. If only social media were so powerful.<\/p>\n

Under the Same Sun<\/em> is crazily optimistic. With solid acting all round, good pacing (helped by Hilal Zaher\u2019s score) and well-written dialogue, it is a thoroughly enjoyable way to conclude a film festival.<\/p>\n

\u2013 CR<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For showtimes and the full festival schedule, visit vjff.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julie Cohen\u2019s The Sturgeon Queens\u00a0is informative and delightful. From the fraught origins of the state of Israel to what a possible peaceful future for Israel might look like, this year\u2019s Vancouver Jewish Film Festival, which runs Nov. 6-13 at Fifth Avenue Cinemas, should inspire even the most cynical. Documentary or narrative feature, there seems to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[2347,2348,2349,2354,2353,2350,2352,2356,2351,2355,2280,2281,2357],"class_list":["post-8800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-doves-cry","tag-ganit-ilouz","tag-hannas-journey","tag-ilan-duran-cohen","tag-jewish-cardinal","tag-julia-von-heinz","tag-julie-cohen","tag-sameh-zoabi","tag-sturgeon-queens","tag-under-the-same-sun","tag-vancouver-jewish-film-festival","tag-vjff","tag-yossi-aviram"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}