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Jewish Celebrity Profiles: Actor and director icon Rob Reiner talks about his directing career including the hit mockumentary, Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, Misery, and A Few Good Men.
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Jeff Seidel's Jewish Student Center - Year in Review 2008. Jeff's student information organization is located in the middle of the Old City, and almost any college student seeking to explore a connection to the Jewish traditions or nation will come to one of his events. From touring Israel to delving into Judaism - Jeff Seidel has been available to students and producing major events for many years.
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"The Lilliput" - trailer of a feature film, which was financed by an American producer. Story placed in present time and WWII. Tells a story about a WWII Jewish survivor. Message from the Director: Inspired by a true story and produced by Sharon Levy, THE LILLIPUT will illuminate the Holocaust survival story of Abraham Kerber, a Jewish dwarf, from the Polish town of Gombin. This little person hid for years in garbage cans at a Polish railway station used for the deportation of Jews during World War II. Kerber was a friend of my beloved late father, Michael Zielonka, and my dearly departed mother, Sonia Gershonovitch, who were also survivors of the Shoah. The town of Gombin was a bucolic place, a Polish suburb several miles west of Warsaw. It was a place, where, before WWII, people took summer vacations in bungalows by the lakes and along the Vistula River, enjoying the aroma of the ancient pine forests that surround the town. It is within those unheated bungalows that the Nazis forced the Jews, multiple families to each room, to survive the cold winters in the ghetto in Gombin, before they liquidated the entire Jewish community - to nearby Chelmno, the first extermination camp in the occupied Poland. Before WWII, Poland contained the largest population of Jews in Western Europe. For centuries, the Jewish people developed in Poland, furthering their religious and intellectual identity; in the arts, film, theater, music, literature, poetry, sociology, the sciences, medicine, business, religion, and virtually every area of expertise. In turn, the Jewish people gave their all and helped to build the nation that is today, Poland, serving the nation as righteous and law abiding citizens. Much of this has been forgotten, because the Jews did not survive in Poland, or in much of Europe, for that matter. The few survivors who did make it back to their cities, towns and villages, did not experience a very nice welcome by their Polish neighbors. Many returned to Lodz, which was previous to WWII a very Jewish city and contained the second largest Jewish population after Warsaw. In 1945, it was Lodz, where I am based as an American Fulbright, that my father, along with my mother and the Jewish dwarf, Abraham Kerber, and many of the remaining survivors of the Shoah, returned, in their attempts to rebuild their lives in Poland. Ultimately, most of the Jewish people who survived the war in Poland left the country in later purges by the Communists in the late 1960's and 1980's. My parents went to Germany as did Abraham Kerber, and lived in displaced persons camps for years before they could emigrate to the U.S. and Israel, which is where Abraham Kerber lived and worked as a photographer until 1978, when he died.
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The Merchant of Venice Theatrical Trailer - A dark, faithful adaptation of Shakespeare's classic play. Al Pacino stars as Shylock (a Jewish stereotype of that time); Joseph Fiennes and Jeremy Irons co-star.
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A candid interview with rising Israeli star Ronit Elkabetz to discuss her blossoming career, her new film '7 Days' and her plans for the future.
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THE TOLLBOOTH - WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY DEBRA KIRSCHNER - STARRING MARLA SOKOLOFF, TOVAH FELDSHUH, RONALD GUTTMAN, LIZ STAUBER, ROB MCEHENNEY, JAYCE BARTOK AND IDINA MENZEL. The Tollbooth comically explores a Jewish family from Brooklyn through the eyes of Sarabeth Cohen (Sokoloff) – a struggling painter in her first year out of art school. Sarabeth and her older sisters Becky (Stauber) and Raquel (Menzel) come of age and question the values of their traditional parents. Sarabeth's first revolutionary act is scoring a job as a waitress and moving across the river to Manhattan. Even though she is less than ten miles from her parents, and her bedroom is her sister’s walk-in closet, she feels like a pioneer – ready to take on the New York art community, and maybe even the world. Though she would like to rebel, she is forced instead to learn from her family; Ruthie (Feldshuh)--her well-meaning but traditional-and-loud-about-it mother, Isaac (Guttman)--her holocaust-obsessed philosopher-quoting father, Becky (Stauber)--her lesbian medical-student sister, Raquel (Menzel)--her nurturing self-sacrificing sister and Howie (Bartok)--Raquel's sweet but always misguided husband. She also learns some tough lessons from Simon (McElhenney)--her boyfriend from art school, who graduates and chooses the suburbs, a good job and an entertainment center over a life filled with uncertainty in New York City. All the characters have a variety of difficult choices to make. The question is never whether or not to compromise, but how much -- before one loses the very essence of one's self. Isaac quotes Tevye by warning his family that "if you bend me too far, I might break;" as Ruthie administers the advice that when making decisions, "the choice that makes you less sick to your stomach is usually the right one." This honest and funny story follows the characters through one poignant and pivotal year as the family learns, rebels, fights and finally embraces their differences in this highly entertaining ensemble film.
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Jewish movie director icon Steven Spielberg's "An American Tail," with a family of Russian mice, a gang of rats and a cockroach in a cameo appearance, is the amazing storyteller's first animated feature. It's a melting-pot movie for little Americans, full of immigrant dreams. Director Don Bluth and a cadre of other Disney emigres create this classically drawn and effect-filled tale whose characters themselves are refugees. A family of Russian mice flee the Cossacks for the cobblestones of New York. There's lots of music, mostly mild-mannered, to sweeten this rather serious story by "Sesame Street" writers Tony Geiss and Judy Freudberg. All the better to understand the mighty motivations of young Fievel, who's separated from the Mousekewitz family on the voyage to America. Luckily, Fievel (the voice of seven-year-old Phillip Glasser) washes into New York Harbor safe in a bottle. It's 1885, and the teeming shores are ethnically diverse, with mice from many lands seeking the American dream. Bluth and company recreate the tenements, the sweat shops, the harbor as it was 100 years ago. Fievel is rescued by the French pigeon Henri (Christopher Plummer), who is overseeing the completion of the Statue of Liberty, the Lady without her face on. Henri takes Fievel under his wing, restores his flagging spirits and sends him on his search for his family. Fievel, named for Spielberg's granddad, is also aided by Tiger, a splendid pussycat played by adorable Dom DeLuise; Gussie Mausheimer, a lisping anti-cat activist acted by madcap Madeline Kahn; and Honest John, a shady Tammany Hall boss played by crusty Neil Ross. Papa and Mama Mousekewitz are performed by Nehemiah Persoff and Erica Yohn, who had personal links with their roles, both being offspring of Russian-Jewish parents. "An American Tail" is a bright-eyed tale of Jewish triumphs that will find a place in many young hearts.
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Go behind the scenes of "Fugitive Pieces", a new film based on the international best-selling novel by Anne Michaels. Hear first-hand about the making of the film from the creative talent behind this powerful and unforgettable film. First published in 1996 by McClelland and Stewart, it was awarded the Orange Prize for Fiction. It is written in two sections, called Book I and Book II. The first follows the story of Jacob Beer, who as a Jewish child in Poland narrowly escapes being killed by the Nazis. He is rescued by a Greek geologist, Athos Roussos, who adopts him and takes him to live on Zakynthos in Greece. After the war the pair immigrate to Toronto. The novel follows Jacob's life as he marries and goes through life. The second book is written from the perspective of an admirer of Jacob's poetry, Ben.
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Formerly called, "Judaism and Race", 400 MILES TO FREEDOM is the story of co-director Avishai Mekonen's search to remember and reconcile what happened to him at age 10 in 1984, when he was kidnapped by slave traffickers in Sudan. Throughout his life-long journey from Ethiopia to Sudan, Israel, and finally America, his fundamental identity is challenged: "What does it mean when others insist that you can't be who you know you are?" His search for answers leads him to other African, Asian and Latino Jews, and together they discover what it takes to heal a broken past and to overcome the invisibility and the questioning of one's identity.
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SHADOWS Trailer - "Shadows" is a powerful story set in a Nazi extermination camp during World War II. It is about surviving in a world where survival seems impossible and what happens when one chooses evil and turns against one's own. And it is a film about growing up in the most horrendous conditions and the effect that has on love, family and survival. The film has screened and was the recipient of many awards around the world. Starring Andrew Reynolds, Martin Ferrero and Joel Polis. Written by Arthur Lorenz, Produced by Sally M. Yeh, Cinematography by Christopher Popp, Production Design by Hans Pfleiderer, Editing by Matt Kergor, Music by Penka Kouneva, Supervising Sound Editor, Dave McMoyler, Directed by Mitch Levine.
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Movie trailer for the 1974 biographical film "Lenny" starring Dustin Hoffman (Jewish actor) and Valerie Perrine. Directed by Bob Fosse. A reporter interviews those who knew Lenny Bruce (Dustin Hoffman), a Jewish comedian who hit the big time in the late 1950s with his outrageous, anti-Establishment, profanity-filled humor. At first, we follow the rising trajectory of the standup comic, from his days as a second-rate entertainer telling lousy jokes to half-asleep audiences to his unexpected success as a representative of the 1960s counterculture via his trademark mix of mordant social commentary and hair-raising expletives. In his private life, Lenny is as outrageous as his standup routines. Lenny's career hits a snag when government authorities actively persecute him for his "obscene" humor. Initially, Lenny fights back, but as the pressure mounts the increasingly neurotic and self-destructive entertainer lets himself fall ever further into his own private hell. Synopsis: Interview-style biography of controversial and pioneering stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce. The film traces Bruce from his beginnings as a Catskills comic to his later underground popularity based on his anti-establishment politics and his scatological humor.
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Israeli filmmaker Eran Kolirin's debut feature, THE BAND'S VISIT, is a subtle, heartfelt, and humane cinematic work that made Ronit Elkabetz an international movie icon for Israel. In a sort of cosmic joke, an Egyptian police band has arrived in Petach Tikva, its eight members uniformed in powder blue and utterly at sea. They're supposed to be in Petach Tikva to play at the opening of a new Arab Cultural Center but they got on the wrong bus. There's no cultural center in the town - there's no culture or center, either. There's only an apartment high-rise, a cafe, a public phone, and locals who've long since given up trying. The appearance of Arabs bearing tubas is a welcome dash of the surreal. Leading the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra is Lieutenant Colonel Tewfiq Zakaria, a prime aesthete who's happiest when everything is running according to schedule; actor Sasson Gabai gives him a stiff back and unfathomably sad eyes. Here's an irony for you, then: Because over 50 percent of "The Band's Visit" is in English, the film - an Israeli smash hit and multiple award winner - was deemed ineligible for this year's foreign language Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It has also been banned from film festivals in Cairo and Abu Dhabi.
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Jewish acting legend Ben Kingsley in this often funny and sometimes profound appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman.
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Ben Kingsley, who played a lead role as Itzchak Stern in "Schindler's List", is one of the most talented and diverse of Jewish actors in the last several decades. Here is a personal and upclose interview with this legendary figure on acting and much more.
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In this classic scene from the 'Indiana Jones' action films by Steven Spielberg, we see the ultimate test of faith taken - risking one's life on a 'leap of faith'.
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The Ten Commandments (1956 - Opening 10 minutes) -
The motion picture that dramatized the Biblical story of Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince-turned deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. It was released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956. It was directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starred Charlton Heston in the lead role. Co-stars included Yul Brynner as his adoptive brother, Pharaoh Ramesses II, Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, John Derek as Joshua, Edward G. Robinson as Dathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora, Cedric Hardwicke as Pharaoh Seti I, Vincent Price as Baka, and John Carradine as Aaron. This was the last film that Cecil DeMille directed. The Ten Commandments is partially a remake of DeMille's 1923 silent film. Some of the cast and crew of the 1956 version worked on the original. It has since been remade again as a television miniseries broadcast in April 2006. Adjusted for inflation, it is the fifth-highest grossing movie of all time domestically, with collections of $838,400,000. In 1999, The Ten Commandments was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. The Ten Commandments was acknowledged as the tenth best film in the epic genre.
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