Alex Garland’s sleek science fiction thriller, Ex Machina, delves into the futuristic world of super-advanced artificial intelligence. Scheduled to open in Canada on April 24, it’s an eerie, compelling film replete with state-of-the-art technology and rife with plot twists. Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a hot shot 26-year-old coder employed by an internet search engine company, wins a […]
Author: Sheldon Kirshner
Toronto Jewish Film Festival (6)
The 10-day Toronto Jewish Film Festival, one of the largest of its kind in the world, gets under way on April 30 with a huge selection of movies from all corners of the globe. A preview: Zionism and Israel loom large at the forthcoming festival, judging by three films: The Zionist Idea, An Untold Diplomatic […]
Toronto Jewish Film Festival (5)
This year’s edition of the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, which runs from April 30 to May 10, offers a terrific selection of films. A preview: Isaac Bashevis Singer, the great Yiddish novelist and short story writer, was an up-and-coming literary figure in Poland before he left the country for good in 1935. He established a […]
When the death of Gunter Grass — Germany’s most illustrious postwar novelist — was announced on April 13, some critics were only too eager to seize upon two glaring missteps which dimmed his otherwise stellar reputation. Describing him as a hypocrite and a fraud, they castigated Grass for having concealed his membership in the Waffen-SS […]
Toronto Jewish Film Festival (4)
The Toronto Jewish Film Festival, one of the best of its kind, gets under way on April 30 and runs until May 10. A preview: Veronique Lagoarde-Segot’s Shoah: The Forgotten Souls of History, is a hard-hitting and important documentary about the role of cinematography in Soviet propaganda during World War II. Regarding cinema as a […]
Toronto Jewish Film Festival (3)
The 10-day Toronto Jewish Film Festival starts on April 30, featuring a wide selection of movies from North America, Israel and the rest of the world. A preview: “They were the Israeli Hollywood,” says the film director Boaz Davidson. First cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus were the founders and prime movers of the […]
Toronto Jewish Film Festival (2)
The Toronto Jewish Film Festival, one of Toronto’s biggest cultural events, starts its 10-day run on April 30 with an eclectic selection of movies from around the world, including Israel. A preview: Are Jewish-style delicatessens a dying breed? It would seem so, judging by the hard, cold statistics served up in Deli Man, Erik Greenberg Anjou’s affectionate […]
Le Pen Gets A Kick In The Rear
Whatever you may think of her, Marine Le Pen certainly has the courage of her convictions. Last week, the leader of France’s far right National Front party officially distanced herself from her father, Jean Marie Le Pen, its founder and honorary chairman, in an astonishing parting of the ways. Ms. Le Pen, who has been […]
Toronto Jewish Film Festival (1)
The annual Toronto Jewish Film Festival , far and away the premiere cultural event in Toronto’s Jewish community, runs from April 30 to May 10. This year’s edition offers a great selection of 110 feature films, documentaries and shorts from 18 countries. A preview: Nazi Germany’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, understood the allure of film, […]
He Coined The Word Genocide
While waiting for a bus in Manhattan on August 29, 1959, Raphael Lemkin collapsed, dying a few hours later. He was 59. Only seven people attended his funeral, according to New York Times columnist A. M. Rosenthal. Lemkin, a Polish Jew, was on his way to meet his literary agent. They were to discuss his […]