One of my favorite sections of The New York Times is the obituary page. I enjoy reading obits for two reasons. They’re about interesting people who’ve made an impact on our world, and they’re thoroughly researched and well written. A perfect combination in quality journalism. Vanessa Gould’s thoughtful film, Obit, which will be screened at the […]
Category: Arts
Among the movies to be presented at this year’s Toronto Jewish Film Festival, running from May 5-15, are two films focusing on Israel and an Italian documentary about the former ghetto in Venice. Danae Elon, born in Jerusalem in 1970, left Israel in 1990 and spent the next two decades in New York City, […]
The Jewish Film Festival, which runs from May 5-15 in Toronto, is presenting biopics about the scientist Albert Einstein, the 19th century photographer Solomon Nunes Carvalho and the French politician Leon Blum. Albert Einstein and his wife, Elsa, were invited to Palestine by the Zionist movement in 1923. Noa Ben Hagai’s fascinating film, Einstein […]
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A New Documentary About Jan Karski
He witnessed degradation, starvation and death in the Warsaw ghetto. He clandestinely visited a Nazi transit camp. He warned Western democracies that Jews in Poland were being systematically murdered by the Nazis. He was Jan Karski, the courageous courier from the Polish government-in-exile. The newest documentary about this heroic Polish figure, Karski & The Lords […]
The Toronto Jewish Film Festival runs from May 5-15 this year. On April 18, its lineup was announced at a press conference. The 24th edition is presenting four world premieres and 31 Canadian premieres. Twelve of the films will be seen in Toronto for the first time. Three previews: Edward G. Robinson virtually invented the celluloid […]
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Miles Ahead
It’s 1979 and Miles Davis, the great jazz musician, has not been heard from in five years. His fans miss him, but it isn’t clear why he’s become a recluse, a latter-day Howard Hughes. The raspy-voiced composer, trumpeter and band leader whom Don Cheadle portrays in Miles Ahead, in an amazing performance, has reached a nadir. He rarely […]
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The First Known Blood Libel Accusation
Blood libel, the scurrilous ritual murder accusation that has been levelled against Jews, is one of those terribly false myths that has caused untold suffering over the centuries. The accusation, which has been repeatedly denounced by Christian churches, is bound up with the patently absurd tall tale that Jews kill Christian children for ritual or […]
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Normalizing Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler is the epitome of evil, the arch aggressor who ignited World War II and the malevolent force who conceived and implemented the Holocaust. For much of the period after 1945, Hitler’s Nazi regime was viewed through this prism, as the Federal Republic of Germany accepted full responsibility for Hitler’s unprecedented crimes against Jews […]
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I Saw The Light
Being partial to the plaintive melodies of American country music, I looked forward to Marc Abraham’s biopic about Hank Williams, the iconic American country singer and songwriter. Williams, an original, carved out of niche for himself with memorable songs like Cold, Cold Heart, Hey, Good Lookin, Your Cheatin’ Heart and I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry. […]
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Anwar Sadat And The Yom Kippur War
When I tuned in to Israel Radio in Tel Aviv on October 6, 1973, I already had a sinking feeling that Israel was on the verge of war with its Arab neighbors. The night before, Israel had begun to mobilize its armed forces, giving credence to fears that war was imminent, but the somber newscast […]