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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
The “organic” revolution is big business these days. By one estimate, organic products — from food to fast-fashion — gross $64 billion around the world annually. Some consumers swear by organics. Still others are skeptical. Where does the truth lie? Richie Mehta’s five-part series on Vision TV, Organic Panic, which starts on Monday, April […]
As the Israeli violinist Ivry Gitlis observes, Jascha Heifetz was “a God-given gift for a God-forsaken world.” Probably the greatest violinist of his generation, Heifetz (1901-1987) bequeathed a musical legacy that endures. Through concerts and recordings, the Lithuanian-born Jewish virtuoso set the gold standard for generations to come. He’s the subject of a forthcoming documentary […]
In Olivier Assayas’ two-hour feature film, Clouds of Sils Maria, which opens in Toronto on April 10, the alluring Juliette Binoche plays the role of Maria Enders, a successful French actress in her late 40s who’s torn by doubts about her acting abilities. Tired and preoccupied with divorce proceedings, she looks old and frumpy when the […]
How did Holocaust survivors manage to cope after their horrific ordeal in Auschwitz? Could they lead productive lives ever again? Could they shake off their traumas? Could they function as normal human beings? Touched by Auschwitz, an empathetic BBC documentary written and directed by Laurence Rees and scheduled to be broadcast by Vision TV in […]
Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado has travelled the world documenting the folly and diversity of mankind and the allure of nature. Salgado’s son, Juliano, has made a poignant documentary about him. The Salt of the Earth, which opens in Canada on April 10, is alternatively majestic and depressing. Salgado’s black and white photographs are sharp and graphic, […]
Aribert Ferdinand Heim had the dubious distinction of being the world’s most wanted Nazi war criminal. Once a member of Austria’s national hockey team, he was a Waffen-SS physician in the Mauthausen concentration camp — where 122,000 inmates perished — and then a fugitive from justice. In the Nazi hierarchy, he was really a very minor figure, […]
Francois Girard’s Boychoir resonates deeply. This beautifully crafted film, which opens in Canada on March 27, is the story of an 11-year-old boy from the wrong side of the tracks who pulls himself up from a life of misery with the encouragement and support of a few key players. Stet (Garrett Wareing) and his single alcohol-addled mother […]