A rubber boom in the vast Amazon rainforest more than a century ago prompted a group of adventurous and courageous Jewish men and boys from Morocco to throw caution to the wind and set off to Brazil with little more than high hopes and suitcases. They ventured deep into the largely unexplored Amazonian basin, determined […]
Silwan, a largely Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem near the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, has emerged as a flashpoint in Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians. In the past few years, 28 families, consisting of 160 Palestinians, have been forcibly displaced from their homes in Silwan, according to the United Nations. These displacements, having […]
Inspired by a true story, Elena’s War focuses on a Jewish heroine in fascist Italy. Scheduled to be screened at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, which runs from June 4-14, Stefano Casertano’s Italian movie revolves around Elena DiPorto (Micaela Ramazotti). Feisty, headstrong and barely literate, she defies all expectations of a woman’s conventional behavior. Divorced, […]
Polish-Jewish relations during the German occupation of Poland were tortuous at best. As the Nazi occupiers ruthlessly exterminated Polish Jews in a methodical campaign of genocide, the vast majority of Polish Christians lay low and reacted with indifference. Still others collaborated with the Nazis, or risked their lives to save Jews. The predominant response of […]
Philippe LeGuay’s The Story of Annette Zelman is a wrenching, heart-felt drama about the intersection of love and betrayal in Vichy France. Now available on the ChaiFlicks streaming platform, it is based on real events. During the Nazi occupation from 1940 onward, a Jewish fine arts student named Annette Zelman (Ilona Bachelier) fell in love […]
Edward Dmytryk’s Crossfire is a distinctive, one-of-a-kind film. It was the first Hollywood B-movie to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. And it was the first feature film to deal directly with the issue of antisemitism in the United States, edging out the more famous Gentleman’s Agreement by a few months. Premiered in […]
Free speech, a fundamental pillar of democracy, is under fire at American universities. Once a sanctuary of open inquiry, they have become embroiled in a broader cultural war over the boundaries of free expression, a process that is reshaping higher education in the United States in particular and in the West in general. Ric Esther […]
Mashhad, situated in the northeast corner of Iran, is Iran’s second largest city after Tehran. A Muslim place of pilgrimage, with a population of 3.4 million, it attracts 25 million visitors a year. Despite its renown, Mashhad harbors an embarrassing secret, as the short film, Mashhad, points out. On March 26, 1839, a few days […]
A Palestinian terrorist attack in Tel Aviv on June 8, 2016 was a unique event, having been the only one inside Israel recorded in real time by security cameras. Its grainy footage forms the core of Tal Inbar’s unsettling documentary, Closed Circuit, which is now available on the ChaiFlicks streaming platform. The 52-minute film, an […]
Herbert Heller, a Czech Holocaust survivor, did not talk about his ordeal for 60 years. It was his deep, dark secret. Even his wife and children had no idea what he had gone through as a youth. But one day, he finally recounted his singular tale of strength and resilience. His story is dramatically recreated […]