Winnipeg, in my imagination, is virtually terra incognita, a Canadian city on the prairies known for its bitterly cold winters and sweltering summers. What I actually know about Winnipeg is factual. Three decades ago, I found myself in Winnipeg in January, the coldest month of the year. What I mostly remember now is the extreme […]
Jacob Goldwasser, the director of Shoelaces, is intimately familiar with the unique world of special-needs people. He should be. His own son is mentally challenged. So it comes as no surprise that his feature film about this topic is genuine and empathetic in spirit and invariably moving. Starring two of Israel’s finest actors, it will […]
Jerusalem has been the target of Palestinian terrorist attacks for decades now. During the second Palestinian uprising, from 2000 to 2005, suicide bombers threw themselves into the deadly mix with particular fervor, blowing up buses and causing a wave of fear. Jerusalem’s horrendous bout with terrorism lies at the core of Yossi Atia’s quirky and […]
Addressing the People’s Council in Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion solemnly read the Declaration of Independence proclaiming the Jewish state of Israel. Thirty seven people signed the historic document in Independence Hall on Rothschild Boulevard, a sedate, tree-lined street in the center of the seaside city. Representing 12 Jewish political parties from […]
Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians cuts across religious, national, territorial, linguistic and political lines. So it has been for more than a century now, and so it will probably be in the future. Nadav Shlomo Giladi’s 26-minute film, Across the Line, which underscores this sober reality, is one of 11 Israeli movies scheduled to be […]
Ben Shani’s contemplative documentary, A Lullaby for the Valley, is a sympathetic portrait of one of Israel’s foremost painters, Elie Shamir. Filmed over a decade, it is one of 11 Israeli movies that will be showcased by the ChaiFlicks streaming service during its Israel Independence Day Film Festival from May 4-9. During the period under […]
David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, looks back at his life and reflects on Israel’s situation in Yariv Mozer’s informative documentary, Ben-Gurion, Epilogue, which will be presented online by the ChaiFlicks streaming service during its Israel Independence Day Film Festival from May 4-9. A pivotal figure in the Labor Zionist movement and a […]
Erez Laufer’s revelatory biopic, Rabin In His Own Words, paints an expansive portrait of Yitzhak Rabin, one of Israel’s most distinguished public figures. Assassinated by a right-wing fanatic in 1995, he was twice prime minister, minister of defence, ambassador to the United States, and chief of staff of the armed forces. He served his country […]
Stefanie Zweig and her assimilated secular Jewish family were hounded out of Nazi Germany in the late 1930s. For the next decade, they lived in remote areas of Kenya, a British colony. With the defeat of the Nazis, she and her parents returned to Germany, where she became a journalist and best-selling author. One of […]
Syrian refugees by the tens of thousands have poured into Canada in the past few years as the civil war in Syria has continued to rage. Peace By Chocolate, a Canadian feature film by Jonathan Keijser, empathetically explores this wave of immigration through the eyes of a Muslim family from Damascus. Based on a true story, it […]