When he was 13 years old, Canadian playwright Jason Sherman received an unusual bar mitzvah gift — a tree planted in his name in Israel by the National Jewish Fund. The JNF, as it is known, is a non-governmental, non-profit charitable organization based in Jerusalem which plants forests and develops land in the Jewish state. Decades […]
It was a rescue mission that riveted a global audience. Three years ago this summer, Thailand was on tenterhooks as divers attempted to save 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped deep inside a flooded cave in the northern part of the country. Thai Navy Seals were called to save the boys, aged 11 to 16, […]
Dmitriy Khavin’s 21-minute movie, Sukkot in Warsaw, offers a fleeting glimpse of Jewish life in contemporary Poland. Currently being screened online by the Toronto Jewish Film Foundation’s J-Flix program, it unfolds in Muranow, Warsaw’s old Jewish district, during the Sukkot holiday. This lean and all-too-brief documentary leaves viewers with an impression of a truncated community […]
A magnificent tree is a sight to behold and a majestic forest is awe-inspiring. I have walked and hiked through sun-dappled and dim forests and jungles alike and have never been disappointed by the sylvan and spiritual vistas. Trees are ubiquitous, whether in rural regions or in urban settings, but they should not be taken […]
Ruthy Pribar’s debut feature film, Asia, which opens in theatres in Ontario on October 1, is a somber and affecting portrait of a mother and her daughter grasping for companionship, love and fulfillment. It unfolds over a short period of time in Jerusalem. Asia (Alena Yiv) and her daughter, Vika (Shira Haas), share a modest […]
A restored version of Joan Micklin Silver’s 1975 classic, Hester Street, awaits viewers who fondly remember and still savor it. Based on Abraham Cahan’s short story, Yekl, it will be screened at the forthcoming New York Film Festival. Silver, who died earlier this year, made Hester Street on a shoestring budget, and her husband distributed […]
Mark Rosenblatt’s live action short, Ganef, explores the all too persistent phenomenon of Holocaust trauma as passed on from one generation to the next. It will be screened at the Manhattan Short Film Festival, which runs from September 23 to October 3. Approximately 13 minutes in length, it unfolds in a house in London in […]
Harris Shaw is a curmudgeon par excellence. When the phone in his office rings, he’s coaxing words out of an antiquated typewriter, smoking a cigar and coughing. Reluctantly answering the call, Shaw fumes, “He’s dead, bugger off.” Shaw, a novelist and a widower whose sole companion is a cat, is a hermit and may as […]
Shortly after homegrown Arab terrorists attacked the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris in January 2015, a Danish citizen of Arab descent went on a rampage in Copenhagen, killing two people, including a Jewish man. The incident, which sent shock waves throughout Denmark, is skillfully recreated by Ole Christian Madsen in his Danish-language feature film, […]
Evan Oppenheimer’s The Magnificent Meyersons introduces viewers to an upper middle-class Jewish family in New York City struggling with practical and philosophical questions. It unfolds during the course of a day, at the end of which an important figure from the past emerges, much to everyone’s surprise. The movie has no coherent plot, being composed […]