JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL 2009 - PREVIEW
The Festival of Jewish Cinema celebrates its 20th Birthday this year with an
collection of new features, documentaries plus encore screenings of some of the
festival favourites that have screened over the last 20 years. Opening night
film, A Matter of Size takes a comical look at Middle East politics and other
‘big issues’ as it follows the lives of four overweight friends.
The program continues with the world premiere of Wrong Side of the Bus from
Sydney filmmaker Rod Freedman. This moving documentary follows internationally
recognised professor of psychiatry Sidney Bloch on his journey back to South
Africa to face his past, the Apartheid years and the part he played in it.
From the Directors Fortnight at Cannes comes the Australian Premiere of Acne, in
which thirteen year old Rafa has just celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. While he
should be enjoying the special time he is preoccupied with bad skin, divorcing
parents and his inability to talk to girls.
"highlights"
Other highlights include; Argentinean director Daniel Burman, whose Waiting
For Messiah, Lost Embrace and Family Law screened in past Festivals – this year
he brings us Empty Nest which takes a look at what happens when the parents are
left to their own devices once their children have flown from the nest; and not
to be missed is the French romantic comedy Hello Goodbye starring the ever
popular Gerard Depardieu and Fanny Ardent.
Rounding out the feature titles; Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe star in Paul
Schroeder’s Adam Resurrected, a moving story of a man living in an experimental
insane asylum who is forced to face his past when he meets a child as troubled
as him; For My Father, the suspenseful thriller in which a man is forced to live
amongst the very people he had planned to kill; and from Cannes, Eyes Wide Open
a boundary pushing film of two men in an ultra-Orthodox community on the edges
of Jerusalem who do the unthinkable, fall in love.
"documentaries"
The program includes several documentaries; Leave The Stones There traces
Melbourne journalist and second generation Holocaust survivor Julie Szego’s
journey with her parents on their pilgrimage to their hometowns in Hungary; A
History of Israeli Cinema is a must see for any fans of Israeli films, exploring
the industry through a fascinating array of interviews with Israeli identities.
Killing Kasztner is the remarkable story of a Hungarian Jew who saved more
people in WWII than Oskar Schindler, so why is he relatively unknown?; and
Inside Hana’s Suitcase – one of the few films about the Holocaust suitable for
children - the festival is making the screening open for any age, with all
tickets priced at $10.
(The Festival of Jewish Cinema is now classified 15+ for all sessions or any age
if accompanied by an adult.)
Published October 22, 2009
|
 Email this article
A Matter of Size
WEBSITE
Leave the Stones
Surviving with Wolves
Killing Kasztner
Sydney: 11-30 November
Events Cinema, Westfield Bondi Junction
Melbourne 12-20 November
ACMI & Classic Cinemas Elsternwick
|
