Film

The JCC’s film salon showcases unique, hard-to-find features, ranging from US premieres to restorations of Yiddish film classics. All selections explore and illuminate Jewish identity, and are shown on the JCC’s big screen. Each presentation is followed by a moderated discussion. Snacks and beverages are provided beforehand.

Faith and Sexuality, On Film and In Person

American Matchmaker USA, 1940, 87 minutes Yiddish (English Subtitles) Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer Leo Fuchs, known on Second Avenue as “the Yiddish Fred Astaire,” plays an elegant and eligible bachelor who can never seem to close the marriage deal. Helmer Edgar G. Ulmer’s last Yiddish movie was also his most modern, an art deco romantic comedy about male ambivalence and Jewish assimilation. “A successful combination of humor and schmaltz...a clash between the urbane, slick manners of the new country and the old, busybody communal ways of the shtetl.” –Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Following this film, Edgar G. Ulmer embarked on a prolific career in Hollywood, highlighted by the classic Detour, which profoundly influenced a generation of US independent filmmakers. Preceded by the short: I Want to Be A Boarder USA, 1937, 15 minutes, Yiddish (English Subtitles), Director Joseph Seiden A small classic of Yiddish absurdism which showcases Fuch’s comic virtuosity. ***Featuring a post-film discussion with Miguel Pendás, Creative Director of the San Francisco Film Society. Thursday May 22, 7:30pm $6 member, $8 general Buy tickets here

Where Are You Going Moshé? Morocco/Canada, 2007, 90 minutes, Arabic/French (English Subtitles) Directed by Hassan Benjelloun Set in the dusty hamlet of Bejjad, Morroco, Hassan Benjelloun’s ensemble piece introduces us to the regulars of the town’s only bar, Chez Mustapha. Mustapha has a problem, you see. Faced with Islamic law that prohibits the drinking of alcohol by Muslims and the imminent departure of Bejjad’s Jewish residents (who are leaving in the wake of Morroco’s independence from France), he’ll soon be out of business. So Mustapha hatches a plan to keep one Jew in town to operate his watering hole. Alternately funny and sad, Where Are You Going, Moshé? zeroes in on the bane of bureaucracy in all forms. Benjelloun has crafted a rare gem–a historical-political piece that, not unlike the films of Frank Capra, is surprisingly and shamelessly amusing. –Program note adopted from Joe Baltake, Philadelphia Film Festival Co-Presented by the Jewish Music Festival and JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa) Thursday June 26, 7:30pm $5 member, $8 general Buy tickets here

Three Films by Abraham Ravett Abraham Ravett’s films weave together archival World War II footage and his own 16mm recordings of interviews with family members. These experimental shorts investigate the hardships his mother and father endured during the Holocaust and reflect on the filmmaker’s evolving relationship with his parents. Half Sister United States, 1985, 22 minutes, English At twenty-six, Abraham Ravett learned that his mother had previously been married and lost her family at Auschwitz, including his half-sister, Toncia, who was killed when she was six years old. Half Sister is a cinematic amalgam of memory and imagination, inspired by Ravett’s conception of a life that would have been. In Memory United States, 1993, 13 minutes, English In this non-narrative short, footage of Lodz Ghetto life is juxtaposed against the chanting of “El Maleh Rachamim,” a plea to God to let the souls of those “slaughtered and burned” find peace. The message of this tribute to members of Ravett’s family (and to all those who perished under Nazi occupation) is “may their memory endure.” The March United States, 1999, 25 minutes, English Utilizing a series of recorded film interviews he conducted with his mother—a survivor of the infamous Auschwitz Death March—Ravett details her recollections of that experience in this short, which meditates on time elapsed and the fragility of personal memory. Program notes adopted from the National Center for Jewish Film Born in Poland in 1947, Abraham Ravett was raised in Israel and emigrated to the USA in 1955. He teaches filmmaking and photography at Hampshire College.*** This evening will feature a post-screening discussion on Ravett’s work by San Francisco State professor Bill Nichols. Co-presented by the SF Cinematheque Thursday July 17, 7:30pm $5 member, $8 general Buy tickets here

Sidewalk Israel, 2007, 57 minutes Hebrew (English Subtitles) Directed by Duki Dror When does it all begin—how do we become who we become? How does it happen that we get slotted into our places in the social pecking order? How did any of us survive the tribulations of childhood? These are some of the questions that may pass through your mind as you watch Sidewalk, the latest documentary by Duki Dror (My Fantasia, Happy Days). In this film, Dror presents a simple, child’s-eye view as he follows kids on their daily journeys to and from school. The filmmaker shares the same wondrous gift of bittersweet nostalgia that the cartoonists Charles M. Schulz and Lynda Barry possess. They all remind us that the touch of our childhood is with us—and marks us—forever. —Program note courtesy of San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF) Screening followed by a discussion led by John Morrison, California Film Institute Education Director. Co-presented by the SFJFF, the Mill Valley Film Festival and the Consulate General of Israel Thursday Audust 21, 7:30pm $5 member, $8 general Buy tickets here

New to DVD!: Film and Interactive Discussion Series Did you miss a movie while it was playing in the theater and would love a second chance to view it with a friendly group? Films to be shown are: This is England Blade Runner 3:10 to Yuma Two Days in Paris Paprika Deep Water Lust, Caution Into the Wild The Darjeeling Limited Dan in Real Life Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead American Gangster Juno Michael Clayton All screenings followed by a lively group discussion facilitated by George Porter. Co-Sponsor: Berkeley Adult School Wednesdays, 7:00pm; Suggested donation: $2-$5

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