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February 2, 2001/Shevet 8, 5761, Vol. 53, No.18
Film festival focuses on Jewish themes
LEISAH NAMM
Staff Writer
From flying camels to missing foreskin, the fifth annual Phoenix Jewish Film Festival features five films from three countries Feb. 25-March 1.
Tickets are now on sale for the festival, which moves from last year's location to Harkins Camelview 5 Luxury Cinemas at Fashion Square, 7001 E. Highland Ave., Scottsdale.
The Phoenix Jewish Film Festival was founded in 1995 by Phyllis and Sheldon Pierson and since then, the organization has grown to nearly 20 volunteer members.
Ticket sales help pay for theater and film rental and profits will carry over to next year's festival.
Last year's festival, held at the Camelback AMC Esplanade 14 in Phoenix, drew more than 1,200 viewers.
Underwriters for this year's festival are Chompie's Restaurant and Delicatessens, Lund Cadillac and Northern Trust Bank.
The first independent Jewish film festival, founded by filmmaker Deborah Kaufman in San Francisco, celebrated its 20th anniversary last year with 37 films from 12 countries. The 1999 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival drew 35,000 viewers, up from 4,000 its first year.
According to the New York-based National Foundation for Jewish Culture, there are more than 70 Jewish film festivals worldwide. The foundation sponsored the first Conference of American Jewish Film Festivals last summer at the San Francisco festival.
To select films, the eight members of the Phoenix Jewish Film Festival's screening committee search film Web sites, as well as lists of films viewed at other film festivals, says Jules Rossman, a member of the committee.
After locating the source of the film and requesting a video, the members preview up to 10 videos before deciding on the final selections.
This year's films are:
"Giraffe"
2 p.m., 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25
This German romantic thriller begins with the firebombing of a Jewish-owned factory in Germany and a woman's mysterious death in a New York hotel. The murdered woman's son investigates the death and questions the German set designer who found the body. Their growing affection for each other is threatened as the investigation leads to the designer's family. Events motivated by a matrix of love, hatred, revenge and reconciliation uncover a crime going back to Nazi Germany involving both their families.
The film is mainly in English and there is some nudity.
Matt Gerson, local radio interviewer, film critic and historian, will lead a discussion following the film. His syndicated show "Person to Person" is carried on 25 stations nationwide.
"Jewboy Levi"
7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26
Set in 1935, the German film follows Levi, an itinerant cattle dealer, as he takes his yearly business trip to a Black Forest village and tries to win the hand of Lisbeth, a farmer's daughter.
After an ambitious engineer and his thugs are sent to the village to undertake a major railroad project, their Nazi spirit spreads throughout the village. Lisbeth's father, with the rest of the village, soon turns against Levi and only Lisbeth stands up for him. This film is in German with English subtitles.
Jack Kugelmass, director of the Jewish Studies Program at Arizona State University, will lead the discussion.
"The Flying Camel"
7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 27
This Israeli film views a relationship between two misfits and a nun. Bauman, an eccentric Jewish professor, lives alone in a junkyard shack and collects architectural artifacts. He becomes enamored with a flying camel on top of an Arab restaurant and forms an unusual friendship with an Arab garbage collector and a young Italian nun while trying to capture the camel. The film is in Hebrew with English subtitles and is rated G.
Joel Gereboff, the chairman and associate professor of Religious Studies at ASU, will speak after the film.
"All My Loved Ones"
7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28
This is the true story of one of 669 Czech Jewish children saved from the Nazis by English stockbroker Nicholas Winton. The Czech film follows Dr. Jacob Silberstein, who must make a decision to keep the family together or send his only son to England. The film includes documentary footage of a tribute to Winton by those he saved more than 60 years before.
The film is in Czech with English subtitles.
Film lecturer and historian Fred Linch will lead the film. He is the associate director of the Palm Springs Film Festival and an adviser to the Phoenix Jewish Film Festival.
"Cours Toujors (Dad on the Run)"
7 p.m. Thursday, March 1
This French film tells the story of Jonas and Paco, professional bar-mitzah entertainers. The birth of Jonas' first son plunges his world into chaos. His family decides to follow the custom requiring the father to bury the foreskin three days after the bris, but he loses the foreskin, which leads to a chase throughout the city. The film is in French with subtitles.
Rabbi Albert Plotkin, rabbi emeritus at Temple Beth Israel of Scottsdale, will lead the discussion.
Tickets are $7.50 for adults; $5 for students and $32.50 for the series. For tickets, contact the participating organizations: Beth El Congregation, Har Zion Congregation, the Sylvia Plotkin Judaica Museum of Temple Beth Israel, Ruach Hamidbar-Spirit of the Desert, Temple Chai, Temple Emanuel, Temple Solel and the Tri-City Jewish Community Center.
For credit card orders, call 602-971-1234.
Visit the Web site at www.phxjewishfilm.org.
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