Film
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The Schmooze Chatting with Oscar-Nominated Israeli Filmmaker Dror Moreh
This morning brought a first for the Israeli film industry. Two of the five Oscar nods for the Best Documentary went to Israeli films the “5 Broken Cameras” and “The Gatekeepers,” both movies that deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — but from opposing views. The praise, particularly for “The Gatekeepers,” is the latest in a…
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The Schmooze Gangster Squad’s Comedy Nerd
Go to the photo section of director Ruben Fleischer’s website, and the first thing you see is a Dalmatian wearing a yarmulke and a tallit. It is a picture Fleischer took on his pet’s 13th birthday, the day, Fleischer jokes, the pooch became a man. Photography is just one step in Fleischer’s peripatetic career, which…
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Culture Filming the ‘Killing’ Fields
The incendiary and critically acclaimed new documentary, “The Act of Killing,” might at first seem to have little connection with the Jewish experience aside from the background of its director Joshua Oppenheimer: Its subjects are veterans of the 1965 massacres in Indonesia, during which 1,000,000 men, women and children were slaughtered over the course of…
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The Schmooze Two Views of Eichmann and Arendt
Crossposted from Batya Reads This year’s New York Jewish Film Festival, starting January 9, is heavy on the Holocaust. Two films, however, stand out in conversation with one another. “Hannah Arendt,” directed by Margarethe von Trotta, is a fictionalization of Arendt’s presence at the Eichmann trial. And a new documentary, “The Trial of Adolf Eichmann,”…
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Culture Dustin Hoffman’s Directorial Debut
Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut, “Quartet,” is a film set in a British home for retired musicians and singers, starring Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay, and the incomparable Maggie Smith. It’s about love and friendship and getting older, and is funny and sad and a total delight. It’s a film that leaves the audience in a good…
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The Schmooze Setting ‘Yellow Ticket’ to Music
Klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals has experience scoring documentary and feature films. But earlier this year she faced an unusual challenge when she was approached by the Washington Jewish Music Festival to score a 1918 feature-length silent film called “The Yellow Ticket.” Unlike other scoring jobs, where her focus was mainly on heightening viewers’ experience of…
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The Schmooze Jewish Immigrant Who Became Acoma Governor
There were many 19th-century Jewish immigrants to the United States who made their way to the Wild West to seek their fortunes. But only one, Solomon Bibo, became the governor of a Native American tribe. The Indians called him Don Solomono; for filmmaker Paul Ratner, he is “Moses on the Mesa.” Ratner, a 35-year-old recipient…
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The Schmooze From Tour Guide to ‘Parental Guidance’ Director
Anyone of a certain age will recognize the premise of “Parental Guidance,” the new Billy Crystal/Bette Midler film about the “other” grandparents. It comes out Christmas Day, just in time for the Jewish movie rush. Artie (Crystal) and Diane (Midler) Decker are those grandparents, playing second fiddle to their son-in-law’s folks. But the parents are…
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