Jewish Film Festival showcases a spectrum of Jewish student voices
Online Exclusive
Vera Ryzhik
Issue date: 3/28/07 Section: Arts
The Bronfman Center for Jewish Life showcased the most intriguing films by Jewish students around the world at its fourth annual Jewish Film Festival last Thursday. The packed event at Cantor Film Center showcased a "testament of Bronfman's ability to incorporate and recognize the arts," said Jackie Miller, the festival programmer.
Six shorts kicked off the festival, whose subject matter was nearly as diverse as the filmmakers themselves, who hailed from NYU, Tel Aviv, Yale University and Boston University. "Court Kings" is a documentary about the Orthodox Mock Trial team in New Jersey, directed by Gallatin student Josh Weinberg; Camilla Butchins' "Patches" is the heartbreaking task of remembering those lost in a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, told through Zimbabwe-born Marlyn Butchins, who decides to make one large memorial quilt in the victims' honor.
In contrast to films with such a prominent Jewish context, there was Stefan Glidden's delightfully comic "La Voiture et le Velo" and "Ten Souls Rising," which was a Manhattan take on Sartre's "No Exit" and set in an elevator. The film was directed by Emily Rosdeitcher, a 2004 Tisch alumna, and took the second-place prize. The grand prize winner Julia Kots' "Naturalized" tells the story of a young Russian man who wants to become a full-fledged Jew through a medical procedure not available to him in the Soviet Union. (You can connect the dots on that.)
The festival centerpiece came through deleted scenes as part of a special presentation from Adam Hootnick, director of "Unsettled," fresh off his Slamdance win for Best Feature Documentary. The documentary, which premieres this April at the Tribeca Film Festival, follows six individuals in very different situations and with different viewpoints as they are all forced to confront the disengagement of the Gaza strip of August 2005.
One of the selections Hootnick considered "the hardest part of the editing process to leave out" was when Israeli Defense Force soldiers came into a house where three men are currently staying. They tearfully relate the story of the previous owner who was killed in terrorist attack. As the IDF soldiers became engrossed in the stories of the three young men, their own personal struggle was imprinted on their faces as they were made to evict their own people from their homes. When the lights went up, the toll of the emotional scene could be felt throughout the room.
Hootnick remains a symbol for idealism through both his film and his character, having been able to make this film with a crew of only himself and his second camera operator. He is able to relinquish politics and religion and focus on the people who are affected by the conflict. Hootnick spoke a great deal about the importance of being there, and experiencing the disengagement first-hand. "As soon as you're there with the camera, you're part of it," he said.
The festival continues to expose audiences to films of this caliber, and to provide young emerging artists with a home as well as a place to flourish as filmmakers. "It is the only film festival of its kind on a college campus," Miller said. It is an event that not only to brings the community together, but "gives the filmmakers a chance to be heard."
Six shorts kicked off the festival, whose subject matter was nearly as diverse as the filmmakers themselves, who hailed from NYU, Tel Aviv, Yale University and Boston University. "Court Kings" is a documentary about the Orthodox Mock Trial team in New Jersey, directed by Gallatin student Josh Weinberg; Camilla Butchins' "Patches" is the heartbreaking task of remembering those lost in a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, told through Zimbabwe-born Marlyn Butchins, who decides to make one large memorial quilt in the victims' honor.
In contrast to films with such a prominent Jewish context, there was Stefan Glidden's delightfully comic "La Voiture et le Velo" and "Ten Souls Rising," which was a Manhattan take on Sartre's "No Exit" and set in an elevator. The film was directed by Emily Rosdeitcher, a 2004 Tisch alumna, and took the second-place prize. The grand prize winner Julia Kots' "Naturalized" tells the story of a young Russian man who wants to become a full-fledged Jew through a medical procedure not available to him in the Soviet Union. (You can connect the dots on that.)
The festival centerpiece came through deleted scenes as part of a special presentation from Adam Hootnick, director of "Unsettled," fresh off his Slamdance win for Best Feature Documentary. The documentary, which premieres this April at the Tribeca Film Festival, follows six individuals in very different situations and with different viewpoints as they are all forced to confront the disengagement of the Gaza strip of August 2005.
One of the selections Hootnick considered "the hardest part of the editing process to leave out" was when Israeli Defense Force soldiers came into a house where three men are currently staying. They tearfully relate the story of the previous owner who was killed in terrorist attack. As the IDF soldiers became engrossed in the stories of the three young men, their own personal struggle was imprinted on their faces as they were made to evict their own people from their homes. When the lights went up, the toll of the emotional scene could be felt throughout the room.
Hootnick remains a symbol for idealism through both his film and his character, having been able to make this film with a crew of only himself and his second camera operator. He is able to relinquish politics and religion and focus on the people who are affected by the conflict. Hootnick spoke a great deal about the importance of being there, and experiencing the disengagement first-hand. "As soon as you're there with the camera, you're part of it," he said.
The festival continues to expose audiences to films of this caliber, and to provide young emerging artists with a home as well as a place to flourish as filmmakers. "It is the only film festival of its kind on a college campus," Miller said. It is an event that not only to brings the community together, but "gives the filmmakers a chance to be heard."
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