Alejandra Manzo in Anita. By John ThomasonHow’s this for a premise: When a terrorist attack separates a Down syndrome-suffering woman from her caring and infinitely patient mother for the first time in her life, she is forced to confront a harsh outside world, emotionally connecting with the derelicts she encounters and vice versa.Healthy and full of real-world … [Read more...]
Film feature: Jewish film festival thriving as it turns 21
A scene from The Debt. By Hap ErsteinAt a time when film festivals are either shrinking or simply disappearing, the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival is expanding as it turns 21.The annual celebration of Jewish culture on celluloid from around the world, a program of the Jewish Community Center of the Greater Palm Beaches, unspools beginning this evening, Dec. … [Read more...]
Film review: Three worth watching at Jewish movie fest
Mirta Bogdasarian in La Cámara Oscura.By Hap ErsteinOnly a few of the 20th annual Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival’s entries were made available for advance reviews, but here are a few of them worth at least partial attention:* Hello, Goodbye (France, 99 min., Sat., Dec. 5, 7:20 pm, Cobb Dowtown) -- For many Israel is an idealized promised land, but director Graham Guit … [Read more...]
Film feature: Jewish film fest offers 11-day nosh of 35 movies
Ran Danker and Zohar Strauss in Eyes Wide Open.By Hap ErsteinTo paraphrase a line from Fiddler on the Roof,: “So if the economy had a bad year, why should the Jewish Film Festival suffer?”Beginning tonight and continuing through Sunday, Dec. 13, here comes the 20th anniversary Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, slightly smaller due to belt-tightening by the sponsoring Jewish … [Read more...]