THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 7, 1995 TAG: 9512070027
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
EIGHT FILMS that explore the wide range of Jewish culture will be on screen in the coming week as the The Naro Expanded Cinema in Norfolk hosts the third annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film. Beginning Saturday, the festival will run through Dec. 17.
Co-sponsored by the theater and the Jewish Community Center of Tidewater, the festival opens with a ``fiesta'' to set the mood for the lone entry from Mexico, ``Like a Bride,'' Saturday at 7:15 p.m. Claudette Maille, the film's star (who also appeared in ``Like Water for Chocolate'') will appear before the screening and will join the audience across Colley Avenue at Harbor Gallery afterward. The opening night gala will feature live music and food. Opening night ticket is $10 in advance and $12 at the door.
``Like a Bride'' (repeated Sunday at 1 p.m.) is director Guita Schylfler's study of growing up in Mexico City (in Spanish, Ladino and Yiddish with subtitles). Maille plays the daughter of a conservative family of Turkish immigrants whose dream is to marry her off to the right husband. A discussion on ``Cultural Barriers through Cinema'' at Eliot's Restaurant will follow the Sunday screening.
Other films scheduled (with program notes provided by festival officials) are as follows:
``Ladies Tailor'' (Sunday at 3:45 p.m. and Wednesday at noon and 7 p.m.). From Russia, this film is set in 1941 as the German army prepares to deport the Jewish population from Kiev. The Jewish population struggles to maintain what is essential to their unsettled lives. Festival releases claim that ``without a shot being fired, this film proves to be as moving and tragic as many more explicit films about the Holocaust.''
``Genghis Cohn'' (Sunday at 5:30 p.m., Monday at 7 p.m.). Ruth Caleb, producer of the film, presents it at the Sunday screening. A former Nazi officer is haunted by the Jewish comedian he executed at Dachau in this comedy-drama that mixes Kafka-esqe fantasy with vaudeville.
``The Plot Against Harry'' (Sunday at 7:45 p.m. and Dec. 17 at 5:15 p.m.) The most commercially successful of all films shown at the festival, this is Michael Roemer's comedy about a Jewish gangster who tries to go straight after being released from prison but faces comedic difficulties. The film, completed in 1969, got a United States release just last year.
``Coffee With Lemon'' (Thursday at 7 p.m., Dec. 17 at 3:45 p.m.) When a famous Russian-Jewish actor moves his family to Israel, he discovers language and cultural barriers. The second film in the festival to be directed by Leonid Gorovets (``Ladies Tailor''), it examines the differences between art and reality against a background of the world of theater. In Russian, Hebrew and Yiddish with subtitles.
``Sh'Chur'' (``Magic'') (Tuesday at 7 p.m.) The customs of the Moroccan Jewish culture, complete with ritual magic, are the background for a drama that examines witchcraft and madness. The leading character is Rachel, an Israeli talk-show host, who searches her tense childhood memories when she learns of the death of her father. Hana Azjoula Hasfari, one of the film's actresses, wrote the screenplay based on her own life.
``Tevye'' (Dec. 16 at 5:30 p.m., Dec. 17 at 1 p.m.) Who can forget the beloved dairyman from ``Fiddler on the Roof''? Here, in a print secured from the National Center for Jewish Film, is the 1939 production that has been hailed ``as both an insightful comedy-drama and a historical document.'' Maurice Schwartz both stars and directs. In Yiddish, with subtitles.
``Mina Tannebaum'' (Dec. 16 at 7:45 p.m. and Dec. 17 at 7 p.m.) From France comes this drama of two Jewish girls who are friends and rivals for 30 years, from the 1960s to the 1990s. Romane Bohringer plays Mina, an insecure artist with talent while Elsa Zylberstein plays Ethel, her opportunistic friend. In French with subtitles.
Most of the films will be followed by a discussion session at Elliot's Restaurant, near the theater on Colley Avenue. These are free of charge.
Topics for the discussion sessions are: ``A Contemporary Look at Anti-Semitism'' (Monday following ``Genghis Cohn''); ``A Portrait of a Family in Crisis'' (Tuesday, following ``Sh'chur''); ``Anticipating the Unthinkable'' (Wednesday, following ``Ladies Tailor'' and ``The Immigrant Experience'' (Thursday, following ``Coffee with Lemon'').
Call 625-6275 for further information. ILLUSTRATION: Robert Lindsay and Diana Rigg star in ``Genghis Cohn,'' showing
Sunday at 5:30 p.m. and Monday night at 7 at the Naro.
JUST THE FACTS
What: The Virginia Festival of Jewish Film
Where: Naro Expanded Cinema, Norfolk
When: Saturday through Dec. 17
Call: 625-6275
by CNB