Archives

Lerner’s Revenge

In 1943, Gitl Lerner, a 45-year-old Jewish woman, hid with five of her children in the home of a Polish farmer. On the night of October 30, Polish farmers in the area stabbed Lerner and the five children to death. Sixty years later Roni Lerner, an Israeli businessman and Gitl’s grandson, set out to Poland with the film crew to track down his family’s murderers.

Across the River

Duki Dror’s documentary “Across the River” follows Moshe Rachamim as he searches for a way to prevent the spread of AIDS in the Israeli Ethiopian community. Tsegaw Mahari (Mahari, which means “compassion” in Amharic, translates into “rachamim” in Hebrew) was born in the small village of Guluth in Ethiopia, separated from the surrounding communities by a river. The children were forbidden to cross the river and eat or drink in the homes of the nearby villages, for they were Jewish and expected to keep kosher. Rachamim crossed the river and kept on walking, immigrating alone to Israel in 1973 at the age of 12.

A Generation Apart

Children of survivors of the Holocaust ask how that event may have shaped them consciously and unconsciously. The Fishers are the primary focus: filmmaker Jack, his older brother Joe, and their parents who raised three sons in the Bronx. They talk about family dynamics and their perceptions and feelings. Also profiled are Shelley Gelfman, an artist, and her mother Mary, and less intensely, we meet a physician and an actor who are children of survivors. In the conversations, people discuss guilt, love, and loss. The parents suggest they may have placed too much hope on their children’s shoulders, been too protective, or held back affection. The children respond.

Prince of Jerusalem

Abd al-Qader al-Husseini tells the story of four sites in Jerusalem connected to the history of the al-Husseini family- one of the most prominent families in Palestinian society. Abd al-Qader speaks about his father, Faisal al-Husseini, a Palestinian leader who worked for Palestinian self-determination and especially for a free and open Jerusalem, and about his grandfather and namesake, Abd al-Qader al-Husseini, who was the commander of the Palestinian resistance in 1948 and was killed during the battle at Qastal. ‘The two people have rights upon this land. History forces war on us. Reality requires co-existence in peace.’

Monkey Business

“Monkey Business” is the story of the other Israel. A land of crime and poverty hidden under the smiling image of the center of Tel-Aviv. The Yair family lives a constant battle to keep their heads above the water; small crimes, petty frauds, dubious characters, and monstrous debts are their only way to keep going. Giori (18) is the oldest of four siblings. He is the true hero of his family (and of the film), and yet he hasn’t got much to show for it. Whatever he does seems turn into a disaster, and each time he tries to help he just gets everything wrong.

Silver Jew

An intimate portrait of reclusive poet/musician David Berman and his band the Silver Jews. In the midst of their first ever world tour in the summer of 2006, David, his wife Cassie, and the rest of the band–Tony Crow (keyboards), Brian Kotzur (drums), Peyton Pinkerton (guitar), and William Tyler (guitar)–stopped off in Israel to play two shows in Tel Aviv and visit Jerusalem.