With Prof. Dr. Dr. Sabine Kunst, Brandenburg Minister for Scientific Research and Culture, moderated by Knut Elstermann

Im Himmel, unter der Erde

(In Heaven, Underground)

Deutschland 2011, Documentary, German, directed by Britta Wauer, 90”

The deceased take center stage in this tribute to Europe’s largest Jewish cemetery still in use.

Guests: Britta Wauer, Moderation: Knut Elstermann

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Film specialist Elke Schieber presents highlights of a research project on Jewish presence in the media of Soviet-occupied countries, including former East Germany, with rare film clips. In German.

USA 2010, Documentary, directed by Matthew Asner, Danny Gold, 91"

“Six years of the Shoah can’t destroy a thousand years of Jewish culture,” says one of the American cantors on a musical pilgrimage to the birthplace of cantorial singing in Poland.

Introduction: Dr. Jascha Nemtsov, Akademischer Studienleiter am Kantorenseminar des Abraham Geiger Kollegs

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Israel/France/Germany 2010, Hebrew with German subtitles, directed by Eran Riklis, 103"

In this poignantly relevant story, a man embarks on a search that changes the meaning of his life.

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(My Best Enemy)

Austria 2011, German (no subtitles), Directed by Wolfgang Murnberger, with Moritz Bleibtreu, George Friedrich and Udo Samel, 106"

This Nazi drama set in 1930s Vienna, with fateful twists of romance, suspense and betrayal, premiered at this year's Berlin International Film Festival.

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England/Switzerland/Germany 1988, German only, directed by Thomas Brasch, 102"

A renowned U.S. film director sets out for Germany to shoot a documentary four decades after the war, but it's hard for him to stay focused: he's haunted by his memories as a Jewish Hungarian prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp.

Introduced by co-star Katharina Talbach

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With this year's festival patrons:

Matthias Platzeck, Minister-President of Brandenburg, Iris Berben, Actress and
President of the German Film Academy, and Dr. Dieter Graumann, President of the
Central Council of Jews in Germany

The event will be moderated by Tina Mendelsohn of Kulturzeit, 3sat (TV)

 

 

WAGNER & ME

England (BBC Documentary) 2010, English with German subtitles, directed by Patrick McGrady, 89”

Can you be Jewish and love Wagner?

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“Take two cups of Edith Piaf, one half cup Eartha Kitt, a sprinkle of Betty Boop plus a serious portion of that je ne sais quoi that enthralls audiences, and you have what I see as one of New York's most exciting new cabaret singers: Mira Stroika.”
—Richard Z. Chesnoff (Huffington Post)

 

 

 

German Premiere

PROTEKTOR

Czech Republic 2009, Czech, German with English subtitles, directed by Marek Najbrt, 100"

In one of the darker chapters of Czechoslovak history, the lives of a young couple, Emil and Hana Vrbata, are turned upside down when their country falls under Nazi occupation.

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USA 2011, Documentary, English, directed and produced by Joseph Dorman, 93”

This insightful film pays homage to the most popular writer in the Yiddish language. Sholem Aleichem, born Solomon Naumovich Rabinowitz in a Ukrainian shtetl, penned lucid portraits of 19th century Jewish life in Eastern Europe as it entered a phase of dramatic transition.

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Israel 2010, directed by Dan Wolman, Hebrew, Russian & Yiddish with English subtitles, 105"

Two grief-stricken souls who meet amidst the tumultuous transitions in late 19th-century Palestine attempt to build new lives together.

Festival Guest: director Dan Wolman

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Israel 2007, Documentary, Hebrew with English subtitles, directed by Dan Wolman, 60”

Described as the “troubadour of Israeli cinema,” Dan Wolman presents a cinematic love letter to his family of origin in this deeply personal, intricate portrait that traces the early lives of his parents and explores the complexities of generational communication.

Discussion with the director following screening, moderated by Eldad Beck (in English)

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Israeli TV sitcom, 2010, Series 2, parts 1, 3, 8, directed by Shai Capon

It takes chutzpah to mirror the racism, hypocrisy, and arrogance that few are willing to acknowledge about Israeli society.

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USA/Poland/Germany/Hungary/Israel, 2010, English & Yiddish (with subtitles), Produced and directed by Erik Greenberg Anjou, 105”

Ever since their debut concert in 1988, the Klezmatics have stood at the heart of the klezmer revival underway since the 1970s.

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Israel/Germany, Documentary, 2009, directed by Masha und Yonathan Zur, Hebrew & English with German subtitles, 86”

Rarely do the personal and political merge with such eloquence as in the literature of prize-winning Israeli author Amos Oz, whose books have been translated into more than 40 languages.

Guests: Masha and Yonathan Zur

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Israel/France/Germany 2010, Hebrew with German subtitles, directed by Eran Riklis, 103"

In this poignantly relevant story, a man embarks on a search that changes the meaning of his life.

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France 2007, French with English subtitles, directed and written by Yves Jeuland, Part I: 73”, Part II: 112”

With evocative archival footage and eloquent voices of France’s Jewish community, this panoramic documentary depicts a nation’s history of contradictory treatment of Jews:

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Part II 112"

HaMisrad, TV Sitcom, Israel 2010, directed by Eitan Tzur
Season 1: Episodes 1,2,12 (German subtitles) 6:00 PM

Israel is the sixth country to adapt the renowned British comedy series that first aired in the UK ten years ago.

Discussion with screenplay writer Uzi Weil and author Sylke Tempel following screening

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Season 1: Episodes 4,5 (English subtitles) 8:00 PM

Followed by discussion with screenwriter Uzi Weil and Sylke Tempel
(in English)

Israel 2010, Documentary, Hebrew and French with English subtitles, directed and produced by Goel Pinto, 50"

A journalist and film critic who sets out to make a documentary about the Holocaust and North African Jews ends up turning the camera on himself and the mother of his six siblings.

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MY CHAMPION

Israel 2010, Hebrew, English with Eng. subtitles, directed and produced by Ari Davidovich and Gideon Boaz, 50"

Merhav Mohar, Israel's 22 year-old boxing champion who dreams of world rankings, departs for New York to pursue his passion.

Guests: Ari Davidovich and Boxer Merhav Mohar

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USA 2011, directed by Gordon Grinberg, 6”

This award-winning short film teases out the similarities in diversity, stitching a modern tale out of a tribute to the past.

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The Infidel

England 2010, English only, directed by Josh Appignanesi, 105“

This wickedly ambitious comedy brings the theme of identity crisis to a new dimension when Mahmud Nasir, who runs a mini-cab business, discovers he’s not who he thought he was.

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SOLD OUT

(Eichmann's End)

German TV Docu-drama, 2010, German, directed by Raymond Ley, 90"

This made-for-television movie is based on the true story of Lothar Hermann, a concentration camp survivor living in 1950s Argentina who accidentally discovers a trail leading to Adolf Eichmann by way of his daughter's romantic relationship with a young man.

Guests: Director Raymond Ley & Alexander von Sallwitz, NDR

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Israel 2010, Hebrew with English subtitles, directed by Nir Bergman, 107"

“For its penetrating descriptions conveyed in cinematic language," the jury of the Jerusalem Film Festival awarded top honors to this feature film about the loneliness of a pubescent boy in resistance to adulthood.

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Israel 2010, Documentary, Hebrew with English subtitles, directed by Netalie Braun, 60”

Half a century after the trial of the "architect of the Holocaust," we are introduced to Shalom Nagar, the former prison guard ordered to operate the gallows that brought Adolf Eichmann’s life to an end.

Guest: Netalie Braun

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Israel 2010, Documentary, Hebrew, English, directed and Produced by Karen Goodman, Kirk Simon, 39”

This Oscar-winning documentary focuses on a unique learning environment in the middle of Tel Aviv.

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PRECIOUS LIFE

Israel 2010, Documentary, Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles, directed by Shlomi Eldar, 86"

If the Palestinian infant at the focal point of this story survives his rare illness, what kind of future awaits him?

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