JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL

2006 Central Florida Jewish Film Festival
November 19 & 20, 2006

Every year, Enzian Theater hosts the Central Florida Jewish Film Festival in cooperation with the Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando. For more information on the Central Florida Jewish Film Festival, contact the Jewish Community Center at (407) 645-5933 x245.

A CANTOR'S TALE Sunday, November 19 11:00 AM

A Cantor's Tale

"Delightful docu A CANTOR'S TALE casts a fond eye...Crowd-pleasing item from helmer Erik Anjou will be a must for Jewish and music-oriented festivals..."—VARIETY

The tradition of Eastern European Jewish cantorial music is alive and well in modern America in no small part thanks to the efforts of Brooklyn-born Cantor Jacob Mendelson. "Jackie," as he is affectionately called by everyone, explores the American roots of "hazzanut"( Jewish liturgical music) while taking us on a musical voyage that spans the Atlantic, originating in his birthplace of Boro Park, Brooklyn and reaching all the way to Jerusalem. There’s music in the air, everywhere. The experience of hearing the world’s most renowned cantors in the synagogue was part of a lifestyle that provided American Jewry with a rich cultural heirloom. It is Cantor Mendelson’s mission to insure that this legacy is passed on to this and the next generation and generations to come, in a way that is both true to its origins and relevant to the modern world. This feature-length documentary provides a nostalgic journey through family, neighborhood, and tradition. It also treats us to appearances by renowned cantors and aficionados Joseph Malovany, Ben-Zion Miller, Alberto Mizrahi, Matthew Lazar, Neil Shicoff, Jackie Mason and Alan Dershowitz. A CANTOR'S TALE is very much like "Levy’s Real Jewish Rye", you don’t have to be Jewish to love it!

USA, 2004, 95 minutes, Not Rated, Directed by Erik Greenberg Anjou
official site

WONDROUS OBLIVION Sunday, November 19 1:30 PM

Wondrous Oblivion
Audience Award Winner - Boston Jewish Film Festival

"A well-crafted, warm-hearted coming-of-age drama."—Wendy Ide, LONDON TIMES

Meet the Wisemans; a traditional Jewish family living in suburban 1960's England. The husband and father, Victor, works long hours in the family's drapery store rarely finding time to spend at home. Then there is Victor's lovely wife Ruth, ten years younger than him, she longs for excitement. Last but not least is eleven-year-old David, who dreams of becoming a cricket star, much to the dismay and ridicule of his classmates, as he is just not very good. Enter the Samuels; a lively Jamaican family that moves in next door to the Wisemans and unexpectedly changes their lives for the better. When Dennis Samuels (Delroy Lindo, The Cider House Rules) erects a cricket net in their backyard, David is in seventh heaven. Dennis kindly takes David under his wing and teachers him the skills he needs to finally make his school's team. But again, this is 1960's England; racial tensions are high, and the new arrivals are not welcome by all. As the Wisemans find themselves caught in the middle, they are forced to choose between aligning with the prejudices of the neighborhood and sticking by their new friends. Directed by Academy Award nominee Paul Morrison, WONDROUS OBLIVION is a gently comic coming-of-age story, a portrait of the importance of family, tolerance and standing up for what is right.

UK, 2003, 106 min, Not Rated, Directed by Paul Morrison
official site

KNOWLEDGE IS THE BEGINNING Monday, November 20 3:30 PM

Knowledge is the Beginning
US Premiere

For many years, conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim has worked towards reconciling Arabs and Israelis. Based on the notion that "music is the language of peace," Barenboim and comparative literature professor Edward Said brought together Arab and Israeli musicians, along with a handful of German artists, to perform in Weimar on the 250th anniversary of the birth of Goethe. Also participating in this bold experiment in 1999 was Yo-Yo Ma. The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a name derived from a collection of poems by Goethe, today embraces eighty Arab and Israeli musicians aged thirteen to twenty-six. Director Paul Smaczny has followed the orchestra since its inception. The film chronicles all five summer workshops in Weimar and Seville, Barenboim's visit to Ramallah and Jerusalem in May 2004-during which he received the prestigious Wolf Prize at the Knesset-as well as the celebrated concert in Geneva and highlights of the 2005 European tour.

Germany, 2005, 115 min, Not Rated, Directed by Paul Smaczny

FATELESS Monday, November 20 6:30 PM

Fateless

"More than just another Holocaust memoir, FATELESS is something special: an unforgettable portrait of grief and hope, loss and transcendence."—Rex Reed, NEW YORK OBSERVER

FATELESS, which had its world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, represents the directorial debut of Oscar-nominated cinematographer Lajos Koltai (Malèna, Being Julia) and boasts a screenplay by Nobel Prize winner Imre Kertész. Set in 1944, as Hitler's Final Solution becomes policy throughout Europe, FATELESS is the semi-autobiographical tale of a 14 year-old Jewish boy from Budapest, who finds himself swept up by cataclysmic events beyond his comprehension. A perfectly normal metropolitan teen who has never felt particularly connected to his religion, he is suddenly separated from his family as part of the rushed and random deportation of his city's large Jewish population. Brought to a concentration camp, his existence becomes a surreal adventure in adversity and adaptation, and he is never quite sure if he is the victim of his captors, or of an absurd destiny that metes out salvation and suffering arbitrarily. When he returns home after liberation, he misses the sense of community he experienced in the camps, feeling alienated from both his Christian neighbors who turned a blind eye to his fate, and the Jewish family friends who avoided deportation and who now want to put the war behind them.

Hungary/Germany/UK, 2005, 140 min, Rated R, Directed by Lajos Koltai, Hungarian with English subtitles
official site