The 19th Annual Boston Jewish Film Festival
Now through November 11
At almost every theater in town
Official site
Sometimes film festivals aim to achieve a specific tone each year, or they provide selections that fit neatly into certain genres. This year's Boston Jewish Film Festival selections are unruly. They won't be boxed in. Even when it comes to their screenings, specific movies might be hard to find because they are popping up all over town. But a few movies stand out, and we've listed them with their showtimes.
Sunday, November 4, 8:00 pm, Coolidge Corner Theatre
HotHouse
Shimon Dotan, documentary, 89 minutes, USA, 2006
More info.
This documentary covers the lives affected by the Israel-Palestine struggle without abbreviating everything into quick, nightmarish TV news shots of bomb victims and fear in the streets. Hothouse goes inside an Israeli prison that holds ten thousand Palestinian prisoners and interviews the captives and the captors. The subject matter is controversial and contemporary because the film discusses whether or not such prisons are increasing terrorism and suicide bombings. Director Shimon Dotan told IndieWire: "I think the audience will leave with many questions and a few answers."
Image from HotHouse from IndieWire. More BJFF picks after the jump!
Sunday, November 4, 4:15 pm, MFA
The Powder & the Glory
Ann Carol Grossman, Arnie Reisman, documentary, 90 minutes, USA, 2007
More info. This screening is the world premiere and is sold out; head to the standby line to get in. The 2:00 pm matinee at Coolidge Corner Theatre is not sold out.
Beauty is a big business, so competition between companies is always intense, but it was personal between Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubenstein, and it wasn't pretty.
Tuesday, November 6, Hollywood Hits Premiere Theatre in Danvers
Sweet Mud
Dror Shaul, drama, 100 minutes, Israel/Germany, 2006
More info, including news on later showings at the MFA and Arlington Capitol Theatre.
On paper, this award-winning Israeli drama looks like any other coming-of-age flick. However, the movie is set on a kibbutz, which is supposed to be--in theory--a mini-Utopia. That vision falls apart when a boy's mother begins to go mad, and the kibbutz simply can't respond to her problems, leaving the boy as her caretaker. The problems with the kibbutz are summed up in an early scene between a cow and a human being. Let's leave it at that.
Wednesday, November 7, Coolidge Corner Theatre
Making Trouble
Rachel Talbot, documentary, 85 minutes, USA, 2006
More info. This is sold out; head to the standby line to get in.
Sadly, a debate still rages over whether or not women are funny, and Bostonist still thinks a bunch of female comedians got robbed at the Boston Comedy Festival. This documentary, produced by Brookline's Jewish Women's Archive, should settle the argument with profiles of six Jewish performers--Sophie Tucker, Molly Picon, Fanny Brice, Joan Rivers, Wendy Wasserstein, and Gilda Radner. You think women aren't funny? Hello? Gilda? The Making Trouble screening will also include a performance by Cory Kahaney from Last Comic Standing.
Image from the BJFF website.
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