By Ronn Torossian NEW YORK –The Avengers opened this weekend to the biggest film opening of all time – making over $200 million at the box office in a single weekend in cinemas in North America, and set to become one of only a handful of movies to gross $1 billion worldwide. Unknown to many [...]
By Rabbi Dow Marmur JERUSALEM — Harbour of Hope is a new documentary by the Swedish filmmaker Magnus Gertten. It describes how, in the last days of World War II, his country rescued thousands of inmates from Nazi concentration camps. The opening scene shows old footage of a girl looking into the camera. It’s my [...]
HOLLYWOOD (Press Release)–Academy Award nominee Jonah Hill will be honored with the 2012 IFF Achievement in Film Award at the 26th Awards Gala of the Israel Film Festival taking place on Thursday, March 15 at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California. Restoration, which was directed by Yossi Madmoni, will have its Los Angeles premiere as the [...]
By Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel CHULA VISTA, California –Liam Neeson has always been one of my favorite actors in Hollywood. His films have often been stimulating, entertaining, and often contemplative. His latest film, The Grey, disturbs me for many reasons. It is surprising to see Hollywood produce a movie that portrays [...]
By Yvonne and Paul Greenberg SAN DIEGO — Speaking about this year’s Joyce Forum in a recent phone interview, its founder, Joyce Axelrod, proudly pointed out that this year’s shorts program (Shorts in Winter) received a record number of submissions, 100, that almost overwhelmed the all-volunteer curating committee consisting of herself, Claudia and Mark [...]
By David Amos SAN DIEGO–We are very fortunate to have in San Diego a yearly film festival on Jewish subjects that never ceases to be interesting, provocative, educational, and entertaining. This year is no exception. Starting February 9 and ending the 19th, there are many interesting choices available. Due to my various activities in the [...]
By Paul Greenberg SAN DIEGO — “I may not believe in God, I wish to hell I believed in God, but I believe in the devil,” explained the reclusive and nutty musical genius Phil Spector near the end of the strangely captivating and at times disturbing documentary film, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil [...]
By Yvonne Greenberg LA JOLLA, California — Dolphin Boy is an endearing yet heart-breaking film which left me feeling upbeat. Dolphin therapy helps the main character recover his lost communication skills. The plot reveals a deep love for family, boyfriend, and girlfriend, and a newly acquired one for dolphins. . Morad, an Israeli-Arab teen, [...]
By Yvonne Greenberg SAN DIEGO — Not only does the movie Salsa Tel Aviv focus on cultural aspects of Mexico’s and Israel’s lifestyles of the young and marriageable, but also features a modern plot for Mexico’s contemporary females. A young and very attractive female from Mexico City is travelling to Israel to look for [...]
By Jack Forman SAN DIEGO — Joel Fendelman is a young independent film producer and director whose feature-length documentary film Needle Through Brick (which is about the development of Kung Fu) recently won the Silver Palm award at the Mexico International Film Festival. In making his first feature film David, Fendelman has drawn on his [...]
