December 5-15, 2002
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Monday, December 9
110 minutes
Italian with English Subtitles
Director: Ettore Scola
Monday, December 9th, 1:00
pm
also screening Sunday, December
8th, 8:15 pm
Ettore Scola's Unfair Competition is a poignant depiction
of Italy under the rise of fascism in the late 1930s as
reflected through the experiences of two Roman tailors.
Umberto losing customers to his Jewish neighbor, Leone,
who continues to expand his no-frills haberdashery, overlap
Umberto's merchandise and undercut his prices. On the surface
drastically different, the rival families are actually quite
similar. Their two little boys, Pietrruccio and Lele, are
classmates and inseparable friends; their elder children,
Paolo and Susanna, are teenage sweethearts - that is until
1938 when Mussolini's discriminatory "race laws" are hurriedly
passed and enforced. Soon Italians of Jewish descent are
barred from owning radios, practicing certain professions
or sending their children to public schools. Initially,
Umberto stands tight lipped as these hardships are heaped
upon his neighbors. Yet, as Mussolini's shock troops press
down ever harder on Leone and his family, Umberto gradually
awakens to the injustice and the absurdity of these laws
and is moved to take action. Scola is the esteemed director
of such greats as We All Loved Each Other So Much
(1974), Down and Dirty (1976) and A Special Day
(1977). Co-starring acclaimed French actor Gerard Depardieu.
In cooperation with The Embassy of Italy; Istituto Italiano di Cultura
Welcoming Remarks: Martin Stiglio - Director, Istituto Italiano di Cultura
84 minutes
English
Director: Mirra Bank
Monday, December 9th, 6:30 pm
Creator of such beloved works as Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen, author and illustrator Maurice Sendak entered into new creative territory when he teamed with the world renowned Pilobolus Dance Theatre to create a ground-breaking dance piece about the Holocaust, "The Selection." On paper, this partnership seemed an ideal one; in practice, however, the sparks flew as the competing visual and physical energies of the writer, dancers, and artistic directors attempted to wrest control of the project from one another. When the dust settled, all involved succeeded in creating a beautiful, stark work that won rave reviews from critics and patrons alike. Director Mirra Bank provides an intimate, "fly on the wall" perspective of this dynamic, humorous (and often vexing) creative process.
In cooperation with Dance Place and Theater J
Special Guest: Mirra Bank, Director
89 minutes
Yiddish with English Subtitles
Director: Joseph Seiden
Monday, December 9th, 8:45pm
also screening Wednesday, December 11th, 1:00 pm
Set in the sweatshops of New York City's garment district, Motel The Operator is a classic Yiddish melodrama that also serves as an important historical document of the American labor movement. Motel, a poor but hard-working man, loving husband, and new father, leads garment workers in a strike for better working conditions. When he is severely injured by strike-breakers, his wife Esther and infant son are left destitute. The fate of her family now uncertain, Esther takes drastic measures to ensure the safety and health of her child. Newly restored and re-mastered, the film features superb performances by well known American-Yiddish actors, including the incomparable comic actress Yetta Zwerling. Rich in beautiful song, Motel The Operator is a standout in its genre, a bittersweet melodrama in the finest tradition of Yiddish theater.
In cooperation with Jews United for Justice; the DC Labor Film Festival; The Jewish Labor Committee and Yiddish of Greater Washington
Welcoming
Remarks (December 9th screening):
Aviva Kempner, Producer, Partisans of Vilna, and
Director, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg and
Today I Vote For My Joey.
with
My
Heart Belongs To Daddy
Sweden,
1999, 35mm
4 minutes
Yiddish
Director: Brita Landoff
Monday, December 9th, 8:45pm
also screening Wednesday, December 11th, 1:00 pm
A charming Yiddish rendition of the Cole Porter classic, Mayn Harts Gehert Tsum Tatn is beautifully and soulfully sung by Swedish actress Basia Frydman as she serenades her father in his barbershop (Film note adapted from New York Jewish Film Festival).
Co-sponsored by Yiddish of Greater Washington
THE WASHINGTON JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL
District of Columbia Jewish Community Center � Morris Cafritz Center for the Arts
1529 16th Street NW � Washington DC 20036 USA
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