Arts & Entertainment

Gail Zimmerman

Arts Editor

Piano Man

Born in 1979 in Voronezh, Russia, where he
attended one of the country's special music
schools for gifted children, pianist Kirill
Gerstein is one of
today's most promis-
ing new pianists.
He was the first-
prize winner at the
2001 Arthur
Rubinstein Piano
Competition in Tel
Aviv and was chosen
Kirill Gerstein
to receive a 2002
Gilmore Young Artist
Award, an honor given to young pianists
who have demonstrated significant potential
to develop outstanding performing careers
as concert artists.
Gerstein made his major orchestral debut
in September 2000 with the Zurich Tonhalle
Orchestra. Since then, he has performed
with many symphonies, including the Israel
Philharmonic; his summer festival recital
appearances include the Jerusalem Chamber

Music Festival.
In North America, Gerstein (who current-
ly resides in Freiburg, Germany, but became
an American citizen in September 2003) has
appeared at the Ravinia Festival with the
Chicago Symphony, at the 2002 and
2004 Gilmore Keyboard festivals, at the
Kennedy Center and, in November
2005, at Carnegie Hall. His debut recital
recording of works by Bach, Beethoven,
Scriabin and George Gershwin
arranged by Earl Wild was recently
released on the Oehms Classics label.
Gerstein performs 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 8, at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek Southfield as part of the
synagogue's Musical Elite Concert Series.
Cantor Meir Finkelstein makes a guest
appearance. Tickets are $8; RSVP to Gail at
(248) 357-5544.

Film Maven

Jessica Sanders is an Academy Award
nominated filmmaker, director, producer

and writer who works in both documen-
Sundance Film Festival and won the
tary and dramatic films.
Special Jury Prize. It tells the dramatic and
She produced the film
compelling story of the exonerated
Sing!, which was nomi-
— innocent men wrongfully impris-
nated for an Oscar for
oned for decades and then released
Best Short Documentary
after DNA evidence proved their
Film in 2002 and aired
innocence. The film focuses on the
nationally on PBS sta-
gripping story of seven men and
tions. Sing! is about a
their emotional journey back into
community children's
society and efforts to rebuild their
chorus, which amidst
lives.
cutbacks in the arts, is
After Innocence screens at the
able to become one of the Jessica Sande rs
Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit
Institute of Arts 7 and 9:30 p.m.
best children's choirs in
the country.
Friday and Saturday and 4 p.m.
Sanders, currently editing Pool King, a
Sunday, March 3-5. $6.50-$7.50.
short film shot underwater starring the
(313) 833-3237.
U.S. record holder for holding his breath
underwater, was a series associate produc-
er and camera operator on Dick Wolf's
NBC documentary series, Crime &
Punishment, and an associate producer on Janis Ian was born April 7, 1951, and grew
Twin Towers, the 2003 Oscar-winning doc- up on a New Jersey chicken farm. She
started playing the piano at 2, but
umentary short film.
switched to guitar at 10. The Jewish per-
Her feature documentary After
former's first song was written at 12 and
Innocence premiered at the 2005

Society's Child

FYI: For Arts related events that you wish to have considered for Out & About, please send the item, with a detailed description of the event, times, dates, place, ticket prices and publishable phone number, to: Gall Zimmerman, JN Out
& About, The Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern Highway, Suite 110, Southfield, MI 48034; fax us at (248) 304-8885; or e-mail to gzimmerman@thejewishnews.com . Notice must be received at least three weeks before the scheduled
event. Photos are appreciated but cannot be returned. All events and dates listed in the Out & About column are subject to change.

Jews

I Nate Bloom
1 Special to the Jewish News

TV Intermarriage

For quite some time, ABC played "hide-
the-kosher-salami" with new series
Sons and Daughters, whose main char-
acters are a non-Jewish guy and his
Jewish wife. The
couple has three
kids together
they are raising
Jewish.
The show's
star/creator,
actor Fred Goss,
isn't Jewish, but
his real-life wife Gillian Vigman and
is. The show is
Fred Goss play an
set just outside
intermarried couple
Cincinnati, in
raising their chil-
Hamilton, Ohio, dren Jewish in
but, of course, is ABC's "Sons &

Daughters."

38

March 2 2006

filmed in California. It will debut 9
p.m. Tuesday, March 7, on ABC.
A truth about network thinking:
Sons and Daughters never would have
made it to.the air if it was about a
Jewish man and a Jewish woman mar-
ried to each other. A "two-Jew" show,
TV execs always think, will be fatally
lacking in broad audience appeal.
(Meanwhile, Brokeback Mountain, a
movie about two gay cowboys, is cur-
rently making millions across the
whole.country and defying convention-
al marketing wisdom about what
broad-based audiences want.)

Oscar Un-Worthy

As you may have noticed from this
week's Jewish News cover story on
Jewish Oscar nominees, there is a
broad range of top Jewish talent in the
film industry.
However, let's face it, not every film

project a Jew is associated with turns
out great. Some Jews helped make
some real turkeys last year and are
candidates for Razzie Awards.
For More than 20 years, a little group
has given Razzie Awards to the worst
films, performers, screenplays, etc., of
the previous year. The Razzies will be
announced March 4, a day before the
Oscars. For $15, you can vote for the
Razzies by visiting www.razzies.com .
The 2005 Jewish Razzie nominees
include Nora Ephron and her sister
Delia Ephron. The Ephrons are nomi-
nated for their work on the movie ver-
sion of Bewitched, which starred Nicole
Kidman and was a critical and box-
office Stink bomb.
Now, Nora Ephron is a talented and
funny lady whose writing credits
include When Harry Met Sally and
Sleepless in Seattle, which she also
directed. But she hasn't had a hit in a

long time. Nora is up for a Razzie for
worst director; the sisters are up for
worst screenplay; and Bewitched also
- got a Razzie
nomination for
worst remake or
sequel.
Director

Lawrence
Guterman, a reli-

giously obser--
vant Jew, had a
big hit with the
Nora Ephron
animated/live-
action 2001 film
Cats and Dogs.
However, he's not getting any quality
seal, kosher or otherwise, for his 2005
movie Son of the Mask. This sequel to
the hit Jim Carrey movie The Mask has
earned Guterman a Razzie nomination
for worst director. Son also garnered
Razzie nominations for worst sequel