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Out of 456
entries received
from 33 countries
around the world,
A scene from Boris's Complete Book of Rules
Manhattan Short
selected 12 final
You Be The Judge
films, all of which
With past finalists going on to be nomi-
are 12 minutes and under in length.
nated and even win the Oscar in the
Countries represented include the U.S.A,
short film category, thus gaining entry to
Australia, Canada, the U.K., Kenya, Israel,
the Hollywood mainstream, the Annual
Spain, Singapore and Germany in what
Manhattan Short Film Festival has become festival organizers describe as a "cinematic
known as one of the breeding grounds for
Olympiad."
"the next big thing."
In one week, more than 50,000 people
Filmgoers in the Metro Detroit area
from as far north as St. Petersburg, Russia,
will unite with audiences in 98 other cit-
to as far south as Buenos Aires, Argentina,
ies across three continents to view and
will view and vote on the 12 finalists.
judge the next generation of filmmakers
They include Canadian filmmaker Josh
when the 10th Manhattan Short screens
Raskin, whose submission is titled I Met
at Emagine Novi 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. the Walrus.
27.
In 1969, 14-year-old Jerry Levitan snuck

into John Lennon's
Toronto hotel room
and secured an inter-
view with him for
"a chat about peace."
Thirty-eight years later,
Raskin made a movie
about it. Using the
original recording as
the soundtrack, Raskin
romances Lennon's every word in "a cas-
cading flood of multi-pronged animation."
Also on the bill is Israeli director Shefy
Malek's Boris's Complete Book of Rules.
A former actress, Malek made a film
about a janitor named Boris who makes
his way into the men's room only to find a
young man named Ofer holed up in a stall
while his girlfriend, Avishag, begs him to
come out. After mediating, Boris dictates
his book of rules to Avishag.
It's "about how one can determine one's
own self-worth:' says Malek.
Here's how the Manhattan Short voting
works. Filmgoers will be handed a voting
card upon entry to the theater and asked
to vote for the one film they feel should
win. Votes are tallied at each cinema and
forwarded to the festival's headquarters,
where the winner will be announced at
Union Square Park in New York City on

Sunday, Sept. 30, at 9:15 p.m. and posted
on wwwMSfilmfest.com by 10 p.m.
"While the goal of any festival is to
discover and promote future talent, the
ultimate aim of this festival is to bring
communities together via 12 stories from
around the world:' says Nicholas Mason,
Manhattan Short founder and director.
"From what started when I projected a
handful of short films onto the side of a
truck on a street in downtown Manhattan
10 years ago, to where it is now, blows my
mind. Our goal is to eventually have this
festival screen in every continent around
the world during the same week:' adds
Mason.
In an ongoing effort to engage audienc-
es worldwide, the Manhattan Short Web
site's blog will come alive during the week
of the festival, Sept. 23-30; attendees can
share their thoughts on the finalist films at
www.MSfilmfest.corn.
The site also contains interviews with
the filmmakers and behind-the-scenes
footage of festival events.
Ticket prices are $9 adults, $7 students
and seniors. To purchase tickets, log on
to www.emagine-entertainment.com , call
(888) 319-3456 or go to the box office at
Emagine Novi.

Jews

Nate Bloom
Special to the Jewish News

Film Front

The college comedy Sydney White,
opening Friday, Sept. 21, is loosely
based on the story
of Snow White.
Joe Nussbaum, the
director, says the
film is different
from almost all the
teen-oriented film
comedies that have
Amanda
opened recently. The
Bynes
humor, he says, is
appropriate for the whole family.
Sydney centers on a young woman
(Amanda Bynes) rather than the
usual adolescent guys.
As the movie
begins, the beautiful
but evil president
(Sara Paxton) of
Sydney's snooty
sorority has her
expelled. Sydney
then moves in with
Sarah Paxton
seven "dorky" guys,

44

September 20 • 2007

two of whom are played by Jewish
actors Samm Levine and Danny
Strong.
The dorks want to end control of
the student government by snobby
frat boys and sorority girls and even-
tually enlist Sydney
in their election
campaign. The dorks
reach out to every
small minority on
campus, including
a group of Chasidic
Jewish students;
Samm Levine
there is a fun scene
in which Sydney
watches the Chasids — played by
members of the Jewish Student
Union at Central Florida University
— dance.
Sydney White is Nussbaum's first
major film. He's a relatively rare
Hollywood director: an observant
Jew who keeps kosher. Nussbaum
had no say in the film's opening date
(Yom Kippur) but wanted do some-
thing special because of the film's
awkward scheduling.
So, he created a special, fun

film trailer for the
Jewish commu-
nity that's now on
YouTube. Without
spoiling it for you,
I can say that the
trailer
highlights the
- z)
fact
that
five of the
Danny Strong
cast members are
Jewish (including
pretty newcomer Libby Mintz in a
small role).
Go to: www.youtube.com/
watch?v=on2v75oxBVU.
Also opening Friday is Eastern
Promises, the first movie from
Canadian Jewish director David
Cronenberg since his 2005 hit, The
History of Violence. The film covers
the relationship between a member
of a Russian organized crime fam-
ily (Viggo Mortensen) and a young
woman (Naomi Watts).

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TV Premieres

There are more than a few Jewish
performers in this fall's new series.
This column will cover them over the
next few weeks.

ABC's Dancing
with the Stars is a
ratings winner. Co-
hosted by the lovely
Samantha Harris,
a new season of
shows begins 8 p.m.
Marc Cuban
Monday, Sept. 24.
This year's lineup
of dancers includes publicity hound
Marc Cuban, 49, the billionaire
owner of the Dallas Mavericks
NBA team; still-classy actress
Jane Seymour, 56 (Seymour's late
father was Jewish); and actress Tor!
Spelling, 34, who is rarely described
as "classy" and has
basically segued
from "actress" to
reality-show star.
Josh Gad, 27,
has a large sup-
porting role as a
stressed-out TV
Josh Gad
news producer in
the new FOX sit-
corn Back to You, starring Kelsey
Grammar (Frasier) and Patricia
Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond).