A scene from the musical melodrama Bar Mitzvah (1935; Yiddish,
with English subtitles), which screens 2 p.m. Sunday, May 15, at
the Berman Center for the Performing Arts
Elizabeth Applebaum
Sp0cL..
Event
Special to the Jewish News
W Nether it's an over-
the-top event featur-
ing Destiny's Child
and held on a private island in
the French Riviera (like the
party for Brandon Green, son
of British billionaire Philip
Green) or a small service
followed by a Kiddush with
gefilte fish and salads, a
bar or bat mitzvah is a
once-in-a-lifetime occa-
sion.
This year, the Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan Detroit's Lenore
Marwil Jewish Film Festival turns 13,
which means a great celebration but no
obligatory gifts to buy, no DJ playing
Ke$ha's "Tik Tok" over and over and,
best of all, no speeches delivered with all
the excitement of an adult contemporary
radio station.
In short, it's pure fun.
This year's film festival will feature
more than 40 films plus events and
programs and activities, many of which
will be held at the JCC's new Berman
Center for the Performing Arts in West
Bloomfield.
"We are excited to have a permanent
home at the new Berman Center for
the Performing Arts," said Film Festival
Chair Eric Lumberg."This fantastic the-
ater will help the Lenore Marwil Jewish
Film Festival grow even more. Our plan
is to expand film screenings throughout
the years and try new things. Come see a
film you won't find anywhere else in our
state-of-the-art theater, where there is
not a bad seat in the house."
"Looking back on how much the
Lenore Marwil Jewish Film Festival has
grown over the past 13 years, I am in
awe of our community and its dedica-
tion to film and the arts:' added Film
Festival Director Shari Lebo. "Our festi-
val has grown to six locations this year-
and is reaching an ever wider audience
throughout the entire state of Michigan.
We have truly become "Michigan's
Jewish Film Festival," with locations
from here in Metro Detroit to Ann Arbor,
Flint and Kalamazoo. We have literally
scoured the globe to find the best films
possible and really hope that viewers
enjoy this 13th annual Jewish film fes-
tival."
Can't decide what to see?
Here are 13 (of course) films to get
you started.
Anita is the charming story of a
young girl lost and found.
Anita is Jewish and Argentinean,
and she has Down syndrome. She lives
with her mother in a world that is safe,
dependable, loving.
n addition to the film-related events
described in the 13 films profiled
in this article, this year's film fes-
tival also will include the following
programs, all at the Berman Center
for the Performing Arts in West
Bloomfield:
I
And then
Anita gets lost.
The winner of both the
Best Film and the Audience Award at
the 2009 International Latino Film
Festival, Anita is, in the words of actor
Edward James Olmos, one of the few
films that truly have "great universal
value."
Anita screens 8 p.m. Tuesday, May
17,at the Berman Center in West
Bloomfield; 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, May
18,at the Michigan Theater in Ann
Arbor; and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 19,
at the Flint Institute of Arts.
Bekowet: By the Will of G d
is the true story of a small
Ethiopian boy determined to live
despite the tragedy and despair that sur-
round him.
Bekowet was very sick and only 9
years old when he overheard his parents
whisper: "It would be better if he died."
But Bekowet wants to live, and so he
hobbles 60 miles to the nearest town,
where he discovers a Jewish doctor from
America named Rick Hodes. And that's
when a miracle happens.
Dr. Hodes also was the focus of
Marilyn Berger's unforgettable book,
This Is a Soul: The Mission of Rick Hodes.
Bekowet screens 2 p.m. Wednesday,
May 25, at the Berman Center in West
Bloomfield.
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0
Brothers is an Israeli film telling
the story of two brothers who
struggle to remain family despite their
profound differences.
One brother, Dan, has no interest in
religion and lives on a kibbutz. The other
brother, Aaron, is an observant man with
a doctorate in law and philosophy.
The two men haven't spoken in years.
And then they meet again in Jerusalem
when Aaron comes to defend the rights
of Torah students in Israel.
Brothers screens 5 p.m. Tuesday,
May 17, at the Uptown Palladium in
Birmingham; 2 p.m. Thursday, May
19,at the Berman Center in West
Bloomfield, followed by a talk-back
and refreshments; and 1:30 p.m.
Thursday, May 19,
at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor.
Holy Rollers is a true story of a
young observant Jew, the drug
world and redemption.
Sam Gold (Jesse Eisenberg, who
played Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg in The Social Network) is an
unassuming student in Brooklyn.
His neighbor, Yosef Zimmerman
(West Bloomfield High School grad
Justin Bartha) is about to make him an
interesting offer: Could Sam help move
some "medicine" from Europe to the
United States?
So begins a breathtaking ride into the
world of ecstasy, drug cartels and deceit.
Holy Rollers screens 8 p.m. Wednesday,
May 18, at the Michigan Theater in Ann
Arbor; 9:30 p.m. Saturday, May 21, at
the Berman Center in West Bloomfield;
and 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 25, at the
David Adamay Undergraduate Library at
Wayne State University
The Human Resources
Manager, named Best Feature at
the 2011 Lenore Marwil Jewish
Film Festival, begins with a
corpse and ends with friendship.
A human resources manager at
Israel's largest bakery is in a car with a
young Russian woman's dead body. Her
name is Yulia, and she was killed in a
suicide bombing.
But no one comes to claim her body.
The human resources manager at the
bakery where Yulia worked must now
deal with this curious situation — along
with the odd check found on the dead
woman's body.
The Human Resources Manager is
a story of loneliness and a search for
meaning, and how a group of seemingly
lost souls bind together even in the face
of great despair.
The Human Resources Manager
screens 8 p.m. Sunday, May 15, at the
Berman Center in West Bloomfield; 8
0
Lucky Thirteen on page 46
• FLIPCLIPS, a program of short films
created by Jewish teens in Southeast
Michigan in conjunction with Detroit
Public Television, award-winning
filmmakers Sue Marx and Allyson
Fink Rockwell, and the Federation's
Alliance for Jewish Education, will be
presented 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 22.
A group of teens set off on a jour-
ney designed to connect them to
Detroit and their Jewish community.
Becoming modern-day storytellers,
they produced a series of short films
showcasing Detroit and considering
what makes this community a one-of-
a-kind. FLIPCLIPS also airs on Detroit
Public TV-Channel 56 2:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 15.
•Edie and Thea: A Very Long
Engagement is the story of Edie
Windsor and Thea Spyer, whose
engagement spanned more than
40 years. Following the film pre-
sentation 8 p.m. Wednesday, May
18, Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for
the American Civil Liberties Union-
Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender
Project, and Edie Windsor will speak
via videoconference.
•Jaffa is the story of a young
Palestinian man and an Israeli woman
who fall in love. Following the film
presentation 8 p.m. Monday, May
16, at the Berman Center in West
Bloomfield, Rabbi Tamara Kolton of
the Birmingham Temple will speak.
•Five Hours from Paris is a surpris-
ing love story from Israel. Following
the 5 p.m. Sunday, May 22, showing,
Rabbi Jason Miller of Congregation
rchiyah will lead a discussion.
•Jubanos is the true story of the
1,500 Jews who still remain in Cuba.
Following the 2 p.m. Tuesday, May 24,
screening, JCC Travel Director Marilyn
Wolfe will lead a discussion.
•Shorts Program, presented 5 p.m.
Tuesday, May 24, features local film-
maker David Devries. LI
- Elizabeth Applebaum
3N
May 12 a 2011
45