arts & entertainment Cinetopia! Screening 30 movies both new and classic — over four days, a new film festival debuts in Ann Arbor. Suzanne Chessler Contributing Writer L Ann Arbor isa Rudin approaches the Cinetopia International Film Festival as film- maker, fan and friend and plans to be in Ann Arbor May 31-June 3, when 30 movies, classic and new, will be screened and related programs will be offered. Rudin is sure to check audience reaction to Missed Connections, the film she pro- duced, and watch To Kill a Mockingbird, one of her favorites, as she sets up her schedule. She also will contact moviemak- ers she met in Cleveland as they showed /Am Not a Hipster, about a young singer- songwriter facing tragedy. "These festivals are wonderful because they get people out to see films they love and introduce them to new films," says Rudin, 29, who gave some fresh thoughts to her Jewish heritage while assisting Bill Maher as he worked on his film Religulous. Movies and programs will be divided among the Michigan Theater, the, State Theater, Angell Hall and the Ann Arbor Library. Special programs include an explora- tion of 60 years of 3-D films and 3-D film technology, a celebration of the work of University of Michigan screenwriting grad David Newman (Bonnie & Clyde, What's Up, Doc? and Superman) and a recollec- tion of the silent film comedy of Harold Lloyd. The recent success Hugo will be shown in 3-D. Cinetopia, in its inaugural year, kicks off four days of events with a party that features an image gallery of the films hap- pening throughout the weekend and inter- active touchscreens to see selected trailers and find out more information about the festival. Among the new films is Hello I Must Be Going, about a young woman, named Amy Minsky, moving back with her parents and connecting romantically with a teenager she meets at a party. Favorite classic feature films include Casablanca and The Sting. U-M grad David Newman wrote the screenplay The films scheduled for Cinetopia for 1972's What's Up, Doc?, starring Barbra include documentaries as well Streisand. as features produced around the world. Harold Lloyd's granddaugh- Sacha Baron Cohen films Bruno and The ter, Suzanne, curator of the Harold Lloyd Dictator. Trust, will be a presenter. "Missed Connections reminded us why Rudin explains that most people we got into the film business:' Rudin says. involved with Missed Connections were "Our earlier festival experiences have friends and donated their pay back to the found enthusiastic audiences:' project, which explores, in comedic terms, the experiences of a guy trying to get over a traumatic breakup with his girlfriend. The Cinetopia International Film He tricks women on the Internet, ulti- Festival runs May 31-June 3 in Ann mately meeting a woman who may be as Arbor. Films will be screened at the devious as he is. Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty; Rudin brings a diverse background to State Theater, 233 S. State; Angell this film. She began working in news and Hall, 435 S. State; and the Ann political media before joining the staff Arbor Library, 343 S Fifth Ave. $12- of Bill. Maher's Real Time on HBO. While $15 for individual tickets; $96-$120 working on Religulous, she met direc- for group vouchers; $60-$75 for tor Larry Charles and joined his team opening party. www.michtheater.org/ for HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm and the cinetopia. ❑ Jews Nate Bloom Special to the Jewish News Film Notes The first two Men in Black movies (1997, 2002) were huge box-office hits. So, of course, they've made another — this time in 3-D. Men in Black 3, which opens Friday, May 25, again stars Will Smith as Agent J, who learns that the life of Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) and the future of Planet Earth are at risk. J must time-travel to 1969 to stop an alien criminal named Boris and change the course of history. He teams up with the young version of Agent K (Josh Brolin) to stop Boris within 24 hours — or be trapped in the past forever. Barry Sonnenfeld, 59, who directed the first two Men movies, helms this one, too. He began as a top cin- ematographer and then was tapped in 1991 to direct the first of two Addams Family movies. They were hits, as was his next film, Get Shorty (1995). Steven Spielberg then asked Sonnenfeld to direct the first Men movie (Spielberg has pro- duced all three). Etan Cohen, 38, who was born in Israel Cohen and grew up mostly 106 May 24 • 2012 in the States, co-wrote this one. A graduate of the prestigious Modern Orthodox Maimonides School outside Boston and of Harvard College, he wrote for TV comedies until his script for Tropic Thunder, a 2008 film farce co-starring and co-written by Ben Stiller, 46, made him an in-demand film writer. Also opening Friday, May 25, is Bernie, a comedic film directed by Richard Linklater in which assistant funeral director Bernie Tiede (Jack Black, 42) befriends Marjorie Nugent (Shirley MacLaine), an affluent Texas Black widow as well known for her sour attitude as for her fortune. He handles her affairs, but when it's discovered she's been dead for some time, Bernie is charged with her murder. As reported by JTA, Polish director Roman Polanski's next film, titled D, will be a political thriller based on the Dreyfus Affair. Alfred Dreyfus was a French Jewish army officer who was falsely convicted of treason in 1894. In the ensuing 12-year battle to clear his name, anti-Semitism played a major factor. TV NOTES The HBO original movie Hemingway & Gellhorn premieres at 9 p.m. Monday, May 28. The biographical drama recounts the passionate love affair (1936-39) and tumultuous mar- riage (1940-45) of literary master Ernest Hemingway (Clive Owen) and trailblazing war correspondent Martha Gellhorn (Nicole Kidman) as it follows the adventurous writers through the Spanish Civil War (1936- 39) and beyond. Gellhorn (1908-98) had three Jewish grandparents and was raised secular in St. Louis. She was among the first journalists to reach the liberated Dachau concentra- tion camp at the end of World War II, and the experience Gellhorn changed her. She embraced her Jewish background and became a passionate and life-long supporter of Israel. A supporting (real-life) character in the film is photographer Robert Capa (1913-54), a Hungarian Jew, who took iconic photos of the Spanish Civil War and, later, the Israeli War of Independence. Peter Coyote, 70, plays Max Perkins, Hemingway's liter- ary editor. The film is directed Phillip Kaufman, 75. The NBC celebrity roots show Who Do You Think You Are? recently featured actress Rashida Jones (Community), 36. The episode can be viewed online until September; and the website version (just google the show title) includes a couple of deleted scenes, family photos and a written recap. Jones is the daughter of Jewish actress Peggy Lipton, 65, best known for the '60s TV series Mod Squad, and her ex-husband, famous African- American composer/producer Quincy Jones. Rashida was raised Jewish and firmly identifies as Jewish in a religious sense. She already knew a lot about her father's ancestry so she Jones opted to explore her maternal grandmoth- er's life and ancestry. Her grandmother was born into the small, but vibrant, Irish Jewish com- munity, and Jones traveled first to Dublin. She learned that her Irish Jewish ancestors originally were from Latvia so she traveled there to learn more. The whole episode was fasci- nating, but the ending, which I won't LT reveal, was extraordinarily moving.