LONDON CHOP HOUSE
DINE, DANCE 8. CELEBRATE
Claude Lanzmann with Benjamin Murmelstein in Last of the Unjust
NEW YEAR'S
EVE
-
2014
Entertainment 11
BETH STALKER
•
S elect New Year's
MENU
Tsahi Halevy and Shadi Mar'I in Bethlehem, Israel's official entry for this
RSVP 313 962-0277
year's Academy Awards
Forty Years from page 35
travelogues narrated by George Pierrot,
who also had a local television series.
Amid the vast variety of films pre-
sented at the DFT, some of the most
popular are part of an annual program
that showcases Academy Award-
nominated short films. They are run
for three weekends before the awards
ceremony.
Out of all the theaters that play
those films across the country, the
DFT has the largest attendance.
Many films have filled the theater
to capacity. Sex, Lies and Videotape,
scheduled 24 times over two weekends
in 1989, did not have an empty seat
throughout its showing.
Wilhelm, who is Jewish, can recall
and anticipate many productions with
Jewish themes and/or filmmakers.
Shoah, directed in 1985 by Claude
Lanzmann and running 91/2 hours, ran
six times and sold out for each per-
formance. Without archival footage, it
spotlights survivors talking about their
memories.
"People who saw the film swear
that there are images:' Wilhelm says.
"What they're remembering is what
their imaginations conjured:'
To commemorate Holocaust
Memorial Day in April 2014, Wilhelm
will present The Last of the Unjust, a
recently completed Lanzmann film built
around an interview with former rabbi
Benjamin Murmelstein, accused of col-
laborating with the Nazis as the last sur-
viving "Elder of the Jews" at Terezin. ,
"Errol Morris is a [another] great
documentary filmmaker, and we've
shown his films — Gates of Heaven,
The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War —
as they've been released:' Wilhelm says
about the documentarian with Jewish
heritage. "He believes that nonfic-
tion films trying to get at truth can be
works of art:'
Also on tap for the winter 2014 sea-
son is Bethlehem, which tells the story
of the complex relationship between
an Israeli Secret Service officer and
his teenage Palestinian informant,
and newly restored versions of silent
films by Alfred Hitchcock (four to be
shown this winter and five next fall),
presented as a joint venture of the BFI,
Rialto Pictures/Studiocanal and Park
Circus/ITV.
Wilhelm, sure to see the new releases
appearing in commercial movie houses
in addition to every release contem-
plated for the DFT, has never calculated
how many films he has seen. In one
year, just for fun, he estimated that he
rejected 15 films for every one chosen.
"The films themselves influence the
selection:' he says. "I'm not interested
in hearing what others have to say
before programming a film.
"I want films that are going to with-
stand the test of time and are significant
and important in some way. They must
represent the emotional and intellectual
honesty of the filmmakers while captur-
ing their passion for the subjects.
"My favorites are very instructive
and comforting with the feeling that
someone else is having a certain kind
of emotional or intellectual experience
that is similar to mine even in a cul-
ture that's quite different:'
Wilhelm explains how work has
become a continuation of his special
interest.
155
■ I I I
CIGARS Et COCKTAILS
ir
West Congress Detroit, Mi www.tlieLonclonChophouse.com
$1 OFF any Inspired or Regular Create Your Own
Turkey Burger ALL DAY EVERY-may.
7- 2o-kciay
Bloomfield • 6608 Telegraph Rd • 248.792.3579
Berkley • 2972 Coolidge Hwy • 248.543.3283
Forty Years on page 39
December 19 • 2013
37