arts & life

f i lm

l
a
v
i
t
s
Fe s
e
v
a
F

From Norman Lear: JAVOY

Suzanne Chessler | Contributing Writer

The annual Cinetopia
Festival is in full swing
in Metro Detroit —
bringing with it film
critic Leonard Maltin.

Leonard Maltin

52 June 9 • 2016

A

s a Jew, film historian
and reviewer Leonard
Maltin relates to
Jewish-themed cinema —
favorite big-screen productions
reach from Counsellor at Law,
released in 1933 and starring
John Barrymore, to Dough,
released in 2015 and starring
Jonathan Pryce.
While Maltin won’t be focus-
ing on Jewish films during
three upcoming presentations
in Michigan, he will take
advantage of opportunities to
watch movies with Jewish con-
tent along with selections by
Jewish filmmakers.
The programming is part
of Cinetopia, a 50-film festi-
val running through June 12
in Detroit, Ann Arbor and
Dearborn.
Maltin, who visited the
Detroit Film Theatre in the
1980s to discuss his book
about animated cartoons, will
update the topic after a June 11
showing of short productions
from Disney Studios scheduled
at the Redford Theater.
The next afternoon, he will
be joined by animator Andreas
Deja (The Lion King, Aladdin)
at the Michigan Theater in

Ann Arbor to discuss a screen-
ing of Tyrus, a documentary
about a Chinese immigrant
who overcame prejudice and
advanced as a Disney artist.
Later, the historian-reviewer
will introduce a screening of
Bambi, released in 1942 and
encompassing the art of Tyrus
Wong, the subject of the docu-
mentary.
“I’ve met the filmmaker
of Tyrus, and I’m so glad
she made the film,” Maltin
says in a phone conversation
from his California home.
“Documenting this remarkable
man’s life is well worth doing.
He has commanded tremen-
dous respect.
“Asian immigrants had their
own challenges, especially
here in California. People were
afraid of miscegenation and
the thought of a white person
marrying a Chinese person.”
Like Jewish immigrants
who found many career paths
closed to them, Wong found
success through show busi-
ness. Jewish immigrants were
able to become involved with
every facet of entertainment as
theater owners, motion picture
producers and actors, Maltin

explains, because these options
early on were considered
slightly disreputable so barriers
were lightened.
“I want to see a lot of the
films at Cinetopia,” says Maltin,
who posts movie reviews and
film festival journals on his
website, leonardmaltin.com.
“There’s a very impressive
lineup of films in every way at
this festival, and it’s a golden
opportunity for anyone who
loves movies and has open-
mindedness and curiosity. It
will turn out to be rewarding,
provocative and a repayment of
any investment of time.”
One example: “The Norman
Lear film was the opening film
at the Sundance Film Festival,”
he says, “where they thought
enough of it to give it that very
prominent showcase.”
Norman Lear: JAVOY (Just
Another Version of You), direct-
ed by Detropia filmmakers
Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady,
recounts the television suc-
cess of this Jewish writer and
producer whose hit sitcoms, All
in the Family, Maude and The
Jeffersons, pointedly explored
prejudice.
“The great thing about a

film festival is that it exposes
films to an audience that might
not get another chance to see
them,” Maltin says. “Some of
these films will play in the-
aters, but they may not play in
Detroit-area theaters.
“The other thing about a fes-
tival is that it encourages peo-
ple to try different films. If just
one of these individual titles
was playing somewhere, then
it would have to rise or fall on
its own reputation. When it’s
curated as part of a festival, a
person might give it try.”
Productions featuring Jewish
content or made by Jewish
filmmakers include Baba Joon,
an Israeli film directed by
Yuval Delshad. It examines the
intergenerational struggles of
a Persian immigrant family. In
this story, expressed in Hebrew
and Persian with English sub-
titles, a son does not want to
continue with family farming.
A documentary about
finding the right clothes at a
storied business, Suited tells
of Bindle & Keep, a bespoke
Brooklyn tailor shop where
bar mitzvah outfitting comes
into play as directed by Jason
Benjamin and executive pro-