46 February 7 • 2019
jn

continued from page 44
arts&life

“I think this film shows that what 
you teach your kids can end up biting 
you,
” Nattiv says. “In Hebrew, there’
s 
a saying about fathers eating bad fruit 
and spoiling their kids’
 teeth. It means 
if parents teach bad habits and bad 
stuff, the kids’
 generation is going to 
suffer from it.
”

WORK AND FAMILY
Before working on both films titled 
Skin, Nattiv directed Strangers, The 
Flood (nominated for six Israeli 
Academy Awards and winning for Best 
Actor) and Magic Men (also a Best 
Actor winner at the Israeli Academy 
Awards).
“My wife and I work well together 
because we can balance each other,
” 
says Nattiv, who met Newman through 
an acquaintance of her sister. “We 
have the same tastes and vibes, but we 
have different roles [as films are being 
made], and that helps. Jaime gives me 
feedback on everything I write. We 
have our differences sometimes, but, 
mostly, we think the same, and I would 
call it harmony.
”
Nattiv, impacted by grandparents 
who moved to Israel after surviving 
the Holocaust, cherishes family, from 

4-month-old Alma to the grandmother 
he acquired through marriage — 
Phyllis Newman, a Franklin resident.
When the Oscar nominations were 
being announced on television, the 
couple Facetimed with Phyllis so they 
could watch together.
“I got up early to hear the first 
announcements, and it was so excit-
ing,
” says Phyllis, accustomed to 
watching her great-granddaughter on 
Facetime and looking forward to an 
in-person meetup being planned for 
Michigan. “I’
m so happy for Jaime and 
Guy. They’
re a down-to-earth couple 
well-suited for each other.
” 
As the Newman-Nattiv extend-
ed family anticipates the Academy 
Awards, the filmmakers themselves are 
moving on to new projects.
“Skin has been the first production 
I’
ve done with my husband, but we’
ve 
acquired the rights to a slew of true 
stories,
” says Newman, who attend-
ed services at Congregation Shaarey 
Zedek before moving to California. 
“My husband has just about finished 
his next script. It’
s based on a true 
story about a grandmother who was a 
Holocaust survivor and moved from 
Israel to join a cult in Virginia.
” ■

In another cinema series at the Detroit 
Film Theatre, The 2019 Academy Award 
Nominated Short Films – Documentary,”
there will be an important contender 
related to the Holocaust — A Night at 
the Garden.
The film, which takes place in 
1939, explores the outlook of 20,000 
Americans who rallied in New York’
s 
Madison Square Garden to celebrate 
the rise of Nazism. The film uses archi-

val fragments recorded that night and 
transports modern audiences into this 
alarming gathering to show the power 
that anti-Semitism and demagoguery 
can have in the United States.
The film was directed by Marshall 
Curry and produced by Curry, Laura 
Poitras and Charlotte Cooke. It can be 
seen Feb. 9-23. $7.50-$9.50 for series. 
(313) 833-7900. dia.org/events.

Holocaust Film Nominated

Scene from A Night at 
 the Garden

LaFata Cabinets are manufactured

right here in Southeast Michigan


FREE In-Home

Estimates

Full Remodeling


Quality Custom

Cabinetry

