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
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