36 August 15 • 2019
jn

celebrity jews
arts&life

WOODSTOCK 50TH 
Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a 
Generation is a new offering in the PBS 
American Experience series. 
It premieres Saturday, Aug. 
17, at 8 p.m. (KQED). The film 
is directed by and co-written 
by Barak Goodman, 56, who 
helmed several very good 
documentaries and has been 
Emmy- and Oscar-nominated. 
Goodman uses interviews 
with concertgoers, musicians, 
festival producers and staff to 
tell the story of Woodstock’
s 
“miracles,” including finding 
a venue and that nearly 
half a million concertgoers 
remained peaceful and 
helped each other in trying 
conditions. The film makes 
the point Woodstock emerged 
as a tangible manifestation of 
the ’
60s counterculture ideals 
of peace, love and cooper-
ation. 
Still, I wish Goodman had 
mentioned the word “Jewish” 
just once. Four guys, all 
Jewish, came together to 
create the festival and all are 
interviewed: Artie Kornfeld, 
now 76, Michael Lang, now 
74, Joel Rosenman, now 77, 
and John Roberts, who died 
in 2001 at age 56. It’
s clear, 
after speaking to Kornfeld in 
2009, that being mensches 
guided them. 
The film chronicles how the 
festival lost its original venue 
when the town of Walkill, N.Y., 
shut it down. Only a month 
before the date, Lang and 
Kornfeld rented the dairy farm 
of Max Yasgur (1919-1973). 
Yasgur appeared at his town’
s 
zoning board. His son, the late 
Sam Yasgur, told me in 2009 
that his father, a conservative 
Republican, lectured the 
board on freedom and how 
freedom included hippies, and that hippies 
had a right to be in town. Max ended with 
what Sam Yasgur called his knock-out 
punch, “Facing the [board] directly with 
something that had long rankled him 

about them, Max said: ‘
What are you 
planning to do next? Are you going to try 
to throw me out of town because I am a 
Jew?’
” The board backed off. 
 
AT THE MOVIES
The Art Of Racing In The Rain is based 
on a best-selling novel of 
the same named by Garth 
Stein, 54. The screenplay is 
by Mark Bomback, 47.
Enzo, a dog, narrates the 
film. Enzo is not a dog in the 
sense we usually perceive 
a dog to be. He is witty, 
philosophical and aware, 
via TV watching, of a legend 
“prepared” dogs will be 
reincarnated in their next life 
as a human. He prepares 
for the next life by carefully 
watching his owner, Denny. 
He learns much about 
Formula One race car driv-
ing because Denny is an 
aspiring driver. Enzo realizes 
many aspects of race driving 
apply to navigating life. Enzo 
is very attached to Denny, 
his wife and their daughter. 
I won’
t spoil it by disclosing 
the tough turns in Denny’
s 
life or Enzo’
s role in helping 
him during those hard times. 
The Red Sea Diving 
Project, a Netflix original, is 
now streaming. This drama 
tells the true efforts of the 
Israeli Mossad to rescue 
thousands of Ethiopian 
Jews in 1981. Many hid in a 
Sudan resort (near the Red 
Sea) before being transport-
ed. The film was directed 
and written by Israeli Gideon 
Raff, 46, who shared an 
Emmy for best writing, dra-
matic TV show (Homeland). 
Most of the film’
s char-
acters are Jewish, but only 
two major cast members 
are really Jewish (Israeli 
actress Alona Tal, 35, and 
Israeli actor Mark Avnir, 52, 
who was born in the Ukraine 
and came to Israel when he was 4 years 
old. Avnir plays the head of the Mossad.) 
Chris Evans, Ben Kingsley and Alessandro 
Nivola have co-starring roles. Nivola’
s 
paternal grandmother was Jewish. ■ 

NATE BLOOM

COLUMNIST

Alona Tal

VIA TOL FACEBOOK

Barak Goodman 

VIA GOODMAN TWITTER

Michael Lang, 1969

VIA LANG FACEBOOK

Garth Stein

SUSAN DOUPE PHOTOGRAPHY/GARTHSTEIN.COM

IChoseHeartland.com

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