[YSU-Jewish] Save the Date! Jewish Film Festival

[ysu-jewish at lists.ysu.edu]

Youngstown Area Jewish Film Festival will be held from September 10 – 
17, 2006.  

The Youngstown Area Jewish Film Festival will be held from September 10 
– 17, 2006.  It will be greatly expanded this year to include film 
screenings of major films, a panel discussion on one of the films, as 
well as screenings of competition films from emerging film makers.  
Films competing in the film festival will be screened at the Butler 
Museum of Art at noon, the McDonough Museum of Art at 4 pm and the 
Jewish Community Center at noon on September 11 – 15, 2006.  All 
competition films are free and open to the public.  For a complete list 
of films, film descriptions, locations and times, please consult the 
festival website at: http://www.ysu.edu/judaic/film_festival.html  
The following films will be screened as part of the festival: The 
Protocols of the Elders of Zion, The Ritchie Boys, Paper Clips, and 
Ushpizin.  The following films will be shown as part of the film 
competition: ...MORE THAN 1000 WORDS, Apart in The World, Biaat Ha 
Massiah, being steven spielberg, Citizen Stan, Jewz N the Hood, 
MAGIC(S), Marti - the passionate eye, Pituco, The Unbroken Circle and 
Variations on Being an Israeli Woman (Variatzyot al noseh: Liiyot 
Israelite). 

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion will be screened on Wednesday, 
September 13, 2006 at 7 pm in the Beeghley College of Education.  It 
will be followed by a panel discussion led by Bonnie Burdman on 
anti-Semitism in the USA after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 
2001. The documentary is about the rumor circulated in New York 
following the attacks that no Jews were killed in the bombings – they 
were warned to stay home. Director Marc Levin, in an effort to 
understand this latest anti-Semitic myth, grabs a camera and engages in 
a free-for-all dialogue with Arab Americans, Black nationalists, 
Christian evangelists, White supremacists, Kabbalist rabbis, Holocaust 
survivors, and the founder of the alarmingly popular Jew Watch website. 
Many of his subjects cite “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a 
notorious forgery created 100 years ago that purports to be the Jews’ 
master plan to rule the world, as the inspiration for their hate. Full 
of genuine curiosity, confrontational conversations, and moments of 
unexpected humor, the film creates a disconcerting portrait of modern 
civilization caught in the grip of an ancient hatred.
A number of major films will be screened at Austintown Cinema.  There 
is a nominal charge of $5 per person ($2 with a YSU student ID) for 
these screenings.  Among the films to be screened at Austintown Cinema 
are The Ritchie Boys which will be screened on Tuesday, September 12, 
2006 at 7 pm. The film tells the story of a brave group of German Jews 
who as teenagers had escaped the Nazis, and formed an elite U.S. 
intelligence unit during WWII. Their knowledge of the German language 
and psyche made them well-suited to their mission to break the German 
army’s morale. Also being screened at Austintown Cinema is a double 
feature showing of Paper Clips, and Ushpizin beginning at 1 pm on 
September 17, 2006.  Paperclips tells the story of two teachers in 
almost entirely white and Christian Whitwell, Tennessee (population 
2,000) who in 1998 teach a class on the Holocaust.  In their struggle 
to comprehend the unfathomable, the students challenge themselves to 
collect six million paper clips – one for each murdered Jew. This 
inspiring documentary tells the remarkable story of what happened to 
change the students, their teachers, their families and the entire 
town. 
Ushpizin is the light-hearted and charming fable of Moshe and Mali, 
devout Jews struggling financially and longing for a child. With the 
approach of Sukkot, the fall harvest festival, they pray for a miracle. 
When two suspicious characters from Moshe’s secular past arrive, the 
couple welcomes them into their sukkah as a test of faith and 
commitment. 
New this year will be a competition element to the Youngstown Area 
Jewish Film Festival.  Some of the highlights of those films competing 
include  ...More than 1000 Words which will be screened on September 
11, 2006 at 4 pm in the McDonough Museum of Art as part of the 
Youngstown Area Jewish Film Festival and as part of Youngstown State 
University’s commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 
terrorist attacks.  The film, directed by Solo Avital, tells the story 
of Ziv Koren, an Israeli photographer who has caputered images of 
terrorist attacks. Ziv Koren's photographs have become instantly 
recognizable icons that have helped shape our perception of the 
conflict in the Middle East. In '…More Than 1000 Words' director Solo 
Avital followed Ziv over a two-year period, shooting in the heart of 
riots, terror attack scenes, secret meetings with wanted militants, all 
the way to Israel's pullout from Gaza. The film will be screened again 
on Thursday, September 14 at 12 pm at the Butler Museum of Art. To see 
a trailer, please go to http://www.happyzoda.com. 
Citizen Stan directed by Patty Sharaf will be screened on Monday, 
September 11, 2006 at 12 pm at the Youngstown Jewish Community Center 
on 505 Gypsy Lane as part of the Youngstown Area Jewish Film Festival.  
This documentry film tells the story of Stanley Shienbaum who in the 
1950s co-directed the Vietnam Project, but when he learns that the CIA 
is involved, and his people are torturing Vietcong prisoners, quits in 
disgust. Disillusioned, Sheinbaum embarks on a lifetime of activism, 
organizing Daniel Ellsberg's defense during the Pentagon Papers trial, 
landing on Nixon's enemies list. In tales of intrigue, he bravely saves 
a colleague from the Greek junta, spars with LA Police Chief Daryl 
Gates, brings Arafat to the UN to denouce terrorism. Narrated by 
Richard Dreyfuss. This film will again be screened at 4 pm at the 
McDonough Museum of Art on Wednesday, September 13.  For more on the 
film, see the film’s website at www.citizenstan.com.
Variations on a theme: To be An Israeli Woman will be screened at noon 
on September 11 at noon at the Butler Museum of Art.  This documentry 
film tells a saga about Israeli society from five feminine points of 
view. The film examines the meaning of identity in a land of immigrants 
like Israel – in the search for roots, the tension between tradition 
and modernity, between past and present, between Israeli identity and 
Jewish identity, as well as in the difficulties faced by other ethnic 
identities. This film will be screened in its entirety in the Jones 
Room in Kilcawley Center beginning at 10 am on Wednesday, September 13. 
 Marti - the passionate eye will be shown on Tuesday, September 12, 
2006 at 12 pm at the Youngstown Jewish Community Center at 505 Gypsy 
Lane.  It traces the dramatic personal story of Marti Friedlander, who 
was brought up in a Jewish orphanage in England, emigrated to New 
Zealand and became one of New Zealand’s greatest photographers. Marti 
will be screened again on Thursday, March 14 at 4 pm in the McDonough 
Museum of Art. For more on the film, see the following website: 
www.pointofview.co.nz.
Apart in this World is a documentary film about an Orthodox Jew from 
Tajikistan, who meets a secular Jewish Mexican-American filmmaker in 
Poland.  It will be screened at the McDonough Museum of Art on Tuesday, 
September 12 at 4pm and again at noon at the JCC on Thursday, September 
14.   The Unbroken Circle will be screened with a number of short films 
on Friday, September 15 at 4pm in the .  tells the “true to life” story 
of an Israeli family and a Palestinian family, in the West Bank. Their 
young sons, hospitalized from injuries in the ongoing 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are the catalyst for an unexpected bond.  
The Unbroken Circle has a website located at 
http://www.unbrokencircle2005.com.

For more information, contact Helene J. Sinnreich at 330-941-1603 or at 
hjsinnreich at ysu.edu




--------------------------------------
Helene J. Sinnreich, Ph.D.
Director, Judaic and Holocaust Studies
Youngstown State University
Youngstown, OH 44555
330-941-1603
hjsinnreich at ysu.edu
www.ysu.edu/judaic