On Wednesday, February 24th, the 26th annual Washington Jewish Film Festival commenced with an opening night featuring the new Israeli film, Baba Joon at AFI Silver. Despite the weather, the crowd as well as the praise for the film was quite substantial. Baba Joon was this year's Oscar entry from Israel for Best Foreign Film (but did not make the cut) and was the Ophir Award (“Israeli Oscar”) winner for Best Picture. The film is set in the Negev in the 1980s and tells of a Persian Jewish family who own a turkey farm. The Morgian family speak mostly in Farsi with Hebrew thrown in intermittently but purposefully (much like the way Gettjuggles Arabic, Hebrew, and French). The young son, Moti (Asher Avrahami), speaks mostly Hebrew and responds to his parents' Farsi with Hebrew. Director Yuval Delshad, himself an Israeli Jew of Persian descent, is making his major directorial debut and uses language here in such an interesting and nuanced way.Read more...
On launch of the 30
Splashes of color stand out against Havana’s aging buildings and Spanish architecture. The walls of parks, school playgrounds, abandoned buildings and alleyways are filling with the work of street artists. They leave behind only the coded signatures of their names. The presence of this modernity in a seemingly time locked country speaks to the challenges and the creativity of Cuban youth. Street art is somewhat of a new phenomenon in Havana. Spaces that were once nothing, are now filling up with the work of young people dedicated to bringing art to their city. The risks are high for street artists, as they are not often commissioned for their work and can face trouble for painting without permission. I’ve always wondered of the audacity of these artists, and their bravery to share their work so boldly to the world.
The second night of the Washington Jewish Film Festival offered several choices in several locations including the Landmark West End Cinema. First up was the moving documentary, Third Person about people who are intersex and living in Israel. The film, directed by Sharon Luzon, focuses on two people, Suzan and Ofer, both of whom represent the diversity of the country even though both are outsiders and living on the margins. Suzan is a Muslim woman who at age 35 finds out she was born with male and female parts and her parents decided then that she'd be female. Ofer, on the hand is a Spanish speaking Orthodox Jew whose parents decided not to remove any organs at birth. Ofer then undergoes surgery to make his body match his identity (although this proves to be complex). At the start of the film, the two don't know each other but become friends in part because Suzan starts a support group and seeks to educate the Israeli public about this misunderstood group of people. 