May 8, 2008
Iyyar 4, 5768 
 
Happy Yom Ha-Atzmaut (Israel Independence Day)! 
 
We have several big screenings coming up next week, and then a few others later on:
 
This Sunday night will be the Bergen County Premiere in Teaneck, NJ.  The screening will be held at 7:30 PM in the auditorium of Congregation Keter Torah, located on 600 Roemer Ave. and will be followed by a panel featuring Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter and Rabbi Yosef Adler, both of whom are featured in the film, and Rabbi Michael Taubes.  The screening is sponsored by no less than ten congregations, including:
Beis Medrash of Bergenfield, Congregation Beth Abraham, Congregation Beth Aaron, Congregation Bnai Yeshurun, Congregation Keter Torah, Congregation Ohr HaTorah, Congregation Rinat Yisrael, Congregation Zichron Mordechai, K’hal Adath Jeshurun, and Young Israel of Teaneck.
Here's the official flier, and here's the Facebook event.
 
Sunday at 9 PM and Thursday at 7 PM, the film will screen, once again, at the Cinematheque in Sderot, Israel, located at Hadekel 4.  For more information, call 1-599-559-555.
 
Wednesday night at 7:30 PM will be the Los Angeles Premiere at the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival!  The screening will take place at UCLA Hillel, on 574 Hilgard Ave, and will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Rabbi Elliot Dorff, Rector and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the American Jewish University, and myself.  I recommend you order tickets in advance, because they only have a capacity of 150 people at the venue.  Here's the Facebook event.  Please send it around.
(Unfortunately, there will be no other screenings in L.A., at this time.)
 
June 1st will be the first screening in Europe. The film will screen at Congregation Tiferet Yisrael, in Zurich, SwitzerlandRabbi Aaron Adler, their congregational leader, who was a shamash (assistant) of the Rav in the 70s (and is the brother of R. Yosef Adler), will speak afterwards.  The screening will include Hebrew subtitles.

June 26 at 4 PM, June 29 at 12:45 PM, and July 3 at 3 PM, the film will be back in Boston at the Museum of Fine Arts.  I plan to attend the screening on Sunday, June 29.
 
NEW: Contrary to my last email the film will no longer be screening at the Rochester Jewish Film Festival in July.  Instead, there will be a special screening of the film in Rochester on September 23.  More information to follow.
 
 
I'd appreciate it if you could forward this email to anyone else who might be interested in this information.  And here's a link to the Facebook group for the film.
 
 
I'm glad to report that we had two great screenings in Israel to commemorate the Rav's 15th yahrtzeit.  The Jerusalem Cinematheque had over 250 people in attendance, and there very well could be additional screenings scheduled, during the summer!
 
The screening at Yeshivat Torat Shraga was filled to capacity!  I understand that there was a great discussion afterwards featuring Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff, senior advisor on the film, Rabbi Avishai David, and Rabbi Lewis Wienerkur.
 
(I haven't heard anything about the screening in Rosh Pina, but it hopefully went well.)


If anyone is interested in organizing a screening outside of Israel, contact Matt Stein
 
For screenings within Israel, contact Hedva Goldschmidt, of Go2Films.
 
 
Also, for those of you who watch serious films during the Sefirah period, I wanted to tell you about a couple of interesting documentaries opening very soon in the States.
 
Unsettled is an excellent film dealing with the disengagement from Gaza, three years ago.  It’s a well-balanced film that focuses on the events through the eyes of six young Israelis on different sides of the divide.  I’ve personally seen at least five films on the topic, and this one gives the best overall coverage of the event. Try to support the film, since I know the director has had a tough time getting it into theaters.
It opens tomorrow (Friday) in NYC at the Pioneer Theater, and then a week later at the Laemmle Music Hall in LA.  It’s only set to play for one week, and several showings are already sold out, so you might want to buy your tix in advance. You can also buy a DVD from their website, if you’re interested.

Refusenik is the first documentary to deal with the Soviet Jewry movement.  I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve heard good things about it.  It opens tomorrow (Fri) in NYC at the Quad Cinema (Natan Sharansky will be there!), it already opened in Portland, and it will open in the next few weeks in L.A., Boston, Atlanta, and elsewhere.

 

Shabbat Shalom,
Ethan Isenberg