Jewish Film Festival Set to Open Wednesday at the Burns
The role of Jews in the performing arts worldwide will be a key focus of the popular Westchester Jewish Film Festival, which opens this week at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville.
The festival, which runs from April 3-25, has been a mainstay at the film center since it opened in 2001. The 2013 festival features 34 films, including fiction and documentary works from 10 countries, 13 discussions and six live musical performances.
“This year’s programs celebrate the diversity of the Jewish experience, and a theme arose: the Jewish influence on art, music, and the performing arts, from the shtetl to Broadway,” a film center release stated.
The film series is a natural for the local area, said Karen Sloe Goodman, a member of the festival’s selection committee. About 250,000 Jews live in Westchester but the films can be enjoyed by moviegoers of any background, Goodman said.
While the Jewish community plays a prominent role in the county, Jews have been influential in the arts worldwide, she said. This year’s festival includes a number of films about the Jewish influence in the performing arts.
The opening night of the series features a screening of “A.K.A. Doc Pomus,” a documentary about the Brooklyn native and one of the most successful songwriters of all time. Pomus, who was forced to use crutches or a wheelchair after suffering from polio, wrote dozens of pop classics such as “Save the Last Dance for Me,” “This Magic Moment” and “Viva Las Vegas.”
Following the film presentation, Jacob Burns Executive Director Stephen Apkon will lead a question-and-answer session with one of the film’s co-directors, Peter Miller, and Sharyn Felder, Pomus’ daughter, who produced the documentary. The opening night program will also feature live music and a reception. Additional screenings have been scheduled for April 5 and 6.
“Joe Papp in Five Acts,” a documentary about the legendary producer of “A Chorus Line” and the Shakespeare in the Park series, will be screened on April 4 and 6. “Cabaret-Berlin: The Wild Scene,” a drama that explores the cabaret scene in Berlin during the days of the Weimar Republic, will be shown on April 4, 10 and 20.
Aside from several panel discussions following certain screenings, patrons will be treated to live performances. On April 9 and 10 veteran comedian and director David Steinberg will present the East Coast premiere of his live one-man show, “That Could Turn into Something Big…or Not.”
Films about important Jewish political figures, Israeli politics, history and culture, comedies, French works with Jewish themes and films about Jewish members of the gay and lesbian communities will also be part of the festival.
The festival requires an arduous amount of work from the film center’s four-member selection committee. Goodman said she and her fellow committee members took about eight months looking at films to come up with the works that will be included in this year’s series.
The Jacob Burns Film Center is located at 364 Manville Rd in Pleasantville. For more information and a schedule of films, call 914-747-5555 or visit www,burnsfilmcenter.org.
