The Flat won the 2012 Best Documentary Award at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, in addition to many other awards, including the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize. The film opens as the director and members of his family are gathered in the apartment of his grandmother, Gerda Tuchler, shortly after her death, to clear out the contents. Gerda lived in the same apartment for 70 years; ever since she and her husband, Kurt, left Nazi Germany in the 1930s and emigrated to Palestine. It is not long, however, before Goldfinger finds various items in his grandmother’s house that reveal an astonishing chapter in the family’s history – a chapter that had been kept under wraps for decades.

“One of the best movies of the year. It plays like a great mystery – and it is. This is what a documentary should be – smart, moving, profound and unpredictable – in other words, what we look for in a great film. The Flat is all of that and more.”
Michael Moore

We hope you’ll join us for this special screening and community event. For reservations and more information call: 207.523.3422 or email: filmfest@mjff.org

PORTLAND, Maine – The Maine Jewish Film Festival (MJFF) starts its first full day of programming on Sunday, March 10 with the Women Filmmakers Forum sponsored by the Davis Family Foundation, at Portland’s Nickelodeon Theater. The day begins with a free continental brunch at 11:00am followed by a panel discussion “The Celluloid Ceiling: Fact and Fiction”. The panel includes screenwriter Wendy Kout whose feature film Dorfman in Love, opens the festival the night before. The Maine Jewish Film Festival runs March 9-16, 2013; tickets and full schedule details are available online at mjff.org.

Among her credits Kout has written and developed projects for major Hollywood studios and producers and was Executive Producer of the hit ABC show Anything But Love. On the panel she will be joined by Molly Bernstein, co-director of the feature documentary Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay, the Women Filmmakers Forum Focus Film that screens following the panel at 1:00pm. Bernstein’s film on Ricky Jay, widely regarded as the world’s foremost magician, had its world premiere at the recent New York Film Festival. Other panelists are Gabriela Böhm, producer/director of In Raquel’s Footsteps, a drama-doc on the 19th c sex trafficking of women to Argentina and Nina Zale, producer of the doc Beyond the Boundaries,about an adaptive skiing program in Colorado created for disabled Israeli military. The filmmakers will be joined by Boston-based entertainment attorney Sandra Forman, whose practice includes all aspects of fiction and non-fiction production and distribution. Following the panel, Forman is hosting a free legal roundtable for independent filmmakers, inviting them to bring their questions for a shared consultation. Executive Director of the MJFF, Louise Rosen, said, “It’s clear there’s still a long way to go before some real parity is achieved. But we’re proud that more than one fourth of the films we’re presenting have women in the key production roles. This Forum is intended to provide a way for Maine’s media community – students, emerging filmmakers, seasoned professionals and anyone interested in film – to learn from these women filmmakers and gain insight into the state of the industry. And with the support of the Davis Family Foundation, we can offer this as a free event.”

Tickets are required for all free events. For full festival schedule details, film trailers and to purchase tickets, visit www.mjff.org  Click Here for Event Flyer!

The festival runs from March 9 – 16, taking place at the Nickelodeon Cinema in downtown Portland at 1 Temple Street and other locations around Portland and the state including USM’s Abromson Center, The Frontier in Brunswick, Colby College and a post-festival special screening of Dorfman in Love at the Bangor Opera House on Sunday, March 17.
The Maine Jewish Film Festival is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide a forum for the presentation of films to enrich, educate and entertain a diverse community about the Jewish experience. Portland is the smallest city in the nation to boast an independent, professional Jewish film festival.

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Women Filmmakers Forum Participants

Wendy Kout, writer and producer, has created unique characters in a variety of mediums, spanning film, theatre, and television. Dorfman in Love, Kout’s most recently penned feature was produced by Leonard Hill Films and stars Elliott Gould, Sara Rue and Haaz Sleiman.  The film won “Best Feature” at the Hollywood International Film Festival, the Marbella International Film Festival in Spain, Miami Jewish Film Festival and “Best Comedy” at the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival. Dorfman in Love was also chosen by Cinequest Film Festival, USA Film Festival, Waterfront Film Festival, Naples International Film Festival, Ojai Film Festival, and the following Jewish Film Festivals: Seattle, Minneapolis, Toronto, Montreal, San Francisco, Boston, San Diego, Phoenix, Denver, Charlotte, Vienna, Australia, U.K. and Jerusalem.  Kout has also written and developed film projects for Laura Ziskin, Barbra Streisand, John Hughes, Universal, Columbia, Tristar and Disney.

Molly Bernstein has written and directed documentary profiles of leading figures in the arts, including Bernardo Bertolucci, Estelle Parsons, John Sayles and others for the Sundance Channel and AMC. She has also worked extensively as an editor on documentary films including the 2009 Emmy and Peabody Award winning Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About, featured on the PBS series American Masters. Other editing credits include Witness to the Twentieth Century, an historical series written by Elaine May, and Liberty!, a PBS series on the American Revolution produced by Middlemarch Films. Molly has recently made numerous short films with Particle Productions about contemporary artists for the James Cohan Gallery, and about art collectors in Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Los Angeles and San Francisco for the VIP Art Fair and Christie’s. She has an MFA in film from Columbia University.

Gabriela Böhm is a documentary filmmaker and founder of Böhm Productions. She is currently in post-production on In Raquel’s Footsteps. She has produced/directed several award winning films including: The Longing: The Forgotten Jews of South America was honored as Best Documentary (Long Island Latino International Film Festival), Best Latino Film (Santa Fe Film Festival), and received a Telly Award. Her film Passages won Best Documentary (Woodstock Film Festival) and Jury Award (Tambay Film Festival). A native of Argentina, Böhm studied art and photography in Israel prior to receiving a BFA at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and MFA at Maine Media College. A US citizen, Böhm speaks Spanish, English and Hebrew.

Nina Zale Zale decided to make her first film after a ski experience with disabled Israeli vets in Aspen CO. With a BFA from the University of Illinois, and 40 years of photography background, filmmaking was not on her agenda, but as she discovered, it is another fundamental way to inspire others through art. As an organizer of Golshim L’Chaim — Ski To Live Zale has first hand exposure to the IDF and the soldiers who come to Aspen as guests to learn to ski and snowboard. Zale is an active board member of UJA Aspen Valley, the Jewish Community Center, Golshim L”Chaim — Ski To Live, a Lion of Judah and a devoted supporter of Israel, the arts, and human and animal rights. Beyond the Boundaries is her first feature documentary.

Sandra Forman, of counsel to the Boston law firm of Rich May P.C., has a diverse practice in the areas of entertainment and copyright law. Her practice includes representation on all aspects of production legal work for television and motion pictures, financing and distribution deals, publishing contracts, literary and life story rights acquisitions, writer and talent agreements, and analysis of rights issues including fair use review and opinion letters for insurance coverage. Ms Forman leads the Firm’s Entertainment Copyright and Trademark practice group. Over the past eight years, she has also served as project director and legal counsel on the re-release of Eyes on the Prize, the fourteen-hour, Emmy Award winning series on America’s Civil Rights Movement. Ms. Forman is on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Production Coalition, the Advisory Board of Filmmakers Collaborative where she served on the Board of Directors for over ten years, and the Advisory Committee of Women in Film and Video New England.

MJFF V6 from David Berez on Vimeo.

In 1984, the Beta Israel—a secluded 2,500-year-old community of observant Jews in the northern Ethiopian mountains—began a secret and dangerous escape to Israel. Co-Director Avishai Mekonen, then 10 years old, was among them. In the film, he retraces his journey revealing the brutal kidnapping he endured as a child in Sudan during his family’s exodus and launches an inquiry into identity, immigration and racial diversity.

Monday, 3/11 5:30pm – Nickelodeon
Co-director Avishai Mekonen present for q&a
7:00pm – Reception follows at the Museum of African Culture, 13 Brown Street
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Trailer:

400 Miles to Freedom from Tablet Magazine on Vimeo.

“At times heart-wrenching…moves you to take a long look at your own sense of identity.”
JSpace News

“Renders achingly specific the struggles of all Ethiopian Jews who, before Israel, had no idea Jews could be white”
City Arts

“Fantastic documentary”
NYC Stoop Talk

Winner: Platinum Remi Award, 2012 World-Fest Houston International Film Festival

17 year-old Tal has emigrated from France to Jerusalem with her family. Following a bombing, she writes an open letter to the world, expressing her refusal to accept that only hatred can reign between Israelis and Palestinians. Her letter-in- a-bottle brings a response from Naïm, a young Palestinian. A turbulent but tender long-distance friendship develops as they both seek change in themselves and their world.

Preceded by SHORT FILM: Batman at the Checkpoint

Sunday, 3/10 3:30pm – Nickelodeon
Free Youth Film for ages 13 – 18
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Trailer:

“A gripping, unsentimental drama with a lot of action and a pacifist message of hope and reconciliation. A Bottle in the Gaza Sea is must-viewing.’’
Montreal Gazette

“A gentle pairing of youthful idealism and tenacious hope.”
New York Times

Winner: Narrative Feature Award and Audience Choice Award, Heartland Film Festival
Winner: Grand Prix, From Page to Image Film Festival at Croisic (France)

Official Selection:
Busan Int’l Film Festival
New York Jewish Film Festival
Toronto Jewish Film Festival
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival

Thirty years ago a longtime summer resident of Midcoast Maine, Hugh Weisgall, approached the Adas Yoshuron congregation in Rockland, offering to serve as cantor. His father Abba’s cantorial repertoire – combining his own music, that of pivotal19thc European composers and his son’s arrangements – formed the basis for a choir composed of both Jews and gentiles, whose repertory has since expanded under the direction of Dana Goldsmith. This music gave life to the congregation and now Adas Yoshuron is one of the few places in the world to hear these masterpieces as part of a service.

Paired with Mahler on the Couch: Sunday, 3/10 5:30pm – Nickelodeon

A hand-painted animation about the Director’s mother-in-law, Anita Greenstein’s, experience in hiding in Nazi, Germany. Against all odds, three generations of the family survived underground in and around Berlin, eventually settling in Portland, OR. The animation is from Anita’s point of view as a six-year-old child.
Based on a memoir by Anita’s father, Robert Graetz, this project was created during an artist residency at the Wexner Center for the Arts where it was exhibited during the month of November 2011.

Paired with In Darkness: Wednesday, 3/13 5:30pm – Nickelodeon

Paired with:
A Bottle in the Gaza Sea: Sunday, 3/10 3:30pm – Nickelodeon
Mabul (The Flood): Monday, 3/11 8:00pm – Nickelodeon

This film documents the unique role of Jewish composers and lyricists in the creation of the modern American musical, as well as many of the songs that comprise “The American Songbook.” A behind-the-scenes of Broadway history – engaging, humorous, and provocative, mixing an ethnic cultural legacy with entertaining perspectives on the origins and meaning of some of Broadway’s most beloved songs, stories, and shows.

Preceded by SHORT FILM: I Charleston Tel Aviv

Wednesday, 3/13 1:00pm – USM/Abromson Center
Free Film for ages 65+ presented by The Cedars
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Wednesday, 3/13 8:00pm – Nickelodeon
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Thursday, 3/14 6:00om – The Frontier, Brunswick
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