Maine Jewish Film Festival Schedule 2003

March 8 - 13, 2003
Portland, Maine

2003 Festival Schedule

All screenings at The Movies, 10 Exchange St., except where otherwise noted

Click on a link to go directly to one of our anchor programs:

Opening Night Gala	Women Filmmakers Forum	Youth Program
Gay and Lesbian Program	Wednesday Matinee - Seniors Free	Closing Night Features

to read about our Crossing Cultures/Jews and the East films:

Minyan in Kaifeng

Quest for the Lost Tribes

L'Chayim Comrade Stalin!

to see what's playing on a specific day:

or to find out about our new Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) Film Project:

Tues. April 29

SATURDAY, MARCH 8

Opening Night Gala
6:30 PM The Party: Greenhut Galleries, 146 Middle Street, Portland
Food, drink, and talk with visiting directors, actors, and other honored guests.
Come celebrate our sixth year of the best in Jewish film.

Opening Night Feature
8:00 PM
THE BELIEVER
(USA, 2001, 98 min., English) Directed by Henry Bean.
A brutal and provocative portrait of a charismatic neo-Nazi skinhead strugging to disentangle himself from his own deeply-felt Jewishness. Based on a true story and rooted in the fierce performance of Ryan Gosling, this controversial feature won the Grand Jury Prize at last year's Sundance Film Festival.

In person: Stephen Wessler, former hate crimes prosecutor and director of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence at the University of Southern Maine

*Sponsored by Greenhut Galleries.
Additional screening 7:30 PM Wednesday, 3/12 at The Nickelodeon on Temple Street

SUNDAY, MARCH 9

11:30 AM
MINYAN IN KAIFENG
(USA, 2001, 74 min., English and Chinese w/subtitles) Directed by Steven Calcote and Jonathan Shulman.
A dozen western Jews journey to Kaifeng, China to search for the remnants of an ancient Jewish community that once flourished there. A thoughtful, bittersweet documentary about identity, culture and faith. Narrated by Leonard Nimoy.

with A BRIDGE OF BOOKS:
THE STORY OF THE NATIONAL YIDDISH BOOK CENTER (USA, 2001, 13 minutes, English.) Directed by Sam Ball. The lively chronicle of how an enterprising 23-year-old and an army of volunteers set out to rescue the world's Yiddish books, and save a rich literature from oblivion.
*Sponsored by Headlight Audiovisual

1:30 PM at the Portland Museum of Art
Women Filmmakers Forum

RAMLEH (Israel, 2001, 58 min., Hebrew, Arabic and Russian w/subtitles) Directed by Michal Aviad.
Tracking the lives of four women in the small Jewish-Arab town of Ramleh, Aviad explores the ways in which women are dominated by complex cultural and political realities inside Israel. Her subjects, two ultra-Orthodox Jews, a new Jewish immigrant, and a Palestinian Muslim law student and teacher never meet, but have much in common.
*Facilitated discussion will follow.

with THE SECRET
(Israel, 2001, 56 min., video, English and Polish w/subtitles) Directed by Ronit Kertsner.
Haunted by a grandmother's dying words, comforted by the tune of a Yiddish lullaby, or simply following a hunch, many Poles who grew up as Catholics are now discovering that they are in fact Jews, long severed from their true past. Director Kertsner profiles some of Poland's estimated 20,000 "new Jews" including Romwald Waxinel, a Catholic priest, as they struggle to reconcile their longstanding sense of themselves with a newfound history.

In person: Director Ronit Kertsner
*Sponsored by Fore Street and Street & Co. Restaurants and the Maine Women's Fund.
*The Women Filmmakers Forum is presented in association with the Women's Studies Program at the University of Southern Maine.

3:00 PM
LAST DANCE
(USA, 2002, 84 min., English) Directed by Mirra Bank.
An intimate documentary about the stormy collaboration between children's author/illustrator Maurice Sendak and the improvisational dance collective Pilobolus on a Holocaust-inspired dance piece. Along with archival footage and glimpes of Sendak creating costumes, Bank records an intense creative process that includes skirmishes between Pilobolus' free-form directors and the passionate Sendak, a Jew who insists that good art must "draw blood."

with THE STREET
(Canada, 1976, 10 min. English) Directed by Caroline Leaf.
Academy-award-nominated animated film based on a Mordecai Richler short-story. Watercolor and ink washes tell the tale of a boy and his dying grandmother.
*Sponsored by The Law Offices of Joe Bornstein

5:30 PM
Youth Program
FREE to high school students. Parents and general audience welcome at regular price. Tickets required, even for students, so please call to reserve seats.
I AM - YOU ARE
(Israel, 1999-2000, film is 40 min. followed by discussion, Hebrew/ Arabic w/subtitles.) Project of the Jerusalem Cinemateque, Gilli Mendel, Media and Film Education Officer.
A collection of short films created by Jewish and Arab teenagers that explore their experiences, hopes and fears. Among the subjects: a journey through Jerusalem's old city, a portrait of a girl whose mother is Jewish and father is a Muslim Arab, a diverse group of caretakers at the zoo show how relationships can reach across cultures.

In Person: Steve Steinbock, Founding Director of the Community Jewish Education Network (CJEN) of Southern Maine and author of three books on Judaism

Teachers:

Please click here for a more detailed description of this program

Click here for a description of the I Am/You Are project at the Jerusalem Cinematheque

Click here for teacher's study guide and reference materials.

*Sponsored by Time Warner Cable of Maine
*Youth Program made possible by a grant from the Simmons Foundation.

7:30 PM
THE BURIAL SOCIETY
(Canada, 2002, 100 min., English) Directed by Nicholas Racz.
An off-beat, noir-ish feature about a nebbish of a loans manager who unwittingly gets caught up in a web of big-time theft and small-time gangsters. Desperate to escape, he takes refuge in a small town Chevra Kadisha, or Jewish Burial Society, whose aging charming members become his new family.

In person: Rob LaBelle, star of The Burial Sociey.

*Flickschmooze with the star to follow at Casco Bay Books. Cash food and coffee bar.
*Sponsored by Natalie & Leonard LaBelle and Sheera LaBelle & Greg Adams.

MONDAY, MARCH 10

9:30 AM
Youth Program
I AM - YOU ARE
This screening is reserved for High School student groups only.
If you are an educator and are interested in participating with your students, please call (831-7495) or email us by February 15th. See description above.

Teachers:

Please click here for a more detailed description of this program

Click here for a description of the I Am/You Are project at the Jerusalem Cinematheque

Click here for teacher's study guide and reference materials.

5:30 PM

QUEST FOR THE LOST TRIBES
(Canada, 2000, 98 min., English and several languages w/subtitles) Directed by Simcha Jacobovic.
Biblical scholars have long sought the ten ancient tribes of Israel who, according to legend, disappeared when the Assyrians conquered the Israelites 2,700 years ago. In this fascinating and controversial documentary, spirituality meets history as Jacobovici travels to some of the world's most remote places in search of the tribes' modern-day descendants. In the Pathan tribesmen of Afghanistan, the Shin-tung tribe on the Indian border and a host of other groups practising Judaism or something close to it, he claims to have found them.

*Sponsored by Adele Aronson, broker, RE/MAX By the Bay
and by Century Tire Co. and Auto Centers

7:30 PM
Gay and Lesbian Program
RUTHIE AND CONNIE: EVERY ROOM IN THE HOUSE
(USA, 2002, 53 min., English) Directed by Deborah Dickson.
Brooklyn-born, straight-talking Ruthie Berman and Connie Kurtz are Jewish grandmothers who have been friends for 40 years, and lovers for 25. A funny, painful, life-affirming documentary about their circuitous journey toward each other and about love, family, lust, friendship, change and hard-won acceptance.

In person: Ruth Berman and Connie Kurtz.

*Sponsored by Videoport.
*Gay and Lesbian Film Project made possible by a grant from the Maine Community Foundation's Equity Fund.
*Presented in association with GLBTQARP at USM, Maine Lesbian Gay Political Alliance, Outright, and GLSEN.

TUESDAY, MARCH 11

5:30 PM
SHALOM Y'ALL
(USA, 2002, 57 min,, English) Directed by Brian Bain.
A third-generation southern Jew, Bain takes off through the South in an old Cadillac like the one his 100-year-old, hat-salesman grandfather drove, to chronicle the Jewish people and places he finds. En route, he finds the mystery, complexities and romance of the "Dixie Diaspora," not to mention the love of his life.

with ALLERD FISHBEIN'S IN LOVE
(USA, 2000, 20 min, English)
Directed by Danny Greenfield.
Nausea, bar mitzvahs and 13-year-old love.

and ADVICE AND DISSENT
(USA, 2000, 20 min., English)
Directed by Leib Cohen.
Estranged husband and wife fall in love again thanks to a hilarious hasidic rabbi (Eli Wallach).

and THE NOSE JOB JEW
(USA, 2001, 6 min., English)
Directed by Micah Smith.
Nose jobs, romance, and hard reality.

*Shalom Y'all and shorts program sponsored by Preti Flaherty

8:00 PM
THE GREY ZONE
(USA, 2000, 108 min., English) Directed by Tim Blake Nelson.
A brutal, unsparing feature about the Sonderkommando, the Jews at Auschwitz who guided fellow prisoners to the ovens in exchange for special favors. Nelson tells the little-known true story of a revolt by Hungarian Sonderkommando, and of the excruciating moral choices they faced. With Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino and David Arquette. (Strong content, with violence and nudity.)

In Person: Steve Hochstadt, Professor of History, Bates College

*Sponsored by Coffee by Design

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12

Wednesday Matinee -
Seniors Free
at the Center for Maine History
489 Congress Street, Portland
Films FREE for all seniors. All others welcome at regular ticket price. Tickets required, even for seniors, so please call ahead.

12:00 Noon Free Luncheon for Seniors. Limited to the first 50 seniors to call for reservation. 831-7495

1:30 PM
STRANGE FRUIT
(USA, 2002, 57 min., English)
Directed by Joel Katz.
The harrowing song "Strange Fruit," which describes the lynching of a black man, was most famously sung by Billie Holiday. But it was written by a Jewish schoolteacher in the Bronx known, if at all, for adopting the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. This documentary explores the startling legacy of a song that simultaneously reflects the history of American blacks, Jews, jazz and social activism.

THE SECRET
(Israel, 2001, 55 min., English and Polish w/subtitles)
Directed by Ronit Kertsner.
Haunted by a grandmother's dying words, comforted by the tune of a Yiddish lullaby, or simply following a hunch, many Poles who grew up as Catholics are now discovering that they are in fact Jews, long severed from their true past. Director Kertsner profiles some of Poland's estimated 20,000 "new Jews" including Romwald Waxinel, a Catholic priest, as they struggle to reconcile their longstanding sense of themselves with a newfound history.

In person: Director Ronit Kertsner with faciliated discussion led by Rev. Bill Gregory and Claire E. Knox, faculty members of the OLLI (Senior College) at USM.

*Sponsored by Fore Street and Street & Co. Restaurants
*Wednesday Matinee - Seniors Free made possible by a grant from the The Second Abraham S. and Fannie B. Levey Foundation.

7:30 PM at the Nickelodeon Cinema
One Temple Street, Portland
THE BELIEVER
(USA, 2001, 98 min., 35mm, English) Directed by Henry Bean.
A brutal and provocative portrait of a charismatic neo-nazi skinhead struggling to disentangle himself from his own deeply-felt jewishness. Based on a true story and tooted in the fierce performance of Ryan Gosling, this controversial feature won the Grand Jury Prize at last year's Sundance Film Festival.

8:00 PM
AUGUST: A MOMENT BEFORE THE ERUPTION
((Israel, 2002, 72 min., Hebrew w/subtitles) Directed by Avi Mograbi.
Proclaiming August "the worst month of the year," filmmaker Mograbi takes to the streets of his native Tel Aviv in search of the tensions that will prove his point. Mograbi plays all three characters in the story he weaves into his documentary footage. The result is an open-ended cinema-verite' slice of Israeli life that is alternately comic and disturbing.

with THE ARENA
(Israel, 2001, 48 min., Hebrew w/subtitles) Directed by Moishe Goldberg and Jonathan Gurfinkel.
Through decades of celebration, protest and turmoil, the massive Rabin Square, in the heart of Tel Aviv, has served as an arena for Israel's national drama. This documentary explores tumultuous history as viewed through a place that today is threatened by change.
*Sponsored by Consulate General of Israel to New England

THURSDAY, MARCH 13

Closing Night Features

5:30 PM
L'CHAYIM, COMRADE STALIN! (USA, 2001, 94 min., English, Russian and Yiddish /w subtitles.)
Directed by Yale Strom.
In 1928, Joseph Stalin created the world's first Jewish homeland in a barren stretch of eastern Siberia closer to Korea than Moscow. Conceived as a solution to the "Jewish problem," the Jewish Autonomous Region (J.A.R.) became a center of Yiddish culture, drawing Jewish settlers from the USSR, America and Palestine. Filmed on location in the J.A.R., director Strom combines rare footage, great klezmer, interviews with settlers and encounters with modern anti-Semites to tell a compelling, little-known story.

*Sponsored by Melinda Molin, M.D., F.A.C.S and Mary Ahn, M.D.

7:30 PM
YELLOW ASPHALT
(Israel, 2000, 86 min., Hebrew and Arabic w/subtitles) Directed by Danny Verete.
Three spare but powerful desert tales show the uneasy coexistence and, sometimes, literal collision of an ancient, tradition-bound Bedouin culture with modern Israel. Director Verete spent seven years filming this striking feature in the desert with a cast of primarily Jahalin Bedouin tribe members.
*Sponsored by Waterfront Graphics

9 PM
Closing Night Party
Join us at JavaNet Caf� for complimentary desserts and coffee. All invited!

TUESDAY, APRIL 29

6:00 PM, The Center for Maine History, 489 Congress Street, Portland
MJFF Yom Hashoah Film Project
MY KNEES WERE JUMPING
The Maine Jewish Film Festival will screen a FREE film at Portland's Center for Maine History on Congress Street in honor of Holocaust Memorial Day. The program will begin at 6:00 p.m. and will be followed be a facilitated discussion. Seating for the program is limited and will be on a first-come first-served basis beginning at 5:30 PM. We cannot accept reservations for this program.

2003 Maine Jewish Film Festival is made possible by the generous support of the MORRIS J. & BETTY KAPLUN FOUNDATION, the BERNARD OSHER JEWISH PHILANTHROPIES FOUNDATION OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY ENDOWMENT, the HUDSON FOUNDATION, the SIMMONS FOUNDATION, the ABRAHAM AND FANNY LEVEY FOUNDATION, the GREENE FOUNDATION, the MAINE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION's EQUITY FUND, the RIVER ROCK FOUNDATION, the PORTLAND PRESS HERALD/MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM, and all of our community sponsors.
Special thanks to the CONSULATE GENERAL OF ISRAEL TO NEW ENGLAND, the JEWISH COMMUNITY ALLIANCE OF SOUTHERN MAINE, CONGREGATION BET HA'AM, and TEMPLE BETH EL

View Print Sources

The Maine Jewish Film Festival
P.O. Box 7465, Portland, ME 04112-7465
Tel: 207-831-7495 Fax: 661-760-8148
e-mail: filmfest@mjff.org

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.

Opening Night Feature 8:00 PM THE BELIEVER (USA, 2001, 98 min., English) Directed by Henry Bean. A brutal and provocative portrait of a charismatic neo-Nazi skinhead strugging to disentangle himself from his own deeply-felt Jewishness. Based on a true story and rooted in the fierce performance of Ryan Gosling, this controversial feature won the Grand Jury Prize at last year's Sundance Film Festival. In person: Stephen Wessler, former hate crimes prosecutor and director of the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence at the University of Southern Maine Sponsored by Greenhut Galleries. Additional screening 7:30 PM Wednesday, 3/12 at The Nickelodeon on Temple Street*
SUNDAY, MARCH 9 11:30 AM MINYAN IN KAIFENG (USA, 2001, 74 min., English and Chinese w/subtitles) Directed by Steven Calcote and Jonathan Shulman. A dozen western Jews journey to Kaifeng, China to search for the remnants of an ancient Jewish community that once flourished there. A thoughtful, bittersweet documentary about identity, culture and faith. Narrated by Leonard Nimoy.
with A BRIDGE OF BOOKS: THE STORY OF THE NATIONAL YIDDISH BOOK CENTER (USA, 2001, 13 minutes, English.) Directed by Sam Ball. The lively chronicle of how an enterprising 23-year-old and an army of volunteers set out to rescue the world's Yiddish books, and save a rich literature from oblivion. *Sponsored by Headlight Audiovisual
1:30 PM at the Portland Museum of Art Women Filmmakers Forum
RAMLEH (Israel, 2001, 58 min., Hebrew, Arabic and Russian w/subtitles) Directed by Michal Aviad. Tracking the lives of four women in the small Jewish-Arab town of Ramleh, Aviad explores the ways in which women are dominated by complex cultural and political realities inside Israel. Her subjects, two ultra-Orthodox Jews, a new Jewish immigrant, and a Palestinian Muslim law student and teacher never meet, but have much in common. *Facilitated discussion will follow.
with THE SECRET (Israel, 2001, 56 min., video, English and Polish w/subtitles) Directed by Ronit Kertsner. Haunted by a grandmother's dying words, comforted by the tune of a Yiddish lullaby, or simply following a hunch, many Poles who grew up as Catholics are now discovering that they are in fact Jews, long severed from their true past. Director Kertsner profiles some of Poland's estimated 20,000 "new Jews" including Romwald Waxinel, a Catholic priest, as they struggle to reconcile their longstanding sense of themselves with a newfound history.
In person: Director Ronit Kertsner Sponsored by Fore Street and Street & Co. Restaurants and the Maine Women's Fund. The Women Filmmakers Forum is presented in association with the Women's Studies Program at the University of Southern Maine.
3:00 PM LAST DANCE (USA, 2002, 84 min., English) Directed by Mirra Bank. An intimate documentary about the stormy collaboration between children's author/illustrator Maurice Sendak and the improvisational dance collective Pilobolus on a Holocaust-inspired dance piece. Along with archival footage and glimpes of Sendak creating costumes, Bank records an intense creative process that includes skirmishes between Pilobolus' free-form directors and the passionate Sendak, a Jew who insists that good art must "draw blood."
with THE STREET (Canada, 1976, 10 min. English) Directed by Caroline Leaf. Academy-award-nominated animated film based on a Mordecai Richler short-story. Watercolor and ink washes tell the tale of a boy and his dying grandmother. *Sponsored by The Law Offices of Joe Bornstein
5:30 PM Youth Program FREE to high school students. Parents and general audience welcome at regular price. Tickets required, even for students, so please call to reserve seats. I AM - YOU ARE (Israel, 1999-2000, film is 40 min. followed by discussion, Hebrew/ Arabic w/subtitles.) Project of the Jerusalem Cinemateque, Gilli Mendel, Media and Film Education Officer. A collection of short films created by Jewish and Arab teenagers that explore their experiences, hopes and fears. Among the subjects: a journey through Jerusalem's old city, a portrait of a girl whose mother is Jewish and father is a Muslim Arab, a diverse group of caretakers at the zoo show how relationships can reach across cultures. In Person: Steve Steinbock, Founding Director of the Community Jewish Education Network (CJEN) of Southern Maine and author of three books on Judaism Teachers: Please click here for a more detailed description of this program Click here for a description of the I Am/You Are project at the Jerusalem Cinematheque Click here for teacher's study guide and reference materials. Sponsored by Time Warner Cable of Maine Youth Program made possible by a grant from the Simmons Foundation.
7:30 PM THE BURIAL SOCIETY (Canada, 2002, 100 min., English) Directed by Nicholas Racz. An off-beat, noir-ish feature about a nebbish of a loans manager who unwittingly gets caught up in a web of big-time theft and small-time gangsters. Desperate to escape, he takes refuge in a small town Chevra Kadisha, or Jewish Burial Society, whose aging charming members become his new family.
In person: Rob LaBelle, star of The Burial Sociey. Flickschmooze with the star to follow at Casco Bay Books. Cash food and coffee bar. Sponsored by Natalie & Leonard LaBelle and Sheera LaBelle & Greg Adams.
MONDAY, MARCH 10 9:30 AM Youth Program I AM - YOU ARE This screening is reserved for High School student groups only. If you are an educator and are interested in participating with your students, please call (831-7495) or email us by February 15th. See description above. Teachers: Please click here for a more detailed description of this program Click here for a description of the I Am/You Are project at the Jerusalem Cinematheque Click here for teacher's study guide and reference materials.
5:30 PM QUEST FOR THE LOST TRIBES (Canada, 2000, 98 min., English and several languages w/subtitles) Directed by Simcha Jacobovic. Biblical scholars have long sought the ten ancient tribes of Israel who, according to legend, disappeared when the Assyrians conquered the Israelites 2,700 years ago. In this fascinating and controversial documentary, spirituality meets history as Jacobovici travels to some of the world's most remote places in search of the tribes' modern-day descendants. In the Pathan tribesmen of Afghanistan, the Shin-tung tribe on the Indian border and a host of other groups practising Judaism or something close to it, he claims to have found them. *Sponsored by Adele Aronson, broker, RE/MAX By the Bay and by Century Tire Co. and Auto Centers
7:30 PM Gay and Lesbian Program RUTHIE AND CONNIE: EVERY ROOM IN THE HOUSE (USA, 2002, 53 min., English) Directed by Deborah Dickson. Brooklyn-born, straight-talking Ruthie Berman and Connie Kurtz are Jewish grandmothers who have been friends for 40 years, and lovers for 25. A funny, painful, life-affirming documentary about their circuitous journey toward each other and about love, family, lust, friendship, change and hard-won acceptance. In person: Ruth Berman and Connie Kurtz. Sponsored by Videoport. Gay and Lesbian Film Project made possible by a grant from the Maine Community Foundation's Equity Fund. *Presented in association with GLBTQARP at USM, Maine Lesbian Gay Political Alliance, Outright, and GLSEN.
TUESDAY, MARCH 11
5:30 PM SHALOM Y'ALL (USA, 2002, 57 min,, English) Directed by Brian Bain. A third-generation southern Jew, Bain takes off through the South in an old Cadillac like the one his 100-year-old, hat-salesman grandfather drove, to chronicle the Jewish people and places he finds. En route, he finds the mystery, complexities and romance of the "Dixie Diaspora," not to mention the love of his life.
with ALLERD FISHBEIN'S IN LOVE (USA, 2000, 20 min, English) Directed by Danny Greenfield. Nausea, bar mitzvahs and 13-year-old love.
and ADVICE AND DISSENT (USA, 2000, 20 min., English) Directed by Leib Cohen. Estranged husband and wife fall in love again thanks to a hilarious hasidic rabbi (Eli Wallach).
and THE NOSE JOB JEW (USA, 2001, 6 min., English) Directed by Micah Smith. Nose jobs, romance, and hard reality. *Shalom Y'all and shorts program sponsored by Preti Flaherty
8:00 PM THE GREY ZONE (USA, 2000, 108 min., English) Directed by Tim Blake Nelson. A brutal, unsparing feature about the Sonderkommando, the Jews at Auschwitz who guided fellow prisoners to the ovens in exchange for special favors. Nelson tells the little-known true story of a revolt by Hungarian Sonderkommando, and of the excruciating moral choices they faced. With Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino and David Arquette. (Strong content, with violence and nudity.) In Person: Steve Hochstadt, Professor of History, Bates College *Sponsored by Coffee by Design
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12
Wednesday Matinee - Seniors Free at the Center for Maine History 489 Congress Street, Portland Films FREE for all seniors. All others welcome at regular ticket price. Tickets required, even for seniors, so please call ahead. 12:00 Noon Free Luncheon for Seniors. Limited to the first 50 seniors to call for reservation. 831-7495
1:30 PM STRANGE FRUIT (USA, 2002, 57 min., English) Directed by Joel Katz. The harrowing song "Strange Fruit," which describes the lynching of a black man, was most famously sung by Billie Holiday. But it was written by a Jewish schoolteacher in the Bronx known, if at all, for adopting the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. This documentary explores the startling legacy of a song that simultaneously reflects the history of American blacks, Jews, jazz and social activism.
THE SECRET (Israel, 2001, 55 min., English and Polish w/subtitles) Directed by Ronit Kertsner. Haunted by a grandmother's dying words, comforted by the tune of a Yiddish lullaby, or simply following a hunch, many Poles who grew up as Catholics are now discovering that they are in fact Jews, long severed from their true past. Director Kertsner profiles some of Poland's estimated 20,000 "new Jews" including Romwald Waxinel, a Catholic priest, as they struggle to reconcile their longstanding sense of themselves with a newfound history.
In person: Director Ronit Kertsner with faciliated discussion led by Rev. Bill Gregory and Claire E. Knox, faculty members of the OLLI (Senior College) at USM. Sponsored by Fore Street and Street & Co. Restaurants Wednesday Matinee - Seniors Free made possible by a grant from the The Second Abraham S. and Fannie B. Levey Foundation.
7:30 PM at the Nickelodeon Cinema One Temple Street, Portland THE BELIEVER (USA, 2001, 98 min., 35mm, English) Directed by Henry Bean. A brutal and provocative portrait of a charismatic neo-nazi skinhead struggling to disentangle himself from his own deeply-felt jewishness. Based on a true story and tooted in the fierce performance of Ryan Gosling, this controversial feature won the Grand Jury Prize at last year's Sundance Film Festival.
8:00 PM AUGUST: A MOMENT BEFORE THE ERUPTION ((Israel, 2002, 72 min., Hebrew w/subtitles) Directed by Avi Mograbi. Proclaiming August "the worst month of the year," filmmaker Mograbi takes to the streets of his native Tel Aviv in search of the tensions that will prove his point. Mograbi plays all three characters in the story he weaves into his documentary footage. The result is an open-ended cinema-verite' slice of Israeli life that is alternately comic and disturbing.
with THE ARENA (Israel, 2001, 48 min., Hebrew w/subtitles) Directed by Moishe Goldberg and Jonathan Gurfinkel. Through decades of celebration, protest and turmoil, the massive Rabin Square, in the heart of Tel Aviv, has served as an arena for Israel's national drama. This documentary explores tumultuous history as viewed through a place that today is threatened by change. *Sponsored by Consulate General of Israel to New England
THURSDAY, MARCH 13
Closing Night Features

5:30 PM L'CHAYIM, COMRADE STALIN! (USA, 2001, 94 min., English, Russian and Yiddish /w subtitles.) Directed by Yale Strom. In 1928, Joseph Stalin created the world's first Jewish homeland in a barren stretch of eastern Siberia closer to Korea than Moscow. Conceived as a solution to the "Jewish problem," the Jewish Autonomous Region (J.A.R.) became a center of Yiddish culture, drawing Jewish settlers from the USSR, America and Palestine. Filmed on location in the J.A.R., director Strom combines rare footage, great klezmer, interviews with settlers and encounters with modern anti-Semites to tell a compelling, little-known story.
*Sponsored by Melinda Molin, M.D., F.A.C.S and Mary Ahn, M.D.
7:30 PM YELLOW ASPHALT (Israel, 2000, 86 min., Hebrew and Arabic w/subtitles) Directed by Danny Verete. Three spare but powerful desert tales show the uneasy coexistence and, sometimes, literal collision of an ancient, tradition-bound Bedouin culture with modern Israel. Director Verete spent seven years filming this striking feature in the desert with a cast of primarily Jahalin Bedouin tribe members. *Sponsored by Waterfront Graphics
9 PM Closing Night Party Join us at JavaNet Caf� for complimentary desserts and coffee. All invited! TUESDAY, APRIL 29
6:00 PM, The Center for Maine History, 489 Congress Street, Portland MJFF Yom Hashoah Film Project MY KNEES WERE JUMPING The Maine Jewish Film Festival will screen a FREE film at Portland's Center for Maine History on Congress Street in honor of Holocaust Memorial Day. The program will begin at 6:00 p.m. and will be followed be a facilitated discussion. Seating for the program is limited and will be on a first-come first-served basis beginning at 5:30 PM. We cannot accept reservations for this program.