The 24th annual New York Jewish Film Festival, the pre-eminent showcase for cinema exploring the diversity of Jewish experience around the world, presented by the Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, will be held January 14-29. The 2015 NYJFF includes world, U.S., and New York premieres of films from around the globe, plus special “beyond the screen” programs including a poster exhibition and panel discussions.
The 2015 New York Jewish Film Festival is selected by Florence Almozini, Senior Programmer, Film Society of Lincoln Center; Rachel Chanoff, THE OFFICE performing arts + film; Jaron Gandelman, Curatorial Assistant for Media, Jewish Museum and Coordinator, New York Jewish Film Festival; Jens Hoffmann, Deputy Director, Exhibitions and Public Programs, Jewish Museum and Curator for Special Programs, New York Jewish Film Festival; and Aviva Weintraub, Associate Curator, Jewish Museum and Director, New York Jewish Film Festival.
In addition to the 21 films appearing as world, U.S., and New York premieres, the 2015 NYJFF features a number of “beyond the screen” programs, including panel discussions, a master class, artist focus, poster exhibition, and more. Here are a few highlights:
Coming Attractions — The Art of the Film Noir Trailer: “A picture of tremendous excitement… A rarity of the screen… A raw slice of life…” Such was the language employed in many trailers for films noirs during the 1940s and ‘50s, whose rapid cuts, provocative narration, and dramatic scenarios made them films in and of themselves. In homage to the genre and its many talents, we have compiled noir and neo-noir trailers for 14 films from 1944-1970 into a unique 30-minute video presentation that will run on a continuous loop in the amphitheater of the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center during the festival.
Master Class with Susan Korda: Susan Korda studied filmmaking at CCNY and has worked as an editor for 20 years. With David Leitner, she directed and produced the award-winning documentary Vienna is Different. She produced the award-winning documentary One of Us, and recently completed her short narrative film Salomea’s Nose (included in this Festival). Her editing credits include the Oscar™ nominated documentary For All Mankind and Sandi Du Bowski’s ground-breaking Trembling Before G-d. She was a producer on Emily Sarah Kunstler’s William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, and story consultant on Alan Berliner’s The Sweetest Sound and First Cousin Once Removed. Korda teaches at Columbia University and conducts editing and story-telling workshops in the U.S., Europe, Israel and South Africa. She is currently working on her “Jerusalem Project,” in which she is finding the similarities and differences in the dreams, fairytales, superstitions, cooking recipes and jokes amongst Jerusalemite Christians, Muslims and Jews. Discussion with Korda moderated by Aviva Weintraub, Director, New York Jewish Film Festival.
Artist Focus with Keren Cytter: The Israeli artist Keren Cytter uses visual media in strikingly original ways to build powerful and affecting narratives out of skewed scenes of everyday life. Cytter’s films, video installations, and drawings represent social realities through experimental modes of storytelling characterized by a non-linear, cyclical logic and multiple layers of images: conversation, monologue, and narration systematically composed to undermine linguistic conventions and traditional interpretation schemata. Recalling amateur home movies and video diaries, these montages of impressions, memories, and imaginings are poetic and self-referential in composition, thought provoking, and inescapably engrossing. Discussion with Cytter moderated by Jens Hoffmann, Curator for Special Programs, New York Jewish Film Festival.
Click here for a full schedule of films and special programs, and for information about tickets and pricing.