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Feature Film I: PINCHAS
Israel, 2008; 30 minutes; Hebrew, Russian & English
Pinchas and his mother are new Russian immigrants to Israel. The mother barely makes a living working night shifts. She devotes her spare time to an affair with a married man. In the third floor lives a religious family. Pinchas is drawn to its warmth and unity. There he meets a girl his age and her older brother, who slowly introduce him to religion. A touching and heartwarming story.
Feature Film II: UNSETTLED
USA, 2007; 80 minutes; English & Hebrew
See Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip through the eyes of six young people. Three settlers determined to stay. Two soldiers with different feelings about evicting Jews from their homes. One is an activist whose sister was killed by a terrorist bombing and sees the withdrawal as the first step toward peace.
These 20-something surfers, soldiers and settlers are barely out of adolescence, yet they occupy center stage in a national drama. Director Adam Hootnick worked for MTV News prior to shooting Unsettled . The driving narrative style and songs by Matisyahu propel this dramatic story.
Ya Gotta Laugh …..
Saturday, January 23, 2010 7:30 p.m.
HEY HEY, IT’S ESTHER BLUEBURGER
Australian, 2008; 114 minutes; English
This engagingly original coming-of-age comedy that explores what it’s really like to be an outsider in your own world. Esther is not like other girls; she befriends a duck, talks to God through the toilet and breakdances at her Bat Mitzvah. But life changes when Esther meets Sunni and learns that it’s okay to be different, and that being true to oneself is more important than fitting in. Starring Toni Collete (Little Miss Sunshine & The Sixth Sense) and Keisha Castle Hughes.
Remembering Our Past …..
Sunday, January 24, 2010 2:00 p.m.
BLESSED IS THE MATCH:
The Life & Death of Hannah Senesh
USA, 2008
This is the first-ever documentary feature on the World War II-era poet and diarist who became a paratrooper, resistance fighter and modern Jewish Joan of Arc. Though safe in Palestine in 1944, Hannah volunteered for a mission to rescue Jews in her native Hungary. It was the only military rescue mission for Jews during the Holocaust. Hannah parachuted behind enemy lines, was captured, tortured and ultimately executed by the Nazis. Incredibly, her mother Catherine witnessed the entire ordeal – first as a prisoner with Hannah and later as her advocate – braving the bombed-out streets of Budapest in a desperate attempt to save her daughter.
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