A look into the past
We have saved our past film series logs for your knowledge base. If you need assistance finding a past film or have suggestions for future seasons, please email Artistic Director Dorothy Goldstone at dorothygoldstone@gmail.com.
Keep The Change
July 12, 2018 | 2017 (95 Min) R
Directed by: Rachel Israel
Starring: Brandon Polansky, Samantha Elisophon, and Jessica Walter
Two young adults with autism strike up an unlikely and transformative relationship, in Keep The Change, a heartfelt, humorous and wonderfully surprising reinvention of the New York romantic comedy. Showcasing naturally spontaneous performances by actors with autism, writer-director Rachel Israel’s inclusive and fresh debut is a unique and universal love story full of vibrant characters under-represented in cinema. A winning entry at many film festivals, including Best U.S. Narrative Feature and Best New Narrative Director prizes at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Samantha Elisofon
Our Speaker:
(And her mother, Marguerite Elisophon, author of
My Picture Perfect Family: What Happens When One Twin Has Autism)
Samantha’s real life story is an inspirational one. Diagnosed with autism as a toddler, confronting dire predictions and negative stereotypes, Samantha started singing with perfect pitch at age 7 and graduated Pace University, cum laude.
Fugitive Pieces
July 19, 2018 | 2008 (104 Min) R
Directed by: Jeremy Podeswa
Written by: Jeremy Podeswa based on the novel by Anne Michaels
Starring: Stephen Dillane, Rosamund Pike, Rade Serbedzija
Languages: English, Greek, Yiddish
Fugitive Pieces is an emotionally charged film about love, loss, and redemption, driven by radiant performances and nuanced writing. It is based upon Anne Michaels’ best-selling novel. It is the of story of Jakob, a writer living in post-war Canada, who cannot shake off the terrifying memories of his childhood during World War II. His adventures take him from Poland to Greece to Montreal. Over the years Jakob attempts to deal with the losses he has endured. The film glides between the past and different periods in Jakob's later life, as it tries to show this man whose love for his family has essentially frozen him at the time he last saw them. Through his writing and his discovery of true love, Jakob is ultimately freed from the legacy of his past.
Such a summary barely captures the qualities of "Fugitive Pieces." written and directed by Jeremy Podeswa, writer and director, doesn't tell, he evokes, with the nostalgic images of his cinematographer, Gregory Middleton; the understated melancholy of the score by Nikos Kypourgos, and the seamless time transitions of his editor, Wiebke von Carolsfeld.
Professor Lori Hope Lefkovitz
Our Speaker
Lori Hope Lefkovitz holds the Ruderman Chair in Jewish Studies at Northeastern University, where she directs the Humanities Center and the Jewish Studies Program and is a professor of English. Her book, In Scripture: The First Stories of Jewish Sexual Identities, was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in the Women’s Studies category. A graduate of Brandeis University, Lefkovitz received her Ph.D. in English from Brown University and was a recipient of a Woodrow Wilson dissertation fellowship in women's studies, a Golda Meir post-doctoral fellowship at Hebrew University, a post-doctoral fellowship at the Institute of the Philadelphia Association for Psychoanalysis, a senior Fulbright Professorship at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and an honorary doctorate from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She and Rabbi Leonard Gordon are the parents of two adult daughters.
Hester Street
August 8, 2019 | 1975 (90 Min) PG
Directed by: Joan Micklin Silver
Written by: Joan Micklin Silver (Screenplay), based on the novella “Yekel” by Abraham Cahan
Starring: Carol Kane, Doris Roberts, Steven Keats
Languages: English, Yiddish
“A marvelously evocative study of Jewish immigrant life in turn-of-the-century New York, mainly told in delightfully subtitled Yiddish, features an outstanding lead performance from the Oscar-nominated Carol Kane.” —Tony Sloman, Radio Times
It's 1896. Yankel Bogovnik, a Russian Jew, immigrated to the United States 3 years ago, settling on Hester Street in the crowded slums of New York City’s Lower East Side. “Jake”, as he now calls himself, has assimilated to American life, learned English, Anglicized his name, and even shaved off his beard. He has also fallen in love with a dancer named Mamie Fein, a thoroughly modern girl. Nevertheless, he has been saving what he can from his $12 weekly pay to bring over his son and his wife, Gitl, to America. His wife finally arrives, but she is as old world as he is the slick Yankee. Jake pushes Gitl to give up her hair‐covering, her shawls, and her Yiddish but Gitl resists. Can their marriage survive these differences, and if not, will Gitl be able to manage in this new land on her own?
Rick Winston
Our Speaker
Rick is co-founder of Montpelier’s Savoy Movie Theater and co-founder of the Green Mountain Film Festival. As Programming Director for the festival, he brought in nationally known film writers, critics, and historians to speak. He now teaches courses in film history, and is a frequent guest speaker on film throughout New England. This is Rick’s third engagement with the White Mountain Jewish Film Festival.
Marshall
August 16, 2018 | 2017 (160 Min) PG-13
Directed by: Reginald Hudlin
Written by: Michael Koskoff, Jacob Koskoff
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Kate Hudson, Josh Gad
It’s 1940. Thurgood Marshall is a rising star (played by Black Panther star, Chadwick Boseman) that travels the nation for the NAACP, defending African Americans wrongly accused of crimes. In this true story, we get to see
the multi-faceted personality of Marshall long before he became the first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court.
Marshall has been sent to Bridgeport, Connecticut, to defend a black chauffeur accused of kidnapping and raping the high society wife of his employer. Marshall’s usual confidence is shaken when the court refuses to let him be the lead attorney. Instead, the court appoints Sam Bernstein, a local jewish lawyer who has never handled a criminal case, to be the lead counsel. Working for and with Marshall, Sam makes some important decisions about what kind of man he wants to be, and can become.
The pitch perfect directing by Reginald Hudlin creates edge-of-your-seat suspense. Gripping performances are delivered by this top cast, from Chadwick Boseman, Kate Hudson, and Josh Gad to Sterling K. Brown, who steals the film with his portrait of the chauffeur.
Michael Koskoff
Our Speaker
Michael Koskoff, co-writer of Marshall, Michael Koskoff is a partner in Koskoff, Koskoff & Bieder, PC. A renowned litigator specializing in personal injury and medical malpractice, Koskoff earned a reputation early in his career as a civil rights advocate. In 2008, Koskoff was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work by the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association. He has also received the National Association of Black Patrolmen Dedicated Service Award, the Greater Bridgeport NAACP Waverly Jones Freedom Award, and the Afro-American Educators Association Dedicated Service Award. See the interview with Michael Koskoff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qS3VBpvOzY.
Duddy Kravitz
August 23, 2018 | 1974 (90 Min) NR
Directed by: Ted Kotchoff
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Micheline Lanctot, Jack Warden, Randy Quaid, Joe Silver
Based on Mordecai Richter’s novel, the younger son of a working-class Jewish family in Montreal, Duddy Kravitz yearns to make a name for himself in society. This film chronicles his short and dubious rise to power, as well as his changing relationships with family and friends. Along the way the film explores the themes of anti-Semitism and the responsibilities, which come with adulthood.
Other Film Series
We have saved our past film series logs for your knowledge base. If you need assistance finding a past film or have suggestions for future seasons, please email Artistic Director Dorothy Goldstone: dorothygoldstone@gmail.com