Untitled - Memorial University of Newfoundland

shall outline the community I was working from, the Toronto Jewish community. Then. I
address the Toronto Jewish Film Festival as a context within which to initiale contact
with members ofthe Toronto Jewish communities. I discuss the Festival in terms ofwho
attends; in asking the question ofwho are the participants who celebrate this combination
ofJudaism and Cinema. the cultural. context emerges from this situational context.
The cultural. context becomes funher significant when I begin to discuss the ways
in which the Toronto Jewish Film Festival is a "proper" festival. as ethnographers
understand the tenn. This was one ofmy immediate questions entering the field situation:
was this film festival a -festival" where active participation among the attendees is as
much a part ofthe event as the films shown. or was this a festival "in name only:' a
"showcase:' where the audience's participation was irrelevant. except as passive
consumers. By understanding what the Toronto Jewish Film Festival celebrates. an
understanding of the Jewish culture doing the celebrating emerges.
Finally. I draw some argument about how film festivals in general. and the
Toronto Jewish Film Festival in panicular. celebrate themselves and their community.
Meaning in festive behaviour is as emergent within a film festival as it is within any other
"traditional" or "folkloric- celebration. Thai film is but the medium ofcommunication.
instead of music, dance. food. or prayer. becomes apparent.
THE JEWS OF TORONTO
The Toronto Jewish. community I come from, and the one which. I have the greater
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