12:00 - Toronto Jewish Film Festival

LARRY ANKLEWICZProgramme CoordinatorThe films this year cover a wide range of topicsand subject matter – from the pain andsuffering undergone by a victim of a terroristattack (Kinneret Lives), to our Surf & Turfcombo about the first surfers in Israel (SouthWind At Hilton Beach) and Montreal’s mostfamous deli (Chez Schwartz); from storiesabout immigrants in Israel learning to integrateinto new surroundings (Hebrew Lesson),to a stunning documentary about theart looted by the Nazis during World War Two(Rape of Europa).We also have some of the best fictionfilms I have seen in a long time. Our openingfilm, The Year My Parents Went On Vacation,comes to us from Brazil, by way of the BerlinInternational Film Festival. From Israel wehave Close To Home, which deals with twoyoung women soldiers patrolling the streets ofJerusalem; Sweet Mud takes us back to thekibbutz of the 1970s; Love and Dance is setat a school that teaches ballroom dancing;and King of Beggars is a romp along the linesof Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men In Tights,but with Jewish brigands in the forests of16th century Russia.Every year there are a few films that seemto strike especially close to home.Yiddish Soul is a documentary chroniclingthe revival of Yiddish music in Europe today.Having grown up in a Yiddish speaking home,I took to this film immediately. It features somewonderful musical performances by KarstenTroyke and Shura Lipovsky. Shura will appearafter the screening to do a live concert.Saved By Deportation is the first film Ihave seen about the Jews who fled the Nazisand wound up in the Soviet Union. They werearrested and eventually ended up in the Sovietrepublics of central Asia. This saved thelives of over 200,000 Polish Jews, includingmy own parents.Yet another documentary that touchedme was Paper Clip: A Ride To Remember.The original Paper Clips was an inspirationalfilm that we are continuing to show this year.This new film tells about a group of Jewishmotorcyclists from Toronto riding down toWhitwell, Tennessee to visit the Holocaustmemorial built by students of that smallsouthern town.This is only a tiny sampling of the filmsavailable at the Toronto Jewish Film Festivalthis year. You can savour over 90 films fromsome 16 different countries. And we’ve alsomade it easier for everyone to take part inthe Festival. In addition to our locations atthe Bloor Cinema (Bloor & Bathurst) and theAl Green Theatre (Bloor & Spadina) we willalso be showing films at the Sheppard Grande(Sheppard and Yonge).So sit back and enjoy!TJFF.COM · 416 967 1528 · 15TH ANNUAL TORONTO JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL · PROGRAMME 7