DAVAR is thrilled to revisit this poignant 1988 comedy-drama. Adapted by Harvey Fierstein from his Broadway play of the same name, the film offers an intimate portrayal of fictional female impersonator, Arnold Beckhoff. From the early 1970s to 1980 (pre-AIDs) we follow the heartbreaks of this lovable drag queen, who, as Roger Ebert (1988) writes, … Continue reading Torch Song Trilogy

Driven out by Hitler, persecuted by Stalin, Eddie Rosner, the “Jazzman of the Gulag,” was a top Jewish bandleader in the Weimar Republic who fled to Poland during the thirties and thence to Russia, became Stalin’s favourite, was then imprisoned in a Gulag, released, and finally made it back to Berlin, dying in poverty. Tony … Continue reading The Life and Times of Eddie Rosner

This film is shown in conjunction with UK Jewish Film Festival 2024 NOTE - Tickets must be booked via the UKJFF box office A joyful and nostalgic love letter to the Algiers of his youth, this enchanting autobiographical family drama recreates the vibrant Mediterranean city of the early 60s. With an ex-French Foreign Legion father … Continue reading Once Upon a Time in Algeria

  This film is shown in conjunction with UK Jewish Film Festival 2024 NOTE – Tickets must be booked via the UKJFF box office Ownership, history and morality are the poignant themes tackled here in relation to the restitution of art looted by the Nazis and the ongoing crises in the art world. Amongst a number … Continue reading The Spoils

This talk will trace the extraordinary life and times of Lithuanian born Alexander Levin, through his 1954 autobiography as a pioneering Hebrew educator across Eastern Europe at the turn of last century and through the inter-war years. Mervyn will share Alexander’s eyewitness experiences, both of severe discrimination and the delights of now vanished Jewish life … Continue reading Memoirs of a Pioneering Hebrew Educator: a vanished European heritage and new frontiers in Africa