Click here for film trailer Based on Seligman’s short story of the same name, Shiva Baby follows college student Danielle as she is faced with a series of awkward encounters at a day-long shiva, a Jewish gathering during a time of mourning. Amongst overbearing relatives, she is rattled by the appearance of an ex-girlfriend and … Continue reading Shiva Baby
Earlier this year, Keith Kahn-Harris published a book called What does a Jew look like?, a collaboration with the photographer Rob Stothard. The book tries to challenge the use of stock photos of strictly orthodox Jews in the British media, by presenting portraits that capture the diversity of British Jews. But demonstrating diversity carries its own … Continue reading The dilemmas of diversity: How do we show what a Jew looks like?
Click here for film trailer Seven lifelong friends – three couples and a newly divorced man – meet for dinner on the night of a rare lunar eclipse. In order to spice things up, they decide to play a game: every text message received is read out loud, and every incoming call answered on speaker. … Continue reading Perfect Strangers
Charlotte Salomon, Aline Kominsky Crumb, Sharon Rudahl, and Miriam Libicki, just some of the names of the maverick Jewish women who have transformed the world of autobiographical graphic narratives. They have challenged the traditional rubrics of comics making, and found authentic drawing styles and voices on their pages. In this talk I will introduce the artists … Continue reading Jewish Women’s Comics: Bodies and Bibles
What has Charlie Parker’s classic bebop tune ‘Anthropology’ got to do with George Gershwin? What was the role of Jewish composers in establishing the great American Song Book and how did this establish mainstream jazz standards? How does the Freygish scale found in klezmer music relate to the Phyrgian dominant mode used in minor 2-5-1 … Continue reading Jews and Jazz: a melting pot of identities
1980, Queens New York City. Aspiring artist Jewish-American Paul, the youngest son of the Graff family, is on the cusp of adolescence. Struggling to fit in at school, he finds solace in his close relationship with his beloved grandfather (the wonderful Anthony Hopkins) and his budding friendship with Johnny, a sensitive and defiant African-American boy. … Continue reading Armageddon Time
Many suspect that the 21st century will be Africa's century, but for many of us the African continent remains a fairly unknown place. Least known amongst its many unknown features is the emergence of new Jewish communities to join the long-standing ones that have been there for nearly two centuries. Clive Lawton will explore some … Continue reading The Jews of Africa
Based on an expansive collection of a thousand autobiographical paintings found after the war - considered by some to be the first graphic novel - this stunningly beautiful, animated film sheds light on the life and work of Berlin-born artist Charlotte Salomon. Restricted and haunted by antisemitic laws, the immensely gifted Salomon was forced to … Continue reading Charlotte
What can food and family history teach us about issues of migration, gender and family? From the recipes and stories of one Sephardi family in Greece and Turkey in the late 19th and early 20th century, as well as a cooking demo and tasting, Michal takes us on a culinary family history involving messages about … Continue reading Finding my way through the woods: migration, family and food
Based on a David Bezmozgis short story, Minyan is an absorbing coming-of-age tale set in 1980s Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. The son of Russian immigrants, 17 year old David struggles under the weight of religious tradition, familial expectations and his own sexual identity. In order to secure a room for his grandfather in an old age … Continue reading Minyan
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