Annual event celebrates Jewish film, culture

Kirk Baird

Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2005 | 8:23 a.m.

As the name would imply, the 4th annual Las Vegas Celebration of Jewish Film is more than a movie festival.

To Joshua Abbey, program director for the event, the Jewish-oriented films being featured are a link to the past.

"Judaism has a strong oral tradition of passing down its history through the generations and Jewish cinema has become the mechanism to facilitate that, so that the history of the Jewish people is being told through the art of film," Abbey said.

"It's a wonderful way to bring people together to get a greater understanding of their own culture."

Sponsored by the nonprofit Desert Space Foundation, the Las Vegas Celebration of Jewish Film begins Thursday evening and runs through Sunday night at the Century Suncoast 16 theaters.

While Jewish film festivals are becoming increasingly popular, with about 75 held worldwide, Abbey wanted to differentiate the Las Vegas event from the others through local participation.

"What's unique about this film festival is that I invited local Jewish synagogues and organizations to represent the individual screenings," he said. "They use those screenings as an opportunity to introduce themselves to unaffiliated newcomers to the Jewish community. And that format doesn't exist anywhere else in the country."

Abbey has also invited various filmmakers to present their work and to participate in question-and-answer sessions with the audience. Among the guests: Cantor Jack Mendelson, one of the subjects of the documentary "A Cantor's Tale," as well as the film's director, Erik Anjou; and Rebecca Gold, producer of the romantic comedy "Suzie Gold."

While the films are Jewish oriented, Abbey stressed that the festival is open to anyone who appreciates independent cinema.

"We really encourage people from the non-Jewish community to take advantage of these films, which won't be going into mainstream distribution and are all critically acclaimed and really good cinema," he said.

The lineup of films includes:

"A Cantor's Tale," 7 p.m. Thursday. The feature-length documentary examines the roots of Askenazic cantorial music in America with Cantor Mendelson, president of the Cantors Assembly, serving as principal guide. This is a special sneak preview of a work in progress.

"Paper Clips," 7:30 p.m. Saturday. A documentary about an experiment in Holocaust education involving students at a rural Tennessee middle school, who decided to collect 6 million paper clips to represent the 6 million Holocaust victims.

"Suzie Gold," 1 p.m. Sunday. Starring Summer Phoenix, the film follows a young woman as she attempts to establish herself outside the social conventions and traditions of her Jewish family. The British romantic-comedy has been called a Jewish "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

"Bonjour, Monsieur Shlomi," 4 p.m. Sunday. An Israeli family comedy about a boy whose life centers on helping his family, until his extraordinary talents are discovered. The Los Angeles Times calls the film "charming and upbeat," while the Village Voice described it as a "sensitive coming-of-age feature."

"Yellow Asphalt," 7 p.m. Sunday. Directed by Israeli filmmaker Danny Veret, this trilogy of separately shot films deals with Israeli and Palestinian relations. In Hebrew with English subtitles.