Cornell Cinema brings a Jewish film festival to Willard Straight Theatre

Cornell Cinema is hosting a Jewish film festival from Jan. 25 through Feb. 25 in conjunction with the Program of Jewish Studies at Cornell, Ithaca's Temple Beth El and Tikkun v'Or congregations and Cornell Hillel. All films will screen in Willard Straight Theatre on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. as well as at another date and time listed below.

Bagels and cream cheese courtesy of the Kosher Dining Hall as well as coffee will be served at the Sunday morning screenings. Admission to the Saturday and Tuesday evening screenings will be $6 general, $5 students and seniors, and $4 Cornell graduate students. Admission to the Sunday morning (and Saturday, Feb. 15) screenings will be $4 for all. For more information call 255-3522 or visit http://cinema.cornell.edu.

The Jewish Film Festival kicks off with Arnon Goldfinger's "The Komediant" Jan. 25 in Willard Straight Theatre. Courtesy of Cornell Cinema

The festival begins Saturday, Jan. 25, at 7:15 p.m. and Sunday morning, Jan. 26, with the hugely entertaining "The Komediant" (2001), directed by Arnon Goldfinger. This portrait of the musical Burstein family is a wonderful record of Yiddish musical theater's Golden Age, rich in funny anecdotes, clips of performances, home movies and appearances by the likes of Fyvush Finkel. It's a must-see for any fan of the Yiddish stage. In English, Yiddish and Hebrew, with English subtitles, this engaging film is appropriate for all ages. It is co-sponsored by the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance.

Joel Katz's illuminating documentary "Strange Fruit" (2001) will screen on Saturday, Feb. 1, at 7:15 p.m. and Sunday morning, Feb. 2. The film relates the history of the haunting and melodious song about lynching, "Strange Fruit." First popularized by Billie Holliday and later sung by dozens of artists -- from Abbey Lincoln to Siouxie and the Banshees -- the song was, surprisingly, written by Jewish social activist Abel Meeropol, an adoptive parent to the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg after the couple was executed. Highlights of this compelling film include stunning footage of '30s-era New York City and early Billie Holliday performances as well as contemporary commentary by such people as Amiri Baraka and Pete Seeger.

The festival continues Saturday, Feb. 8, at 7:15 p.m. and Sunday morning, Feb. 9, with "Yellow Asphalt" (2001), a stunning collection of short films directed by Danny Verete about the clash of tradition and modernity among the Jahalin Bedouins who live in the Judean desert. In "Black Spot," two Israeli truck drivers accidentally hit a young Bedouin boy and must face his tribe. "Here is Not There" tells the story of a German woman's attempt to escape from her Bedouin husband, though she knows he is obliged by custom to kill her. And in "Red Roofs," a hired hand is forced to choose between his tribe and his employer. "What links [the stories] is not only the theme of the ways a tradition-bound, nomadic society exists in a world that does not comprehend its customs and values, but also the landscape of the Judaean desert, whose desolate hills and valleys dwarf any human presence," wrote A.O. Scott in The New York Times. The film is in Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles.

Mirra Bank's "Last Dance" (2002) on Saturday, Feb. 15, at 5 p.m. and Sunday morning, Feb. 16, is a groundbreaking documentary that explores the creative process behind a collaboration between legendary author-illustrator Maurice Sendak and the modern dance company Pilobolus. They explore the haunting legacy of the Holocaust and produce a work of rare beauty and power. It is co-sponsored by the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance.

The festival concludes Sunday morning, Feb. 23, and Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m. with "August: A Moment Before the Eruption" (2002), by Avi Mograbi, one of Israel's most political and darkly humorous filmmakers. The film is a pointed snapshot of Israel in August 2001, when the country was overflowing with anger, frustration and fear. Determined to capture on film the current complexities of his homeland, Mograbi went into the streets with a video camera but no script or crew, then intercut the footage with auditions he hosted for Israeli actresses to play the wife of Baruch Goldstein, the Israeli physician who massacred Arabs at prayer in Hebron in 1994. In Hebrew with English subtitles.