Kaveh Nabatian became a filmmaker to “create little worlds” and then make them collide.
His movie “Sin La Habana,” screening in the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, explores the turbulent relationships among an Iranian-Jewish divorcee and a struggling, young Afro-Cuban couple, set in Havana and Montreal. Its vivid tropical colors, caliente soundtrack and Santeria rituals feel a long way in mood from the shtetl.
“We all are so divided and quick to make judgments about each other,” Nabatian says. “I hope people will look at each other differently after watching my film. I am trying to show the value of empathy in how we see each other.”
Nabatian is one of the top five up-and-coming filmmakers vying for the Best Emerging Director award in the festival, running Feb. 16-27. If there is a consistent theme in this eclectic mix of 40 feature films and 15 shorts, it is the power of intersectionality in “Tikkun Olam,” the Jewish responsibility to mend a fractured world.
“The very essence of film is to build bridges of cultural understanding,” says Kenny Blank, executive director of the festival. “What better way to do so than to explore themes, history, anecdotes, comedy, relationships, conflicts, music and so much more through the eyes of someone who is different than yourself?”
In its 22nd year, the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival (AJFF) offers viewers a unique opportunity to see movies from around the world that otherwise would not screen in Atlanta. Organizers originally planned to show some of the entries at local theaters, but because of lingering COVID-19 concerns, shifted to an all-virtual format.
Don’t worry, though — the virus did not suppress the storytelling magic. “Given COVID’s impact on film production, I’m frankly surprised at how hearty and uncompromised the pipeline is of new film works,” Blank says. “Two years into the pandemic, I could easily make a case that the crop of films available to us in 2022 is the best it’s ever been. It demonstrates, once again, that filmmakers are resilient and innovative.”
Credit: Atlanta Jewish Film Fes
Credit: Atlanta Jewish Film Fes
The lineup packs some international star power. Opening night’s “The Survivor” is a Barry Levinson movie featuring Danny DeVito, and Israel’s “Let It Be Morning” is up for an Oscar.
Other juried categories include narrative, documentary, building bridges and human rights. In the mix are rom-coms, thrillers, historical works, a courtroom drama and an abundance of biographical profiles, including detailed and unflinching portraits of Saul Bellow, Leonard Bernstein and Amos Oz. Other documentaries are “A Tree of Life,” about the Pittsburgh synagogue tragedy, and “Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen.”
To enjoy the rich tradition of Jewish comedy, check out lighter fare such as “Love & Mazel Tov,” “Leon the Pig Farmer” and “Our (Almost Completely True) Story.” Also, two animated works deftly explore adult themes.
“If you look at this year’s lineup, you will see genres that you might expect to see at any major industry film festival worldwide,” Blank says. “What these films have in common is an urgency, a distinctive sense of time and place and boldness in storytelling.”
So what constitutes a “Jewish film”? “The Jewish experience shares many of the hopes and hardships of other religious, ethnic or cultural minorities,” says Blank. “We have a broad and inclusive definition. The film’s Jewishness may be implicit or explicit, but it must ultimately speak to themes of heritage, history and identity, told through a uniquely Jewish lens.”
Plainly put, you do not have to be a “member of the tribe” to appreciate these films, Blank says. “We strive to bring cultural awareness to diverse audiences, connecting all through storytelling. Through entertainment, we can not only learn more about other cultures, but we also can begin having dialogues that otherwise might not occur in the absence of so many brilliant catalysts.”
The work behind the scenes is an intensive labor of love. Movies are selected by 150 Atlanta-based cinephiles, “from all walks of life,” who submitted more than 15,000 evaluations for about 500 films to the AJFF’s film evaluation committee.
“This is a six-month process to ensure we’re curating only the best of Jewish cinema from around the world, to ensure on-screen representation is considered from multiple angles, not just those of our festival staff and board,” Blank says.
This year’s offerings represent 18 countries and 17 languages. About 30% of them are directed by women. “We’re also working to expand our closed captioning to broaden the accessibility of our films beyond our typical reach,” Blank says.
Credit: Atlanta Jewish Film Festiva
Credit: Atlanta Jewish Film Festiva
Five AJFF films to watch
“The Survivor”
The festival opens with this gritty, violent boxing film directed by Oscar winner Barry Levinson. Based on a true story, it revolves around Herschel “Harry” Haft, a Polish prizefighter haunted by too many memories, including those of the woman he loves. He was forced to spar with fellow Auschwitz prisoners in bare-knuckles fights to the death, for the entertainment of their Nazi captors. Losers were perfunctorily executed. Haft survives and tries for a normal life in Brighton Beach, still using his fists in an effort to reunite with his lost love. Enter Danny DeVito, playing a blunt-talking Jewish trainer who helps Haft train for a match against legendary Rocky Marciano. (Other marquee names include Peter Sarsgaard playing a cynical journalist, and Billy Magnussen as an S.S. officer.) With lucid camera-work by George Steel, this movie revels in both its athletic physicality and its gut-punching emotional range. Searing flashbacks reveal the post-traumatic guilt in the “them or me” code of survival in the concentration camps. The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival marks its East Coast premiere.
“Persian Lessons” Where would Jewish cinema be without some rueful absurdity? Inspired by true events, this subtle film may be the most viscerally satisfying one in the lineup because a small, freakishly smart Belgian-Jewish man handily outfoxes his clueless Nazi persecutors. In a classic tale of the archetypal trickster, Gilles convinces S.S. soldiers during a roundup that he is not Jewish but Iranian. As luck would have it, the commandant dreams of opening a restaurant in Tehran and wants to learn Farsi, so he demands linguistic lessons — in a language Gilles does not speak. The canny detainee begins teaching words made up on the fly, and soon enough these men are conversing in fluent gibberish. “Persian Lessons” is a worthy Oscar nominee from Belarus.
“Charlotte” Before her untimely death, Charlotte Saloman, a German-born artist who was 16 when the Nazis came to power, created the largest single work of art made by a Jew during the Holocaust: “Life? Or Theater?” It was her attempt to “undertake something wildly unusual” in lieu of taking her own life, as so many in her family, including her mother, had done in Saloman’s story of desperate pain and privilege. Actress Keira Knightley lends her plummy voice to this exquisitely animated version of Saloman’s remarkable and surprising story that has remained largely untold until recently. Expect a twist of moral ambiguity that sets her apart from Anne Frank. Producer Julia Rosenberg says, “‘Charlotte’ conveys that creativity can triumph over despair, sacrifice can create worlds anew and hope can be visible despite all darkness.”
“The Adventures of Saul Bellow” Saul Bellow, one of America’s swaggering, word-drunk titans of literature, has been all but “canceled” nowadays. Billed aptly as “unvarnished,” this documentary examines his complicated legacy against a nostalgic backdrop of Old Chicago. One by one, his five wives testify with affection, despite the drubbing they take in his fiction, which routinely refers to women as “blood drinkers” — an odd slight reminiscent of the old anti-Semitic “blood libel.” “I’ve never lifted a fig leaf without finding a price tag on the other side,” the writer grouses. Add to the cringe-worthy misogyny some racism and homophobia, and you see an author glaringly out of step with current mores. His old buddy, Philip Roth muses, “He was not a nice fellow.” But then: excerpts of that soaring, exuberant prose read aloud. Bellow is what the French would call a “sacred monster.” The upshot? Better to read him than marry him.
“Women of Valor” “Woman of Valor,” or “Eishet Chayil” in Hebrew, is a hymn that celebrates righteous women who keep a “good, Jewish household.” The inspiring women in this documentary from Israel are striving to expand and enrich the definition, by garnering the right to represent their Haredi community in the Knesset, or legislature. If you enjoyed the Netflix hit “Shtisel,” this film is a must-watch. Meet the steely, formidable Esty Shushan, who co-founds a nonprofit that takes the case all the way to the U.N. Women’s Rights Committee and the Israeli Supreme Court. Inspired by earlier suffrage movements, she and her sister activists play a frenzied, almost comical game of cat and mouse with Orthodox enforcers who follow them around just to take down their fliers. (None of the men come across as remotely sympathetic in this film.) The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival is the first in North America to screen this movie, which closes out the event. Director Anna Somershaf says, “I hope they will become role models for anyone who’s facing injustice. This film is a call to action and a reminder that each one of us has the ability to change the world.”
VIRTUAL EVENT
Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. $16 per person, $32 per household, per film. Feb. 16-27. All events screened online only. 678-701-6104, www.ajff.org
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