Smorgasbord of Jewish films
AS Aviva Kipen puts the finishing touches to next month’s Jewish Film Festival, she looks back on a hectic time as the new director of the annual celebration of cinema.
For the rabbi who was in charge of Bentleigh Progressive Synagogue for eight years until 2008, it has been a dramatic change of pace since taking over from Les Rabinowicz, who bowed out after 21 years at the helm of the festival.
After viewing hundreds of movies in Australia and at festivals in Cannes and Berlin, Rabbi Kipen has finalised her selection of 30 films from around the world, including documentaries, short films and a special program of work by young filmmakers.
The Jewish Film Festival opens in Sydney on November 2 and in Melbourne on November 9 with Lea and Darija, a Croatian film set around a children’s dance troupe that toured Croatia in the 1930s. With the rise of fascism, young Jewish dancer Lea Deutsch was replaced by German Darija Bransteiger and their families were entwined in the saga.
“I saw the film at the Cannes Film Festival this year and was so excited to see the story unfolding on the screen that I chased the filmmaker all over Cannes,” said Rabbi Kipen.
“Here’s a film about the Jewish condition told through the eyes of children. The two dancers revive the Shirley Temple era of great child performers.”
Lea and Darija is in Croatian, German and French with English subtitles.
“The growth of Jewish film in Australia is very significant and I hope to put together not just the work of Australian filmmakers, but also young Jewish filmmakers,” said Rabbi Kipen.
One of the documentaries in the festival is The Boys of Terezin, which is set around a newspaper that was published in the Terezin camp from 1942-44. Terezin survivor Emil Kopel, who lives in Melbourne, will attend screenings of the film and take part in audience discussions.
Another acclaimed documentary, In Heaven Underground (Im Himmel), which won an audience prize at the Berlin Film Festival this year, is about the Berlin Jewish cemetery that amazingly remained operational during World War II, with a rabbi officiating during this period.
The cemetery contained more than 115,000 graves and after the war ended up in East Berlin suffering great neglect.
“During World War II, despite the fact that the Nazi headquarters were a short distance away, German soldiers did not go into the cemetery and it remained intact throughout the war, whereas most other Jewish cemeteries were desecrated,” explained Rabbi Kipen. “Due to the German punctiliousness of record-keeping, people can still find information about their loved ones in the cemetery.”
Rabbi Kipen attended the 10-day Berlin Film Festival in February and found that it stirred the emotions.
“Everywhere you go in Berlin, you have to pass a memorial or sculpture which tells you what happened during the Holocaust,” she said.
“The film market is conducted in a building only 50 metres from where the Nazi headquarters were during the war. The neighbourhood where the festival was held used to be no-man’s-land which separated East and West Berlin. The amount of sinister stuff that confronts you as you go from cinema to cinema is enormous.”
The Cannes Film Festival in May was a very different experience to Berlin, and an important marketplace for films.
“Red carpet and glamour are true in Cannes, even in the middle of the day when the stars are in their evening gowns and dinner suits,” said Rabbi Kipen.
“But most people don’t realise that the business side of the film industry takes place in the rear of the building where the stars are.”
Rabbi Kipen said it was a gruelling schedule in Cannes, despite its idyllic location on the French Riviera.
“You may see four or five films a day, working from seven in the morning until late at night when the market closes and the parties start. It’s a test of stamina and your organisational ability.”
After last year’s Jewish Film Festival, when Rabinowicz announced his retirement, Rabbi Kipen decided to apply for the position.
“I was interviewed in the most formal and stringent of ways,” she said. “Then I was introduced to some of the festival’s major supporters and prospective supporters and invited to go to work as if I were going to be the director.”
Although Rabbi Kipen has not previously worked in the film industry, she has been attending Jewish film festivals for many years and joined the board of the Jewish Film Foundation of Australia – which runs the festival – in January 2010, after being a patron for several years.
“In the days when the Jewish Film Festival was at the Trak Cinema in Melbourne, I would block out the entire festival in my calendar,” she said.
“I have seen a lot of the festival’s programming during the past 15 years. I love the festival – it stands as one of the key events in the Jewish cultural calendar.”
The Jewish Film Festival will be held in Sydney from November 2-20 and in Melbourne from November 9-27. www.jewishfilmfestival.com.au.
REPORT by Danny Gocs
PHOTO from Lea and Darija
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