Program News...
See below for our upcoming events... Meantime, check out our program overviews...
Semitic/Cinematic: My Mexican Shiva
8:45pm April 16, 2008
AMC Pipers Alley #4
1608 N. Wells St., Chicago IL
as part of the Chicago Latino Film Festival
RSVP here.
When Moishe Tartakovsky, exuberant patriarch of a Mexico City family, dies of a heart attack in the middle of a raucous mariachi party, he leaves behind a large and complicated web of secrets and relationships that must be untangled over the course of his seven-day shivah (the prescribed mourning period in Jewish custom). In this sly and charming dysfunctional-family drama, the comically unraveling shivah will serve to account for the life of the deceased, but more importantly will bring those he left behind to account for themselves.
Those doing the untangling and accounting include Moishe's bitter daughter, still smarting over his having jilted her mother for a non-Jewish mistress; a ne'er-do-well grandson who seems to have miraculously reappeared from Israel transformed into a pious Hasid; a divorced son who needs a delicate favor from a fellow mourner; a motley crowd of groupies, bewildered maids and mariachi musicians; and two mysterious, elderly Yiddish-speaking bystanders--named Aleph and Bet--who diligently argue the merits and demerits of Moishe's life and record them in a celestial ledger.
Director Alejandro Springall commissioned renowned Mexican Jewish writer and Amherst scholar Ilan Stavans to come up with a story set in Mexico City's small but vibrant Jewish community (in a city of 18 million, there are fewer than 20,000 Jews, barely 0.1 percent). Published as the novella Morirse está en hebreo (Dying in Hebrew), the film is expertly produced for the screen by John Sayles and Maggie Renzi. In Springall's colorful adaptation, the vitality and diversity of Stavans's characters and the terrific score by The Klezmatics turn My Mexican Shivah into an affectionate, tearful party that's hard to leave.
During this time aspects of the family's Jewish-Mexican identity become evident. Soundtrack by Grammy winning Klezmatics.
Mexico, 2006
Director: Alejandro Springall
Principal cast: Raquel Pankowsky, David Ostrosky, Sharon Zundel, Blanca Guerra, Martha Roth.
Language: Hebrew, Spanish, English subtitles, Yiddish
Written by Jorge Goldenberg & Alejandro Springall, based on a story by Ilán Stavans
98 minutes
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About KFAR Jewish Arts Center
KFAR Jewish Arts Center is an independent arts organization that stimulates, promotes and produces the next generation of Jewish expression. To that end, we
* Present events, concerts and productions of high artistic merit which comment on or incorporate contemporary Jewish content and identity.
* Provide opportunities for Jews to come together to celebrate their cultural identity and Klal Yisrael.
* Create Jewish cultural context for the Jewish community, particularly young adult audiences.
* Stimulate creativity and generate new relationships and ideas among Jewish artists through workshops and performance opportunities.
* Expand the audience for new Jewish arts and culture to new audiences and promote cutting-edge local and touring Jewish artists.
* Establish an alternative cultural conduit to our heritage for Jewish artists and audiences, build links between them, and in the process, a stronger, more vibrant celebration of Jewish culture.
To get involved, send us an email.
