Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction tomorrow, Thursday, June 30: BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
Directors Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman premiered their film at last month’s Toronto Jewish Film Festival and will be taking it to additional fests and theatrical engagements later this summer. It’s proven such an anticipated title for STF that they’ve had to add an additional screening tomorrow night.
The starting point for Snitow and Kaufman’s documentary, which partially takes the form of a personal essay film, is the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (incidentally an event Kaufman founded but has since moved on from) – specifically, the SFJFF’s screening of a controversial documentary, Simone Bitton’s RACHEL. The inclusion of Bitton’s film – on a young American activist who was killed by an Israeli military bulldozer razing Palestinian homes – sparked a firestorm for the fest, with critics charging that it was antisemitic, anti-Israeli propaganda. These protests led the filmmakers to consider who is permitted to speak for the Jewish community – only those who are wholly behind all of Israel’s policies? While finding a few larger touchpoints to consider, such as efforts by some to put pressure on universities to divest from Israeli or the ironic decision to build a museum of tolerance on top of one of Jerusalem’s oldest Muslim cemeteries, the directors turn to their personal histories to consider these complex questions of American Jewish identity, politics, and community. Kaufman considers her father, and his reactions to a daughter converting to Islam, while Snitow reveals the secret Communist past of his mother. These passages are among the strongest of the film, and justify the essay approach/narration moreso than do other parts. Still, as a whole, given its brief running time, the project begins an important and thoughtful conversation that addresses issues that can be extended beyond a specifically Jewish context or audience.
Note: The directors will be present for Q&As following the screenings.
That eightysomething-year-old is Gene Sharp, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee whose books on nonviolent resistance, such as FROM DICATORSHIP TO DEMOCRACY and WAGING NONVIOLENT STRUGGLE, have proven influential from the Balkans to Tunisia. The film combines interviews with Sharp with testimony from nonviolent revolutionaries all over the world who have used his methods to try to secure freedom from repression. In our age of ubiquitous cell-phone cameras, illustrations of these techniques are provided through user-generated content on the streets during major protests for freedom.
