Category Archives: Documentary

Coming to theatres today, Friday, August 14: ROSENWALD

Aviva Kempner’s portrait of an unsung philanthropist made its world premiere at the Washington DC Jewish Film Festival earlier this year. Other screenings have included Nashville and the Toronto and San Francisco Jewish fests, as well as special events such as the NAACP National Convention.

In her latest doc, Kempner continues to explore the rich history of unheralded or under-recognized Jewish-American figures following THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HANK GREENBERG and YOO-HOO, MRS GOLDBERG by taking on the work and legacy of Julius Rosenwald, a midwestern businessman who was the head of Sears and devoted his philanthropical efforts to supporting the African-American community in the early 1900s. Impressed with Booker T Washington’s Tuskegee Institute, and seeing the need for educational opportunities for African Americans, particularly in the Jim Crow South, he partnered with Washington to build more than 5300 schools via challenge grants that encouraged the cooperation between local African American and white communities, conquering fear with familiarity. These efforts proved so successful, he used them for a campaign to provide black YMCAs to communities around the US, and to build housing for African Americans who moved North in the Great Migration. Kempner recounts Rosenwald’s life and accomplishments, exploring how his Jewish faith, and the concept of tikkun olam – repairing the world, influenced his actions, while a range of notable African American figures – from civil rights leaders Justin Bond and John Lewis, theatre producer George C Wolfe, and the late Maya Angelou – reflect on the opportunities afforded them due to their enrollment in Rosenwald schools. Though hampered here by a too-conventional telling heavy in talking heads and repetitive interviews, Rosenwald makes for a compelling figure and a welcome reminder of the power of generosity.

Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, August 11: JOURNEY TO THE SAFEST PLACE ON EARTH

Edgar Hagen’s search for a proper resting ground for nuclear waste premiered at DOK Leipzig in 2013. It has gone on to screen at CPH:DOX, DOXA, Planete+ Doc, Dokufest Kosovo, and DC’s Environmental fest, among others. FilmBuff now makes the doc available on various VOD platforms.

Hagen’s guide on his quest is Charles McCombie, an expert in the nuclear industry for the better part of four decades. Recognizing that humanity has already generated a staggering amount of waste in the short time that nuclear energy has been employed, various nations have invested decades of time and money researching viable options for disposal – locations which are geologically stable enough to permit long-term burial on the scale of hundreds of thousands of years. The unhurried McCombie leads Hagen – who offers a too-wry, occasionally irksome narration – around the globe to assess various sites, from China’s Gobi Desert to Nevada’s Yucca Mountain – some already deemed bad ideas, others which might hold promise, but are in need of further research. Along the way, questions of community cooperation emerge, as when nuclear nations wrongheadedly propose that remote, and notoriously anti-nuclear, Australia take one for the team as their disposal site; while in other locations, like Carlsbad NM, the economic benefits of welcoming such endeavors outweigh future concerns – for now.