Mazel tov!

>> Montreal’s Jewish Film Fest turns seven

by MATTHEW HAYS

Organizers of Montreal’s annual Jewish Film Festival deserve praise again this year, for an eclectic and rich selection of films and videos from around the world. Despite limited resources, the fest has managed in seven short years to be one of the most lively and intriguing in the city’s busy fest landscape.

The Israeli-French coproduction Late Marriage was a hit at last year’s Toronto Film Fest, and it also won nine Israeli Academy Awards including Best Picture. The film is a funny and lively account of a 32 year old who, due to family pressure, is set to marry an eligible young bride he actually has little interest in. Instead, he’d rather marry his girlfriend, an older, divorced woman whom his traditional family would rather he dump. Marriage bucks conventions in a pleasant enough way, but if it’s not iconoclastic enough for you, check out Trembling Before G-d, Sandi Simcha Dubowski’s critically acclaimed, much heralded documentary about gay and lesbians among Orthodox or Hasidic Jewish communities. Interviewees include the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi, Steve Greenberg, as well as closeted married Hasidic and Orthodox Jews. This film has played to sold out houses worldwide and has even brought in droves of Hasidic Jews, a community not usually known to flock to cinemas.

A little-known bit of jazz history is explored in Strange Fruit, a film about the origins of the Billie Holiday song of the same name. The song was written as a protest, and features an evocative description of a lynching. The song was actually written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish school teacher (who also became known for adopting the orphans of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg). Filmmaker Joel Katz relates this incredible story of an obscure creative force with insight and depth.

Montrealers should also take note of the second annual Montreal Jewish Student Film Fest, which runs as part of the main festival. Entries this year are exceptional and more info on the films is available at the fest Web site. :

The seventh annual Montreal Jewish Film Festival runs from May 9–16 at the Imperial, NFB and Cinémathèque québécoise. www.mjff.qc.ca