In the Oscar shorts category, stories of fraught relationships in Israel
“The Present” is the more openly political of the nominees; “White Eye” is more subtle.
For this survivor and member of the French Resistance, the scars remain
The Oscar-nominated documentary short ‘Colette’ tells the story of an elegant, stoic 90-year-old woman, member of a French Resistance family.
Returning to Poland, chasing ghosts and a lost painting
The documentary “Still Life in Lodz” focuses on a woman’s return to her childhood home in Lodz.
In Mexico City, a young artist’s affair threatens her Syrian-Jewish community
Set in Mexico City, “Leona” is a coming of age tale that follows a young female muralist who falls in love with a non-Jewish Mexican and winds up essentially disinherited from her own community. The Spanish-language film, which marks the impressive debut of writer-director Issac Cherem — who hails from the tightly-knit, Syrian-Jewish community where his film takes place — touches on marginalization, female agency, immigration and community.
The trippy, far-out artist who refused to support the Nazis
Throughout his life, M.C. Escher was dumbfounded and at, at times, irritated by his popularity among counterculture youth.
Against all odds, Holocaust survivors retain their optimism — and their music
In “Saul and Ruby’s Holocaust Survivor Band,” the elderly members of a klezmer band celebrate their unlikely triumph.
Yes, he sold art to the Nazis — but was he a traitor or a hero?
In ‘The Last Vermeer,’ starring Guy Pearce and Claes Bang, a notorious forger is charged with selling a Vermeer to Nazi leader Herman Goring.
43 years after Skokie, Ira Glasser is still fighting for free speech
The 82-year-old former ACLU director was inspired by Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers. He’s the subject of “Mighty Ira,” a new documentary.
Gloria Steinem is having a moment — so why doesn’t she seem more relevant?
In addition to the new film “The Glorias,” Steinem has been dramatized in an off-Broadway play, documentaries and biopics.
How a Jewish marketing whiz tried to save old-time Russian hockey
In the documentary “Red Penguins,” a slew of odd bedfellows including Michael J. Fox and Michael Eisner try to save the Red Army hockey team.