Daniel Witkin
By Daniel Witkin
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Art How Jerry Lewis Became A Great Filmmaker And Embarassed Everyone In the Process
There can be an almost archeological element to discussing the work and career of Jerry Lewis. The legendary Jewish-American filmmaker, who died on August 20, lived and worked through a period of immense transformation in American culture – one that he helped to create – such that it can be difficult for contemporary audiences to…
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Culture ‘Auschwitz On The Beach’ Compared Refugee Crisis To The Holocaust. Cancelling It Was Wrong.
Last week, Germany’s premier contemporary art exhibition decided not play host to “Auschwitz on the Beach.” Jewish groups successfully pressured documenta 14, which takes place every five years in the city of Kassel, into cancelling the controversial piece. A performance by Italian writer and artist Franco “Bifo” Berardi, “Auschwitz on the Beach” took its name…
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Culture Novel Of Jewish Familial Strife Among Finalists For Prestigious Prize
Bethany Ball’s debut novel, “What to do About the Solomons,” has made the short list for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Her book, set between California and Israel, tells the story of a Jewish family beset by financial scandal. The other finalists are “As Lie is to Grin” by Simeon Marsalis, “Empire of…
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Film & TV How A Ukrainian Silent Film Star Became One Of The 20th Century’s Greatest Filmmakers
Before she was a filmmaker, Yuliya Solntseva was the Queen of Mars. As the title character in the 1924 silent film “Aelita,” she vamps and struts her way around elaborate constructivist sets representing her kingdom on the Red Planet. Decades later, she would take her place in history by directing a trilogy of dazzlingly virtuosic…
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Art Will The Real Modiglianis Please Stand Up?
The works of Jewish-Italian modernist painter Amedeo Modigliani are beloved by art critics and libidinous undergrads alike, but they hold a special allure for a less desirable audience: Art forgers. For Artnet, Lorena Muñoz-Alonso recently looked into the proliferation of fraudulent Modiglianis, which reached a scandalous apex in June when an exhibition featuring the painter’s…
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Culture Did These Jewish Directors Make The Best Comedies Of All Time?
The movies most often counted among cinema’s greatest are disproportionally very depressing, but man does not live on melodrama and ennui alone. Because life itself is sad enough, the BBC polled 253 international film critics on their ten favorite comedies, the of which were released yesterday. Unsurprisingly, Hollywood’s Jewish-American filmmakers made quite the impression. The…
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Culture Third Woman Accuses Roman Polanski of Rape
A woman identifying herself as “Robin M.” accused filmmaker Roman Polanski of “sexually victimizing” her at a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday, according to a report by USA Today. The new accusation comes as the director is awaiting a decision on a request for the dismissal of the 1977 unlawful sex case that…
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Art For Better Or Worse, “Nocturama” Is The Movie Of The Moment
During the lead-up to the September 11th terrorist attacks, ringleader Mohammed Atta and at least four other hijackers met multiple times in Las Vegas. Something about this detail seems to stick in the imagination, such that the intervening years have seen considerable speculation as to what they did there, prompting earnest investigations as well as…
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