Simi Horwitz is a feature writer and film reviewer based in New York City. In 2022, she received first place for film criticism from the Society for Feature Journalism, and in 2023, a New York Press Club Award for an Entertainment News feature; and three Los Angeles Press Club Awards, including first place for film criticism — all for pieces published in the Forward.
Simi Horwitz
By Simi Horwitz
-
Culture An Epic German Oscar Nominee That Just Dares You To ‘Look Away’
In 2006, Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck’s first flick, “The Lives of Others,” walked off with an Oscar in the Foreign Language category (after beating out the much favored “Pan’s Labyrinth”). It was a focused, compelling film that explored the lives of two artists and the Stasi agent assigned to keep watch over them in the…
-
Culture How An Orthodox Businesswoman Rose In The Ranks At The NSA
Forty-two-year-old Anne Neuberger, an Orthodox Jewish woman, was tapped by the National Security Agency as its first chief risk officer, a senior slot if ever there was one. She took the job in 2014 in the wake of Edward Snowden leaking classified NSA information to the world, thus throwing the Pentagon, along with pundits of…
-
Culture How Renée Taylor, Of ‘The Nanny’ Fame, Gets It Done
Attitudes towards the overweight in general, and women in particular, have evolved — well, sort of. Just ask actress and writer Renée Taylor (“The Nanny,” “Dream On,” “How I Met Your Mother”). As a keen social observer of the cultural scene, not to mention her own weight issues over the past 85 years, she knows…
-
Theater Meet The New Star Of ‘The Band’s Visit’ (Same As The Old Star)
For Sasson Gabay, 71, acting is second nature, not unlike eating, drinking or even breathing. He instinctively observes the people around him, the way they interact and behave. It’s all source material, culled and stored for future roles that he might play. “I look at you, how you speak, the kind of questions you ask,…
-
Culture Ruchie Freier: Hasidic Judge, American Trailblazer
Judge Rachel (“Ruchie”) Freier, 52, is the only Hasidic woman judge in the world. She knows she’s an anomaly, and yet she sees nothing contradictory between her deeply held religious beliefs and her high-powered, secular career. “People always make a big deal that I’m the first Hasidic woman judge, but my husband [mortgage broker David…
-
Film & TV Samuel Maoz Says ‘Foxtrot’ Isn’t Trying To Make Israel Look Bad
Israeli director Samuel Maoz’s vivid, memorable — and not easy to watch — film, “Foxtrot,” has already generated controversy in Israel. Minister of Culture Miri Regev has accused him of being a traitor and done everything in her power to generate a boycott against the film. Maoz has received death threats. At the same time,…
-
Film & TV Why Yiddish Theater Works Better In America Than In Israel
Israeli actors Gera Sandler and his wife Ronit Asheri-Sandler, now starring in Clifford Odets’ “Awake and Sing!” with the New Yiddish Rep at the 14th Street Y, can’t help comparing New York and Israeli audiences for Yiddish-language Theater. “In New York you’ll see people of many backgrounds sitting in the theater, also a surprising number…
-
Film & TV The ‘Last Jewish Writer In Hungary’ Returns To 1945
Set in post-Holocaust Hungary, “1945” is a stunning, black and white film which explores the culpability and dread that is aroused among local Christians, many of whom were Nazi collaborators, when two Orthodox Jews arrive in town on an unspoken mission. The timing for this multi-award winning film couldn’t be more on target, say writer-director…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion Hamas made a remarkable offer — because Trump laid a remarkable trap
- 2
Fast Forward Hegseth says ‘no more beardos’ in the military. What about religious exemptions?
- 3
News Hundreds of Northwestern students can’t register for class because they won’t watch an antisemitism training video. Here’s what’s in it.
- 4
Opinion A crucial Yom Kippur reading holds a scathing lesson on Gaza
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Bari Weiss, Free Press founder who started as antisemitism crusader, named editor-in-chief of CBS
-
Fast Forward On Paramount+, Apple TV, HBO and more, Oct. 7 emerges as a cinematic subgenre
-
Fast Forward Poll: 40% of American Jews believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza
-
Opinion There’s a biblical precedent for the rifts opened by Oct. 7 — it should alarm us all
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
