“Nazis on the moon” sounds like a punchline. But it’s actually the premise of the most talked-about feature at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. The plot of Finnish entry “Iron Sky” revolves around “a group of Nazis who escape to the moon at the end of World War II to plan a new assault,”…
When ninth-grader Shulamit Izen fought to establish a group uniting gay and straight students at her Boston-area Jewish high school in 2001, the effort seemed remarkable enough to inspire a film. “Hineini,” the 2005 documentary chronicling the young lesbian’s struggle, became a touchstone for a nascent movement encouraging openness and support for teenagers grappling with…
Last week, the Forward reported that Turkey had selected a young Jewish pop singer as its representative to 2012’s Eurovision music competition — an oblique gesture of musical détente at a time of frosty relations between Israel and Turkey. Now, in a very different kind of cultural milestone, Turkish state television network TRT has announced…
Turkey’s emissary to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest — the annual multinational music competition showcasing 43 countries and wide-ranging talent levels — is a 24-year-old pop singer from the western metropolis of Izmir named Can Bonomo. Fan site EuroVisionary describes the singer-songwriter’s style as “Istanbulian music that works with tunes from Alaturca to international indie…
“Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Times,” which opened on October 30 at the cavernous Discovery Times Square exhibit space in New York, touts itself as showcasing “the largest and most comprehensive collection of Holy Land artifacts ever organized.” Indeed, a more accurate title for this Bible-themed behemoth of a show, produced in…
While it’s long maintained headquarters in Toronto’s heavily Jewish northern reaches, the Koffler Centre of the Arts has never had a permanent home downtown, where much of its edgy programming originates. As a result, the Koffler made a virtue of necessity, building a brand around acclaimed off-site exhibitions that showcased its content at urban venues…
It sounded a bit like a HEEB parody: SpaMitzvah, a body-care company “Where Gorgeously Yiddish Beauty Reigns Supreme!”, issued a press release this week about a High Holidays-themed body-care line. The “homage to Rosh Hashanah,” with apples-and-honey-inspired body and bath products, “commemorate[s] the sweet treats that are enjoyed at the Jewish New Year,” the press…
“They corrupted us with pleasure.” That, according to the Los Angeles Times, was the eminent critic John Lahr’s assessment of Jewish songwriting team Leiber and Stoller, whose indelible repertoire includes Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” and Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?” Jerry Leiber, “the words half of the duo,” died today of cardiopulmonary failure…
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