Books: Oren ‘Tempts’ Israeli readers and defies critics
November 2, 2007
Profile of Israeli novelist Ram Oren who has written 16 titles, sold more than 1 million copies in Israel and set up his own publishing house (Keshet).
Avner Hofstein
Hasfari’s ‘House’ Moves to Laguna
April 6, 2007
As Laguna Playhouse Executive Director Richard Stein walked down Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv during a trip to Israel last December, he was struck by a Bauhaus-style building famously used in the city decades ago.
IFF: Personal, not political stories drive lineup
February 23, 2007
\”Israeli filmmakers are not interested in politics,\” said Katriel Schory, the head of the Israeli Film Fund.
Musical Journey in Time
May 4, 2006
Ah the \’60s. Those were the days when Geula, Aliza and Hedva would prance around in their khaki skirts in the Israeli military band — they were the highlight in entertainment for the young and naive Israel.
Spectator – Anchorman in a Foreign ‘Land’
February 23, 2006
For 40 years, Chaim Yavin was the symbol of objective journalism in Israel, the figure people looked up to in time of crisis, despair or political change. As the anchorman of Channel One\’s IBA news, for years the only legal TV network operating in the Israeli media arena, Yavin was the Israeli Walter Cronkite, the man behind the news.
Light Shines on Israel’s Invisibles
November 17, 2005
In \”Janem, Janem,\” Aldi (Danny Rytenberg), a 40-year-old high school teacher, heads south to an enclave of foreign workers who reside in small, crowded hovels in the no-man\’s land of the old Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv. It is there among construction workers from Romania, Turkey and Russia that Aldi — without language, family and identity — finds true love and meaning for his life.
In the film \”What a Wonderful Place,\” ex-cop Franco (Israeli Oscar winner Uri Gavriel) has to work for a cruel and shady underground boss, but he finds kinship with an illegal Ukranian worker who teaches him to swim while he protects her from immigration officers.
Both films will screen in Los Angeles at the 21st annual Israel Film Festival.
My Father, My Hero
February 5, 2004
There\’s a framed glass poster that hangs on the wall of Assaf Ramon\’s Houston bedroom wall. While the image of the smiling astronaut in the orange jumpsuit is famous, the Hebrew words inscribed at the bottom of the poster are not
Kidnapped Dreams
October 2, 2003
Ben Wertzberger dreamed of moving to Las Vegas to start a new life. Tired, sick and impoverished, the 24-year-old Israeli packed his DJ equipment on Dec. 2, 2002, and together with his childhood friend, Adar Neeman, prepared to head to the Las Vegas to break into the club scene.
But Wertzberger and Neeman never made it to Las Vegas.
After a six-month investigation, on Sept. 21 the FBI discovered the two boys\’ bodies buried in a shallow grave in Barstow, a desert town 150 miles north east of Los Angeles, on the way to Las Vegas.
Last week, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted Shane Huang, 34, and Benjamin Frandsen, 29, for kidnapping that resulted in death. The two men will be arraigned on Oct. 6, and, if convicted, face a possible death sentence.
Mourning
July 3, 2003
Nimrod, the youngest, was a creative kid, the wild type who wanted to try it all. Girls followed him around, and he was always busy with projects — building model cars, fixing computers, raising pets in his room.
Vicky, the oldest, was the responsible one.
It’s ‘Here’ Because of the Translator
October 10, 2002
Does humor translate? Are one country\’s characters so unique to that place that no other nation would understand them? Or are people the same all over the world?
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