With the elections now history, we can focus our attention on the Jewish cultural scene, and the upcoming week offers a rich and diverse menu.
UCLA has inaugurated a Center for Israel Studies, the first of its kind on the West Coast. A $5 million endowment for the center was provided by Younes and Soraya Nazarian, the Iranian Jewish couple in whose honor the center is named.
The three lions of contemporary Israeli literature, Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua and David Grossman, held a press conference a little over four years ago, pleading with then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to end the bloody incursion into Lebanon.
Two films of particular Jewish interest open in Los Angeles on Oct. 29, one a pleasant surprise from an unexpected source, the other an odd take on one of history’s biggest mass murderers.
Even as the Israel Film Festival that began Oct. 20 stretches over 16 days and features some 30 movies and documentaries, Los Angeles is confirming its cosmopolitan status by also hosting a more modest Arab Film Festival.
Architectural designs for a trimmed-down Museum of Tolerance in the center of Jerusalem, featuring massive top-to-bottom glass walls facing the city’s Independence Park, have been unveiled by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
“The Matchmaker” is the opening-night presentation of the 25th Israel Film Festival, which will take place Oct. 20-Nov. 4 and has grown to be the largest showcase of Israeli films in the United States. But don’t expect a heartwarming shtetl romance or a Hollywood-ish “Father of the Bride” comedy.
Hollywood’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that it will bestow an honorary Oscar on iconic French-Swiss filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard on Nov. 13.
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