Jewish Film Festival

Two films will be shown at UMass Amherst this spring
in conjunction with the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival:

Fugitive Pieces
Thursday, March 26 at 7:30pm
$8 general admission; free with Five-College ID

While All Germans Sleep
Wednesday, April 1 at 7:30pm
Free admission

Both films will be shown in Flavin Auditorium,
Isenberg School of Management Room 137
(Wheelchair accessible)

FUGITIVE PIECES

      "A film of special humanity"
            — Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times

      Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematographer
            — 2008 Newport Beach Film Festival

Based on the best-selling novel by Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces (dir Jeremy Podeswa, Canada/Greece, 2007, 104 mins; English, Greek, Yiddish, German) is a powerful, poetic, and emotionally-charged drama about love, loss and redemption.

The film tells the story of Jakob Beer, a man whose life is haunted by his childhood experiences during World War II. After his parents are killed by German soldiers in Poland, Jakob is rescued by a compassionate Greek archeologist. Over the course of his life, Jakob attempts to deal with the losses he has endured. Through his writing, and then through the discovery of true love, Jakob is ultimately freed from the legacy of his past.

The relationship between Athos and Jakob, as a child and later as a grown man, is among the most beautiful ever seen on film. Anyone who doubts a man's ability to love deeply in spite of profound loss, should see this film. (Rated "R" for sexuality.)

     "Achingly beautiful"
            — Bruce Kirkland, The Toronto Sun

     Best Narrative Feature (Audience Award)
            — 2008 Sarasota Film Festival

     Best Actor (Rade Serbedzija as Athos)
            — 2007 Rome Film Festival

The film will be introduced by Professor Catherine Portuges, director of the Interdepartmental Program in Film Studies at UMass Amherst and an authority on Holocaust films.

Fugitive Pieces is presented by the Office of Jewish Affairs in conjunction with the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival

WHILE ALL GERMANS SLEEP

While All Germans Sleep/Wenn alle Deutchen schlafen
(director Frank Beyer, Germany, 1994, 72 min,
in German with English subtitles)

While the adults anxiously await deportation to Auschwitz, a boy and his friends hatch a plot to escape from their Polish transit camp, to recover lost toys. Based on Jurek Becker's short story The Wall, this poignant feature by Frank Beyer (who collaborated with Becker on Jacob the Liar, 1974) offers a glimpse into history through the eyes of children.

The film will be introduced by Christine Becker, Jurgen Becker's widow. Followed by a panel discussion with Sky Arndt-Briggs (DEFA Film Library), Delene White and Jonathan Skolnik (German & Scandinavian Studies).

Jurek Becker (1937-1997), one of the most important authors of the 20th century, was born in Poland. As a child, he lived in the Jewish ghetto of Lodz and survived the Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. His debut novel, Jacob the Liar, which was translated into 20 languages, established his reputation worldwide. Many of Becker's novels, short stories and scripts for television and cinema focus on explorations of Jewish identity.

While All Germans Sleep is presented by the 16th Annual Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival and the DEFA Film Library in collaboration with the Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival, Judaic & Near Eastern Studies, German & Scandinavian Studies, and the Office of Jewish Affairs.

For more information...

Fugitive Pieces (view movie trailer)

Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival
(March 16-April 5, 2009)

DEFA Film Library

Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival

Office of Jewish Affairs
Larry Goldbaum, 413-545-9642



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