ORT MOVIE GROUP on ZOOM
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DO YOU LIKE WATCHING AND TALKING ABOUT MOVIES?
Come join us!
Our current movie group started meeting in August, 2020 during
Covid, when the JCC presented their first virtual Jewish Film Festival.
The group was so successful that we have continued to meet monthly
since then. We select two movies each month to watch at home and
then meet on Zoom to discuss them. We are proud to have been an
organizational sponsor of the JCC Film Festival for the past two years!
We meet on the second Sunday of the month at 4PM.
The group is open to all ORT members and there is a donation of
$25 to ORT for the Movie Group.
Please contact Marian Cohen at [email protected] to join
or for more information. We look forward to having you join us!
September 8 - Sephardi month; choices in conjunction with the book. Kantika, being read by the book group
The movies are:
The Forgotten Refugees (49 min)
This film is about the mass exodus of up to a million Jews living in the Middle East and North Africa in communities dating back more than three millennia. Who are these Jews? What precipitated their mass-exodus in the 20th century? Where did they go? And why do we not know these Jewish refugees existed?
Beneath Another Sun (11 min)
University of Miami professor of religious studies, Dr. Henry Green, documents the great uprooting of the Sephardi Jews and how a people were displaced from their native lands and scattered around the world.
Last Class in Baghdad (13 min)
As life became unbearable for the shrinking Jewish community of Baghdad, a group of students danced the night away. Dressed in thin ties, and beehive hairdos, these kids were like teenagers all over the world listening to the latest 45’s. They all went to Frank Iny, the last Jewish school in Baghdad. It was their refuge in an increasingly dangerous world. 60 years later, they are reunited in a magical evening and marvel how they made it out alive.
A Story for Elina (6 min)
A long lost picture brings back a boyhood in Baghdad. And a father finally shares memories of his tortuous past.
What We Left Behind (6 min)
Out of thousands of Jewish religious artefacts recovered from Iraq, many were damaged beyond repair. What We Left Behind chronicles the final journey of forty-nine Torah scrolls framed in the turbulent history of the Iraqi Jewish people.
Seven Stories (17 min) Seven interlinking stories told Sephardi refugees from North Africa, the Middle East, and Iran who came to the UK in different waves of emigration. Produced by Sephardi Voices UK.
October 13:
Liberty Heights, comedy/drama, 1999, 2h 7m, Amazon Prime ($3.59), IMDb 7/10, Rotten Tomatoes 86%.
This semi-autobiographical film by Barry Levinson follows various members of the Kurtzman clan, a Jewish family living in suburban Baltimore during the 1950s. As teenaged Ben (Ben Foster) completes high school, he falls for Sylvia (Rebekah Johnson), a black classmate, creating inevitable tensions. Meanwhile, Ben's brother, Van (Adrien Brody), attends college and becomes smitten with a mysterious woman and their father (Joe Mantegna) tries to maintain his burlesque business.
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob, 1973, comedy, 1h 35m, Amazon Prime ($3,99), IMDb 7.4/10, Rotten Tomatoes 91%. In French.
A bigoted Frenchman finds himself forced to impersonate a popular rabbi while on the run from a group of assassins - and the police. One of de Funes’ most popular and iconic movies, it has become a cult classic.
November 10:
Ahead of Time: The Extraordinary Journey of Ruth Gruber, documentary/history, 2010, 1h 13m, Amazon Prime ($3.99),
IMDb 7.9/10, Rotten Tomatoes 91%.
Ruth Gruber became the world's youngest PhD at age 20 and at age 24, she became a New York Herald Tribune reporter. A trusted member of the Roosevelt Administration during WWII, she was given a dangerous secret mission. Ruth covered the turbulent Middle East throughout the 1940's, and the film combines verité footage of Ruth traveling back to Israel, with interviews and archival material.
Girlfriends, comedy/drama, 1978, 88m, Amazon Prime ($3.59), IMDb 7.2/10, Rotten Tomatoes 93%
A Jewish photographer is stuck with small-change shooting jobs and dreams of success. When her roommate decides to get married and leave, she feels hurt and has to learn how to deal with living alone. In 2019, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Movies we’ve seen:
August, 2020:
Abe
Crescendo
September, 2020:
The Tobaccanist
The House of Wannsee Street
October, 2020:
The Spy (miniseries about Israeli spy, Eli Cohen)
November, 2020:
The Red Sea Diving Resort
The Jewish Cardinal
December, 2020:
(Movies by director, Danny Ben-Moshe)
Shalom Bollywood
Outback Rabbis
Code of Silence
January, 2021:
To Each Her Own
School Ties
February, 2021:
Playing for Time
Windermere Children
March, 2021:
A Call to Spy
The Last Resort
April, 2021:
Fiddler: Miracle of Miracles
Creating a Character: The Moni Yakim Legacy
May, 2021:
The Dig
The Little Traitor
June, 2021:
Saferad
The Matchmaker (2010 Israeli film)
July, 2021
Nowhere in Africa
Audrey (2020)
August 2021
Arranged
Ida
September 2021
Heading Home
Every Time We Say Goodbye
October 2021
One of Us
Crip Camp
November 2021
Gentleman's Agreement
Hester Street
December 2021
Fill the Void
Howard Zinn
January 2022
A Quiet Heart
Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy
February 2022
Crime on the Bayou
March 2022
Aida's Secret
Minyin
April 2022
Pig
Four Seasons Lodge
May 2022
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Ansalem
Crossing Delancey
June 2022
Maktub
The Resistance Banker
July 2022
The Levys of Monticello
Rose
August 2022
Tiger Within
The Fourth Window--Amos Oz,
Back in Berlin
September 2022
#Anne Frank Parallel Stories
West Side Story (2021)
October 2022
Ken Burns Documentary: "The U.S. and the Holocaust
November 2022
Tango Shalom
Flee
December 2022
The Other Story
Never Stop Dreaming
January 2023
The Automat
Children of a Lesser God
February 2023
The Optimists
Avalon
March 2023
Image of Victory
The Kind Words
April 2023
13: The Musical
Persepolis
May 2023 - selections from the AAJFF
Narrow Bridge
Lost Transport
June 2023 - selections from the AAJFF
Farewell, Mr. Haffmann
Shadow of the Day
July
Armageddon Time
Waiting for Guffman
August
Hallalujah: Leonard Cohen, A Song, A Story
Tel Aviv on Fire
September
Golda
Munich
October
Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb
The Booksellers
November
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret
The Zookeeper's Wife
December - No Meeting
January 2024
Maestro
The Cakemaker
February 2024
Jews of the Wild West
The Art of Silence
March 2024
The Apartment
My Italian Secret
April 2024
Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives
My Father's Violin
May 2024
Rabbi on the Block
Without Precedent
June 2024
Children of Nobody
Home
July 2024
One Life
Ushpizin
August 2024
Remembering Gene Wilder
The movies are:
The Forgotten Refugees (49 min)
This film is about the mass exodus of up to a million Jews living in the Middle East and North Africa in communities dating back more than three millennia. Who are these Jews? What precipitated their mass-exodus in the 20th century? Where did they go? And why do we not know these Jewish refugees existed?
Beneath Another Sun (11 min)
University of Miami professor of religious studies, Dr. Henry Green, documents the great uprooting of the Sephardi Jews and how a people were displaced from their native lands and scattered around the world.
Last Class in Baghdad (13 min)
As life became unbearable for the shrinking Jewish community of Baghdad, a group of students danced the night away. Dressed in thin ties, and beehive hairdos, these kids were like teenagers all over the world listening to the latest 45’s. They all went to Frank Iny, the last Jewish school in Baghdad. It was their refuge in an increasingly dangerous world. 60 years later, they are reunited in a magical evening and marvel how they made it out alive.
A Story for Elina (6 min)
A long lost picture brings back a boyhood in Baghdad. And a father finally shares memories of his tortuous past.
What We Left Behind (6 min)
Out of thousands of Jewish religious artefacts recovered from Iraq, many were damaged beyond repair. What We Left Behind chronicles the final journey of forty-nine Torah scrolls framed in the turbulent history of the Iraqi Jewish people.
Seven Stories (17 min) Seven interlinking stories told Sephardi refugees from North Africa, the Middle East, and Iran who came to the UK in different waves of emigration. Produced by Sephardi Voices UK.
October 13:
Liberty Heights, comedy/drama, 1999, 2h 7m, Amazon Prime ($3.59), IMDb 7/10, Rotten Tomatoes 86%.
This semi-autobiographical film by Barry Levinson follows various members of the Kurtzman clan, a Jewish family living in suburban Baltimore during the 1950s. As teenaged Ben (Ben Foster) completes high school, he falls for Sylvia (Rebekah Johnson), a black classmate, creating inevitable tensions. Meanwhile, Ben's brother, Van (Adrien Brody), attends college and becomes smitten with a mysterious woman and their father (Joe Mantegna) tries to maintain his burlesque business.
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob, 1973, comedy, 1h 35m, Amazon Prime ($3,99), IMDb 7.4/10, Rotten Tomatoes 91%. In French.
A bigoted Frenchman finds himself forced to impersonate a popular rabbi while on the run from a group of assassins - and the police. One of de Funes’ most popular and iconic movies, it has become a cult classic.
November 10:
Ahead of Time: The Extraordinary Journey of Ruth Gruber, documentary/history, 2010, 1h 13m, Amazon Prime ($3.99),
IMDb 7.9/10, Rotten Tomatoes 91%.
Ruth Gruber became the world's youngest PhD at age 20 and at age 24, she became a New York Herald Tribune reporter. A trusted member of the Roosevelt Administration during WWII, she was given a dangerous secret mission. Ruth covered the turbulent Middle East throughout the 1940's, and the film combines verité footage of Ruth traveling back to Israel, with interviews and archival material.
Girlfriends, comedy/drama, 1978, 88m, Amazon Prime ($3.59), IMDb 7.2/10, Rotten Tomatoes 93%
A Jewish photographer is stuck with small-change shooting jobs and dreams of success. When her roommate decides to get married and leave, she feels hurt and has to learn how to deal with living alone. In 2019, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Movies we’ve seen:
August, 2020:
Abe
Crescendo
September, 2020:
The Tobaccanist
The House of Wannsee Street
October, 2020:
The Spy (miniseries about Israeli spy, Eli Cohen)
November, 2020:
The Red Sea Diving Resort
The Jewish Cardinal
December, 2020:
(Movies by director, Danny Ben-Moshe)
Shalom Bollywood
Outback Rabbis
Code of Silence
January, 2021:
To Each Her Own
School Ties
February, 2021:
Playing for Time
Windermere Children
March, 2021:
A Call to Spy
The Last Resort
April, 2021:
Fiddler: Miracle of Miracles
Creating a Character: The Moni Yakim Legacy
May, 2021:
The Dig
The Little Traitor
June, 2021:
Saferad
The Matchmaker (2010 Israeli film)
July, 2021
Nowhere in Africa
Audrey (2020)
August 2021
Arranged
Ida
September 2021
Heading Home
Every Time We Say Goodbye
October 2021
One of Us
Crip Camp
November 2021
Gentleman's Agreement
Hester Street
December 2021
Fill the Void
Howard Zinn
January 2022
A Quiet Heart
Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy
February 2022
Crime on the Bayou
March 2022
Aida's Secret
Minyin
April 2022
Pig
Four Seasons Lodge
May 2022
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Ansalem
Crossing Delancey
June 2022
Maktub
The Resistance Banker
July 2022
The Levys of Monticello
Rose
August 2022
Tiger Within
The Fourth Window--Amos Oz,
Back in Berlin
September 2022
#Anne Frank Parallel Stories
West Side Story (2021)
October 2022
Ken Burns Documentary: "The U.S. and the Holocaust
November 2022
Tango Shalom
Flee
December 2022
The Other Story
Never Stop Dreaming
January 2023
The Automat
Children of a Lesser God
February 2023
The Optimists
Avalon
March 2023
Image of Victory
The Kind Words
April 2023
13: The Musical
Persepolis
May 2023 - selections from the AAJFF
Narrow Bridge
Lost Transport
June 2023 - selections from the AAJFF
Farewell, Mr. Haffmann
Shadow of the Day
July
Armageddon Time
Waiting for Guffman
August
Hallalujah: Leonard Cohen, A Song, A Story
Tel Aviv on Fire
September
Golda
Munich
October
Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb
The Booksellers
November
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret
The Zookeeper's Wife
December - No Meeting
January 2024
Maestro
The Cakemaker
February 2024
Jews of the Wild West
The Art of Silence
March 2024
The Apartment
My Italian Secret
April 2024
Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives
My Father's Violin
May 2024
Rabbi on the Block
Without Precedent
June 2024
Children of Nobody
Home
July 2024
One Life
Ushpizin
August 2024
Remembering Gene Wilder