The sixth annual Teaneck International Film Festival will be held Nov. 11 to 13 at the Puffin Foundation, Cedar Lane Cinemas, Teaneck High School, Jewish Center of Teaneck, Temple Emeth, and Davis, Saperstein & Salomon. It will launch with a gala party hosted by Holy Name Medical Center in Marian Hall on Thursday evening, Nov. 10. Those who have contributed $25 or more to support the festival will receive two invitations to the event. Donations will be accepted until Nov. 1. To contribute and be part of the opening celebration, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call (800) 811-2909.
Was the Israeli kibbutz movement an idealistic social experiment that aimed to create a stronger, healthier, fairer Jewish world? Or was it a wasteful lefty fantasy that resulted in an oppressively conformist society in which everyone spied on his neighbor? According to “Inventing Our Life,” a documentary by Toby Perl Freilich, it depends on whom you ask, which may be another way of saying all of the above. Screening at the Quad Cinema on West 13th Street for the Yom Ha’atzmaut season, “Inventing Our Life” shares a lot of fascinating information about kibbutz life and the history of kibbutzim, but leaves a lot out, as well.
The kibbutz movement was an answer to a pressing economic problem in turn-of-the-20th-century Palestine: There were no jobs for young Jewish immigrants, so many of them turned around and went back home, or decided to try America.
The premise of “Hadirah” (“The Flat”) appears simple: An elderly grandmother has died and her apartment must be emptied of the relics of a lifetime.
As he filmed what was intended to create a record of his grandmother’s home and lifestyle, however, director and narrator Arnon Goldfinger began “to uncover…things that were a bit disquieting…, [that] did not cease to transform and surprise me.”
In the resulting documentary — which won Best Editing in a Documentary Feature at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival — the secrets revealed stimulate a convoluted journey into Goldfinger’s family’s history and the discovery of what he calls “a reality that is often chaotic and unexpected.”
The premise of “Hadirah” (“The Flat”) appears simple: An elderly grandmother has died and her apartment must be emptied of the relics of a lifetime.
As he filmed what was intended to create a record of his grandmother’s home and lifestyle, however, director and narrator Arnon Goldfinger began “to uncover…things that were a bit disquieting…, [that] did not cease to transform and surprise me.”
In the resulting documentary — which won Best Editing in a Documentary Feature at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival — the secrets revealed stimulate a convoluted journey into Goldfinger’s family’s history and the discovery of what he calls “a reality that is often chaotic and unexpected.”
Was the Israeli kibbutz movement an idealistic social experiment that aimed to create a stronger, healthier, fairer Jewish world? Or was it a wasteful lefty fantasy that resulted in an oppressively conformist society in which everyone spied on his neighbor? According to “Inventing Our Life,” a documentary by Toby Perl Freilich, it depends on whom you ask, which may be another way of saying all of the above. Screening at the Quad Cinema on West 13th Street for the Yom Ha’atzmaut season, “Inventing Our Life” shares a lot of fascinating information about kibbutz life and the history of kibbutzim, but leaves a lot out, as well.
The kibbutz movement was an answer to a pressing economic problem in turn-of-the-20th-century Palestine: There were no jobs for young Jewish immigrants, so many of them turned around and went back home, or decided to try America.
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