One of the things I soon learned when I became director of JFNH was that the New Hampshire Jewish Film Festival is a much-loved program that draws audiences across the state, from Keene to Portsmouth. With a dedicated cadre of volunteers and experienced co-chairs, the festival has grown to become a signature of JFNH. In truth, I'm not surprised that this initiative has proven so popular - in the last century film has been a marvelous medium for telling all kinds of Jewish stories, from the comic and joyful to those tinged with darkness or sorrow. This year our tireless film festival screening committee has chosen a slate of films which reflects the diversity and range of Jewish experience, and I for one can't wait to join audiences across New Hampshire to enjoy these great movies.
When I think about Jewish films which have influenced me in my own life there are a number of movies which come to mind, including a classic of Italian cinema, The Garden of the Finzi Continis, based on the book of the same name. I first encountered this film when I was the Director of Public Affairs at the Israeli Consulate in Boston, and was involved in the planning of the annual Italian Holocaust Memorial Day event co-sponsored by the Italian consulate, Boston University, the Israeli consulate and the New England office of the American Jewish Committee.
I liked this film for a number of reasons, not least of which that it dealt with the Shoah from a different angle than most other holocaust films. This is in part to be expected, since the experience of Italian Jewry was different than that of other Jewish communities in Europe, and so the author of the book and the filmmaker were starting off with different historical material with which to work. Even so, the ways in which the film deals with subtle forms of anti-semitism pushed to the surface by the pressures of fascism, offer an important window into the ways in which dangerous levels of prejudice can lay dormant within a community, reemerging with a vengeance when civil society reaches a breaking point.
Like any great work of art, this film has stayed with me not only because the message it conveyed was powerfully resonant, but because the vehicle itself was well-crafted. Having seen a few of the films that make up the roster for this year's festival, I can tell you that the committee has made sellections that are also quite powerful - each one conveys its own message or story, but taken together they represent a range of Jewish experience across time and around the world. We could not present this program without the work of our staff and volunteers, the support of our co-sponsors and friends of the festival, and of course none if this would be possible without the enthusiastic audiences that fill the seats of the theaters with which we partner. From our opening gala on March 29 until our closing event a week later there will be many opportunities to laugh, cry and reflect through the prism of film - I hope you will join us.
For more information on the festival please click here.
Copyright Daniel E. Levenson 2014.
