For
the second time, Balagan partners with Boston
Jewish Film Festival and presents a collection
of shorts.
Films in this program possess the nature of
filmic myths. They do not represent a reality,
they catch fleeting moments of it. These films
also remind me of personal diaries. They are
composed of sketches and notes one would make
sitting in a café or going through family
albums or silent home movies. By using different
techniques and elements, the filmmakers skillfully
organize these “notes” into visual
evocative essays that collectively capture the
melancholic spirit of our times and offer its
audiences a space to ponder and reflect.
God
On Our Side 7min, 35mm (Netherlands)
Massachusetts Premiere
Director: Uri Kranot & Michal Pfeffer
Picasso’s
Guernica is the inspiration for this silent
meditation on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Homing
9min, video, 2005 (Israel/USA) Massachusetts
Premiere
Director: Jonah Bleicher
His
bus is late. While he waits, step inside the
head of a suicide bomber.
Flashbacks
from My Past: “Starry Night”
4min, video, 2003 (USA) Massachusetts Premiere
Director: Irra Verbitsky
An
oil paint animation brings memories of being
a child in Kiev to life.
Another
City 11min, video, 2003 (Italy)
Director: Carl Ippolito
With
music by Arnold Schonberg, this film explores
the present by recalling the German cultural,
social, and political climate of the 1930s.
The
Future is Behind You 20min, video,
2004 (USA)
Director: Abigail Child (in
person)
A
fictional story of two sisters composed from
the film archive of an anonymous 1930s European
family.
Esther’s
Book 15min, 35mm, 2004 (Sweden) US
premiere
Director: Esaias Baitel
For
fifteen years Swedish artist Esaias Baitel
photographed Purim holiday festivities in
Jerusalem.
Phantom
Limb 28min, video, 2005 (USA) Boston
Premiere
Director: Jay Rosenblatt
 |
The
childhood death of filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt’s
younger brother and his family’s
inability to cope led to a lifetime
of suppressed guilt and pain. It is
the centerpiece for this film collage
about death, grief, loss, and silence. |
