This movie series offers films, discussion, and snacks in the comfort of Martin Meyer Sanctuary.

Each film is hosted by Judi Leff, who has taught courses on the image of Jews in film and television since 1985.
She is currently Director of Special Projects at Temple Emanu-El.

All films are shown free of charge in Martin Meyer Sanctuary, Temple Emanu-El - 2 Lake St., San Francisco



EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED (2005)
Saturday, January 12, 7:00 pm (only Saturday)

A young American Jewish man goes on a quest to find the woman who saved his grandfather in a small Ukrainian town that was wiped off the map by the Nazis. His guides are a cranky anti- Semitic grandfather and his over-enthusiastic grandson, whose fractured command of English, passion for American pop culture, and constant chatter threaten to make the worst of every situation. But what starts out as the tour from hell turns into a meaningful journey, with an unexpected series of revelations that will change all of their lives.

The Rape of Europa (2006)
Sunday, February 10, 7:00 pm

A feature documentary that takes the audience on an epic journey through seven countries and into a violent whirlwind of fanaticism, greed, and warfare that threatened to wipe out the artistic heritage of Europe due to Nazi looting. But heroic young art historians and curators from America and across Europe fought back, mounting a miraculous campaign that would rescue and return the millions of art works displaced by the war.

Guest speaker: Writer/Director and Pre-School Parent Bonni Cohen

PURIM MARX BROTHER'S NIGHT
The Cocoanuts (1929)
Sunday, March 16, 7:00 pm

Groucho, Chico and Harpo -- the famed trio of siblings known collectively as the Marx Brothers -- star in their first big-screen comedy, backed by a score penned by the legendary Irving Berlin. Hilarity ensues when Groucho as a hotel owner launches a string of get-rich-quick schemes to bail out his bankrupt resort. And although he's aided by a pair of goofballs (Chico and Harpo), they mostly succeed in fouling things up.

Schmelvis
Sunday, April 13, 7:00 pm

An offbeat documentary about the real-life Jewish roots of Elvis Presley. When the Wall Street Journal revealed that Elvis's great great grandmother was Jewish, and that according to Jewish law that made him Jewish, the filmmakers set out to explore the King's Jewish roots. So they brought a Hasidic Elvis impersonator named Dan Hartal, whose stage name was Schmelvis, on an odyssey to the Holy Land to plant a tree in Elvis's memory and then to Graceland to say Kaddish -- the Jewish prayer for the dead -- at Elvis's grave. The result is a poignant exploration of identity.

THE YOUNG LIONS (1958)
Sunday, May 18, 7:00 pm

One of the most thoughtful films about World War II, this 1958 Edward Dmytryk drama, based on a novel by Irwin Shaw, tells parallel stories of two American soldiers (Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin) and one German officer (Marlon Brando), whose war experiences we follow until they intersect outside a concentration camp. Martin plays what he calls ła likable coward,˛ Clift is intense as a Jewish GI, and Brando experiments with the limits of his part as a Nazi reevaluating his beliefs.

Desperado Square (2001)
From Israel
NEW DATE!! Sunday, June 1, 7:00 pm

Morris Mandabon made a vow never to screen movies at his neighborhood theatre, but on the one year anniversary of his death, Morris visits his youngest son Nissim (Nir Levy) in a dream and urges him to re-open the theatre. Thus begins a moving and sensitively wrought Israeli drama that touches on themes of memory, family, and cultural obligation. Winner of five Israeli Academy Awards, Benny Toraty's drama also boasts a talented ensemble cast and a spirited soundtrack of ethnic music. In Hebrew with English subtitles.



This program is part of the Madeleine Haas Russell Institute of Jewish Learning.