LOCAL Houston | The City Guide November 2016 | Page 36

GISH AT THE MOVIES

SPOTLIGHTING JEWISH FILMS

Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You

A Tale of Love and Darkness | Photography by Ran Mendelson

If you missed the annual Houston Jewish Film Festival
that is presented each March by the Evelyn Rubenstein
Jewish Community Center (www.erjcchouston.org), doncha
worry. This month’s Ann and Stephen Kaufman Jewish
Book and Arts Fair, also presented by the ERJCC,
features a screening of the audience favorite from that
Festival. Remember by ATOM EGOYAN will kick off the
film portion of the Fair on Sunday, October 30, at
2pm. Following that will be four other films featuring
Jewish filmmakers and stories, including a premiere
by NATALIE PORTMAN. Portman was born in Jerusalem
as Natalie Hershlag and holds a dual Israeli and
American citizenship.
A Tale of Love and Darkness, Natalie Portman’s
directorial debut, will be screened on Saturday,
November 12, at 8pm. This terrific film is an
adaptation of the bestselling memoir by Amos Oz,
one of Israel’s most celebrated authors. Other films in
the lineup are Dough (Friday, November 4, at 1pm),
a comedy about curmudgeonly NAT DAYAN who, in a
moment of desperation, hires a teenager to help out
at his Kosher bakery in London. The kid’s marijuana
stash falls into the dough and challah starts flying off
the shelves! Norman Lear: Just Another Version of
You (Sunday, November 6, 1pm) is a documentary
about Lear’s life, from his childhood with an Archie
Bunker-like dad to his success as a groundbreaking

36

L O C A L

| november 16

Remember

television producer and now as a humble 93-year-old.
The final film in the Fair is In Search of Israeli Cuisine
(Sunday, November 13, at 1pm), featuring chef
and James Beard Foundation Award winner MICHAEL
SOLOMONOV traveling all over Israel, meeting an
eclectic group of professional and amateur chefs,
cheese makers, vintners, farmers and fishermen who
draw on their own ethnic heritage as they add to the
lexicon of Israeli cuisine. For an added treat following
the Fair, the film The Bird in the Room (Wednesday,
November 16, at 7:30pm) is presented by the
Houston Cinema Arts Society (www.cinemartsociety.org) at
Sundance Houston. The short, turbulent life of beloved
Israeli poet and songwriter TIRZA ATAR remains shrouded in mystery many years after her tragic death at the
age of 36. This film brings her story to the screen for
the first time.
The Jewish Book and Arts Fair runs from October
29–November 13. Information on all the events, venue
locations and tickets is available on their website at
www.erjcchouston.org/arts/ann-and-stephen-kaufman-jewish-book-artsfair/. And so you don’t miss it, be sure to mark your
calendar for the Houston Jewish Film Festival 2017,
which will be March 5–9, 2017.

WANT TO SEE MORE ART FILMS?
CHECK OUT THESE VENUES

14 Pews (www.14pews.org)
Alamo Drafthouse (www.drafthouse.com)
Asia Society (www.asiasociety.org/texas)
Aurora Picture Show (www.aurorapictureshow.org)
Blaffer Art Museum (www.blafferartmuseum.org)
Café Brasil (www.cafe-brasil.net)
Contemporary Arts Museum (www.camh.org)
Discovery Green (www.discoverygreen.com)
DiverseWorks (www.diverseworks.org)
Holocaust Museum (www.hmh.org)
Jewish Community Center (www.erjcchouston.org)
Landmark River Oaks Theatre (www.landmarktheatres.com)
Menil Collection (www.menil.org)
Miller Outdoor Theatre (www.milleroutdoortheatre.com)
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org/films)
Orange Show (www.orangeshow.org)
Rice Cinema (www.ricecinema.rice.edu)
Sundance Cinemas (www.sundancecinemas.com)
By Sarah Gish | www.gishcreative.com
Photography courtesy of the ERJCC