By
Vanessa Francis
Arizona Daily Wildcat
UA media arts department sponsors documentary about Jewish anarchist woman
For the first time, the Tucson Jewish Community Center will collaborate with the UA fine arts department to present its 10th Annual Jewish Film Festival.
The 12-day festival, which opened Jan. 13, will feature 29 films which contain either some aspect of Judaism such as Jewish themes or Jewish actors and filmmakers, said the festival's director Meme Aguila.
The University of Arizona media arts department is sponsoring the documentary film, "Emma Goldman: The Anarchist Guest." The film tells the story of Goldman, a Russian-Jewish woman who spoke out against capitalism and the United States' involvement in WWI during the early 20th century. Her controversial arguments eventually lead to her deportation back to Russia in 1919.
"For the most part, we sponsored that film because the filmmaker (producer Coleman Romalis) will be present after the film, so the students who see the film can ask him questions," said Barbara Selznick, an assistant professor of media arts, who also sits on the festival committee.
She added that the 19-member committee is in charge of choosing which films will appear at the festival.
Selznick said that "Emma Goldman: The Anarchist Guest" was also chosen because it is a documentary, rather than a typical narrative movie.
"Documentaries, typically, are harder to find than typical narratives," Selznick said.
Danielle Crounse, assistant marketing specialist in the media arts department, said she is not sure of the exact amount the sponsorship, but estimated it to be around $500.
"We are basically helping to pay for the guest artist (Romalis) to travel here," she said.
The films chosen for the festival are a mix of documentary, historical films, Israeli-made movies and contemporary films. Other films, which were already screened Tuesday, included the Edward Norton directorial debut of actor Edward Norton, "Keeping the Faith," starring Norton, Ben Stiller and Jenna Elfman.
The opening night of the festival included the film "Diamonds," a romantic comedy featuring famous Jewish actors.
"The film 'Diamonds' was chosen simply because the actors Lauren Bacall and Kirk Douglas are Jewish," Aguila said.
The sponsorship of the film is not the UA's first involvement with the festival. Previously, films were shown at the former Gallagher Theatre in the Memorial Student Union.
In the past, the festival has been a success, Aguila said. She estimated around 5,000 people have attended the festival in previous years.
The Tucson Jewish Community Center, Aguila said, is not only meant for Jewish religious worship but also to provide services to the Jewish community such as after-school activities and studio art classes - "although several synagogues do provide holiday services at our facility," Aguila said.
Also being screened tonight is the film "Walter Rosenblum: In Search of Pitt Street," which was produced by Nina Rosenblum as a tribute to her late father. The documentary film, "Borders" will show at 5 p.m. The film references the struggles of Israeli citizens living in a war-torn country.
Although there is a small fee to view the films, Aguila gave an added reason to visit the festival .
"There is free popcorn," she said, "which is always a good incentive to come to the movies."
Vanessa Francis can be reached at catalyst@wildcat.arizona.edu.
