The 17thAnnual Ring Family Wesleyan University Israeli Film Festival has concluded with a THREE New England Premieres and TWO Connecticut Premieres. Each film illuminated a different subject matter and varied in subject, tone, and format: from a futuristic film, The Future, to a film based upon historical events, Golda, to secrets hidden within a community, Seven Blessings and a Tel Aviv style romance in Elik and Jimmy. Each film was introduced by a faculty member from a different department and two films concluded with a Q/A session with the films’ creators after the screenings. Ma’ayan Ripp, the film director of TheOther Woman discussed her film with the audience and Ronen Ben Tal, the film producer of Seven Blessings shared with the audience the movie creative process. Gudis Schneider, the film director of Elik and Jimmy joined us via Zoom in a taped interview.
The film festival, sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies and the Ring Family and co-sponsored by the College of Film and the Moving Image and the Wesleyan Film Series, hosted 451 attendants from the Wesleyan community as well as the general communities. I look forward to bringing you the best of Israeli films next year, Dalit Katz, founder and festival Director.
Due to the ongoing war in Israel, I am writing to let you know about changes to the next presentation in the series the 21st Annual Contemporary Israeli Voices.
The next presentation will be given by Ayelet Goshen-Gundar. In addition to being a writer, Ayelet works as the chief psychologist at Eliezer mental health clinic in Shalvata hospital. She is considered an emergency worker, and she is helping the survivors in the South of Israel. Her presentation will be on the same original date, Thursday, October 19, but there are a few changes.
The presentation will be offered via Webinar. The presentation time has moved from 8:00PM to 4:30 PM to account for the time difference between the States and Israel.
Ayelet’s new subject is “Trauma and Recovery: The Role of Literature in Emotional Healing” to account for the recent situation in Israel.
There will be no changes to our next presentation on October 26 at Daniel Family Commons at 8:00 PM. It will be presented in person by another Ayelet, Ayelet Tsabari. The title of her talk is Memoir, Fiction andWhat’s in Between. B ’Shalom, Dalit Katz
The Center for Jewish Studies strongly condemns Hamas’ attack on the State of Israel and especially the targeting of non-combatant civilians. The war has already senselessly claimed innocent victims on all sides. We send our prayers and support to all members of the Wesleyan community whose families, friends, and colleagues were affected.
Despite of the fact that the war is ongoing, and that cultural life is on hold in Israel, the Contemporary Israeli Voices series will go on. Now more than ever, it is important to learn about and honor Israeli culture and voices.
On behalf of the Center for Jewish Studies, I would like to give you a heads up about the 21st AnnualContemporary Israeli Voices, 2023 fall series and invite you and guests to join us.
The series this year will feature the internationally renowned Israeli writer, Etgar Keret, as well as other, female, Israeli writers who write in Israel and outside of Israel and explore questions of identity, belonging and personhood.
The series will be inaugurated with a talk by Maya Arad, the author of eleven books of Hebrew fiction, as well as studies in literary criticism and linguistics. Maya is a writer in residence at Stanford University’s Taube Center for Jewish Studies. Maya’s presentation is entitled HappyNew Years? Reading Between the Lines. The presentation will focus on Maya’s latest novel The Good Year and the Wesleyan audience will get to be introduced to its English translation before it comes out officially. Happy New Years is an epistolary novel with a twist: it is comprised of fifty annual letters, spread over five decades, each a year apart. The letters are written by Lea, a young immigrant who strives to achieve the American dream.
The event will take place on Thursday, October 5, at 8:00 PM at Daniel Family Commons (45 Wyllys Avenue, Middletown).
The second event will be presented by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen who is one of the most unique and prominent writers in Israel. Ayelet will present her latest novel The Wolf Hunt (The title in Hebrew is Relocation). Her presentation is entitled Relocation: A Clash of Cultures. Her book follows an Israeli family on their transatlantic move to the San Francisco Bay area and explores the fault lines in a community, a school, and a family, as an Israeli mother begins to suspect her teenage son of committing a terrible hate crime.
The event will take place on Thursday, October 19, at 8:00 PM at Daniel Family Commons.
In the third presentation entitledMemoir, Fiction, and What’s In Betweenacclaimed Israeli author Ayelet Tsabari, will speak of her approach to writing fiction and memoir, about finding the truth in fiction and the artifice in memoir, and about making herself into a literary character in her memoir, The Art of Leaving. Her memoir in essays, The Art of Leaving, won the Canadian Jewish Literary Award.
The event will take place on Thursday, October 26, at 8:00 PM at Daniel Family Commons.
To conclude the series, the internationally renowned writer, and a frequent Wesleyan visitor (and one time professor) Etgar Keret will captivate the audience with his Heroic Stories about(his) Dead Mother. In his presentation Keret will speak about his attempt to come up with the stories that capture his late mother: like Maria in West Side Story and like Thanos from the Avengers. In his very Keret way, he ends up with a series of very short stories, snapshots that are mostly a few paragraphs long, that give glimpses of her heroic life from childhood in the Warsaw Ghetto to raising a Sabra family in Israel. Keret’s new book of stories Fly Already won the prestigious Sapir Prize.
The event will take place on Thursday, November 9 at 8:00 PM at Daniel Family Commons.
With a heavy heart Jewish Studies mourns the loss of its founder, Jeremy Zwelling, associate professor of religion, emeritus, who passed away peacefully in the presence of his family on May 8. Jeremy Zwelling was a devoted teacher and real Mensch beloved by students, faculty and alumni.
Jeremy Zwelling received his bachelor’s degrees from Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and his MA and PhD from Brandeis University. He arrived at Wesleyan in 1967, where he taught for 43 years until his retirement in 2010.
The last event in the 14th Annual Ring Family Wesleyan University Israeli Film Festival featured a groundbreaking collaboration between Israeli and Japanese artists. On Thursday, March 11 at 4 PM the movie OUTSIDE: A COVOID FAIRY TALE, based on a story written by the internationally acclaimed short story writer, Etgar Keret, was screened. The story Outside was recently published in the New York Times. The movie, based on the story, is a unique collaboration between Etgar Keret and choreographer Inbal Pinto. Following the screening, we had a Zoom conversation with Etgar Keret who read another story published recently in the New York Times. The event concluded with a Q/A with the audience.
Etgar Keret is a frequent visitor of the Center for Jewish Studies. As the Silverberg Distinguished Scholar in Residence, he taught a very popular creative writing course entitled From Idea to Plot. Movies based on his stories such as Total Love, $9.99, Wrist-cutters, Jellyfish and What Kind of Animal Are You were screened at Wesleyan University in the Jewish Studies annual series Contemporary Israeli Voices and The Ring Family Wesleyan University Israeli Film Festival.
The second film in the Fourteenth Annual Ring Family Wesleyan University Israeli Film Festival was Here We Are (2020). The Connecticut Premiere screening of the film Here We Are was followed by a conversation with the film’s director, Nir Bergman, who joined us from Israel via Zoom.
Here We Are (2020) was nominated for NINE Ophir (Israeli Oscar) prizes, was chosen for the Cannes 2020 Official selection, has been screened in more than 30 international film festivals and won several awards. We have previously screened two other films directed by Nir Bergman in our past Israeli film festivals: Broken Wings in 2006 and Intimate Grammar in 2010.
Here is a short description of the film:
Aaron has devoted his life to raising his son Ur. They live in a gentle routine, away from the real world. However, Uri is autistic, and now as a young adult it might be time for him to live in a specialized home. While on their way to the institution, Aaron decides to run away with his son and hit the road, knowing that Uri is not ready for separation. Or is it, in fact, his father who is not ready?
The Fourteenth Annual Ring Family Wesleyan University Israeli Film Festival, 2021 will be inaugurated with a free screening of the first episode of the hit series, Valley of Tears, followed by a conversation with the writer and creator of the series, Ron Leshem. The presentation is scheduled for Thursday, February 25, 2020, 6:00 PM. A Zoom link for watching Valley of theTears will be available 48 hours before the presentation. To get the Zoom link for the free watching as well as the presentation link, please register on our website. It might be easier to register to all events at one time. The website also contains trailers to all events.
Directed by Yaron Zilberman, the same director of the movie Incitement screened in last year’s film festival, this 10 episodes series, currently streamed at HBO Max, is inspired by the true events of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. This harrowing drama series focuses on the universality of heroism and sacrifice through four intertwined stories; a journalist searching for his estranged, newly-enlisted son; a commander and an intelligence analyst forced to flee their base near the Syrian border; three friends and Black Panthers activists on a tank crew facing political and personal conflicts; and a female officer who remains on the frontlines, despite orders to evacuate. Through its magnified, unflinching lens, Valley of Tears reveals the tension, anxiety, and trauma of a fateful war.
Ron Leshem, the creator of Valley of Tears is back by popular demand. Last semester he talked about the success of Israeli TV shows in Hollywood. On Thursday he will talk about Valley of Tears. He is an award-winning screenwriter and author and the winner of the Sapir Prize, Israel’s top literary award. Leshem was the co-creator and the writer of the Israeli TV show Euphoria (HBO). He was a producer of the successful Israeli TV show Chatufim adapted into the American hit TV show Homeland. Ron Leshem also wrote the movie script for Incitement, which won the Israeli Academy Award.
On behalf of the Center for Jewish Studies and with the co-sponsoring of the College of Film and the Moving Image, it is my pleasure to announce the 14th Annual Ring Family Wesleyan University IsraeliFilm Festival, 2021. This year the festival, which goes virtually for the first (and hopefully the last) time, will feature the best and the most recent work by leading Israeli and international figures. The festival will be inaugurated by a multimedia presentation by Ron Leshem, the creator and writer of the successful TV show, Valley of Tears. Ron Leshem is back by popular demand from people who missed his talk last semester about the success of Israeli TV shows in Hollywood. Ron Leshem is the writer and creator of the Valley of Tears which plays now on HBO Max. His multi-media presentation is scheduled for Thursday February 25 at 6PM. A link for a free viewing of the first episode of Valley of Tears will be available to those who register on our website 48 hours before the talk. The registration website for all events ishttp://iff.site.wesleyan.edu/
Following this opening event, I am delighted to present a CT Premiere of the movie Here We Are. A description and a trailer is available on our website. The link to a free viewing of the film as well as the link to the talk is available 48 hours before the talk which is scheduled for on March 4 at 4 PM. The talk is scheduled earlier than usual because the film’s director, Nir Bergman, will be joining us from Israel (thanks to Avner Shavit, the visiting scholar of the Center for Jewish Studies). This is a feel good movie necessary for anyone who needs to keep the spirits up.
Finally, again back by very popular demand, the internationally acclaimed writer and winner of the prestigious Chevalier de Arts award, Etgar Keret, is returning once again to Wesleyan. On March 11 at 4 PM we will screen a short movie “Outside”, a COVID Fairy Tale, based on a short story Etgar Keret first published in the New York Times Magazine, as well as conduct an international live on line conversation with him. Please registrar on our website http://iff.site.wesleyan.edu/ to get a link to attend this event.
The Film festival is curated by Dalit Katz, and sponsored by the Ring Family, The Center for Jewish Studies and the College of Film and the Moving Image.
On February 2020, the Education and Policy Committee, the committee in charge of Wesleyan’sacademic curriculum, approved unanimously the Center for Jewish Studies’ proposal for a Revised Minor in Jewish and Israel Studies. This new multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary minor explores various academic areas such as Jewish religion, Jewish culture, Jewish letters and Israel Studies. Courses counted for this Minor are offered by Jewish and Israel core and affiliated faculty, Jewish and Israel distinguished visitors and other Wesleyan faculty. Student theses with Jewish and Israel relevance across the disciplines as well as study abroad courses and Hebrew courses will be counted towards the five required courses for the Minor. The requirements for completing the Minor will be updated and listed in the Center for Jewish Studies website as well as the Registrar’s catalog. Students can declare the new Minor at the same time they declare their Majors. Students who are currently taking courses in Jewish and Israel Studies as well as faculty expressed their enthusiasm and support of this innovative new minor. Please contact the Director of the Center for Jewish Studies, Dalit Katz, dkatz01@wesleyan.edu for additional information.
