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LAEMMLE LIVE celebrates Season Two with Samohi Chamber Orchestra and KUSC’s Rich Capparela January 21

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This is a Free Event
RSVP on Eventbrite

Come celebrate with LAEMMLE LIVE! It’s our first anniversary and we are launching season two with an encore performance by Santa Monica High School’s Chamber orchestra performing Bartök Divertimento and solo works. Joni Swenson and Jason Aiello, Music Directors. Guest host KUSC Announcer Rich Capparela, who opened our series last year, shares his musical wit and wisdom. 

Samohi has a long tradition of musical excellence. Several factors contribute to the strength of the music program including strong elementary and middle school programs, a supportive community, and an outstanding music faculty. Courses offered are Beginning Orchestra, String Orchestra, Concert Orchestra, Sinfonia Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra. Students receive one hour per week of sectional small group instruction taught by paid coaches funded by the Samohi Orchestra Parents Association. Join us January 21. Come for the music, stay for the cake!

 

EVENT DETAILS

Sunday, January 21, 2018
11:00 AM
Monica Film Center

This is a Free Event
We are Sold Out!
Will accept walk-ins space permitting!

RSVP on Eventbrite

IN THE FADE Filmmaker Fatih Akin in Person for a Q&A at the Royal.

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IN THE FADE filmmaker Fatih Akin will participate in a Q&A at the Royal after the 7:20 PM screening on Friday, January 5.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyjnzhXJlHU

Ai Weiwei In Person with his Oscar-shortlisted Doc HUMAN FLOW on Saturday, January 6th in West LA

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Artist, activist, and filmmaker Ai Weiwei will participate in a Q&A at the Royal theater in West LA after a special screening of his Oscar-shortlisted documentary HUMAN FLOW at 10AM on Saturday, January 6th. Ella Taylor of NPR will moderate. Click here for tickets.

About the film:

Over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war in the greatest human displacement since World War II. Human Flow, an epic film journey led by the internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei, gives a powerful visual expression to this massive human migration. The documentary elucidates both the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact.

Captured over the course of an eventful year in 23 countries, the film follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretches across the globe in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Greece, Germany, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, and Turkey.

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVZGyTdk_BY

Martin Sheen in Person at the Royal for a Q&A and KILLING FOR LOVE.

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Actor-writer-activist Martin Sheen will participate in a Q&A at the Royal on Friday, December 15 after the 7 PM screening of KILLING FOR LOVE and signing copies of the book ‘A Far, Far Better Thing: Did a Fatal Attraction Lead to a Wrongful Conviction?,’ for which he wrote the foreword.

Martin Sheen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNOaa0k9qDs&feature=push-u&attr_tag=m11xZ2X11_PnJkD7-6

THE TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES Filmmaker Q&A’s Opening Weekend.

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THE TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES filmmaker Emmett Malloy will participate in Q&A’s at the Royal after the 7:10 PM screenings on Friday and Saturday, December 8 and 9. Ella Taylor of NPR will moderate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=384jA6J0rK8

MACHINES Filmmaker in Person for Q&A’s this Sunday at the Royal.

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MACHINES director Rahul Jain will participate in Q&A’s at the Royal after the 11 AM screenings this Sunday, November 26.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkV-eeXrlUg

Jewish Journal L.A.: ‘1945’ Examines Postwar Angst in Hungary.

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‘1945’ Examines Postwar Angst in Hungary
BY TOM TUGEND | PUBLISHED NOV 17, 2017

An ancient train, belching black smoke, pulls into a station near an unnamed Hungarian village and out step two Orthodox Jews. Not losing a moment, the stationmaster sounds the alarm: “The Yids are coming!”

The year — and the title of the movie — is “1945,” a time when the inhabitants of the village and the rest of their countrymen have arrived at a junction in history and are unsure which path to follow.

While Hungary’s Holocaust-themed movie “Son of Saul” won the Academy Award for foreign-language film two years ago, exhibiting the full horror of the Shoah and its concentration camps, the postwar “1945” probes the potential for greed and selfishness in every human being.

“We are the third postwar generation,” director Ferenc Torok said in a phone interview from Budapest. “And a lot of people are asking what their parents and grandparents did during the world war.”

The film takes place in the middle of summer as the villagers till their fields, smoke and drink endlessly, and prepare for the wedding of the son of a domineering town clerk to a pretty peasant girl. Nazi Germany had surrendered two months earlier, in May, and while some Soviet troops have arrived, the Communist puppet government has not yet assumed power.

The two arriving Jews — the older clad in a black coat and hat and his adult son wearing a workman’s cap and clothing — unload two large trunks and hire a horse-drawn cart and its driver to carry their load for the hour-long trip to the village, while father and son follow behind on foot.

As the odd procession wends its way through the countryside, the stationmaster’s warning stokes the villagers’ fears that the survivors among their former Jewish neighbors now will demand the return of the houses, businesses and furniture they left behind when they were deported to concentration camps. That means the town clerk would no longer own the drug store and his wife could no longer glory in the beautiful rugs, dishes and silver menorah of the previous owner.

In the ensuing panic, some try to hide their ill-gotten gains, while others put their hopes in papers, signed by the pro-Nazi wartime government, “officially” transferring the abandoned homes and goods to the gentile neighbors.

When horse, cart and the “Yids” arrive at the village, women peek through shutters, the pharmacist tries to hide his tubes and bottles. Rumors spread that the trunks contain perfumes and beauty aids to sell to the village women.

Finally, the cart and two men arrive at the gates of the abandoned Jewish cemetery. The younger Jew, with a concentration camp number tattooed on his forearm, takes a key out of his pocket and opens the rusty gate, as a posse of hostile villagers gathers nearby. Inside the cemetery, father and son open the trunks and bury the unexpected contents. In the final scene, the two strangers re-board the train, their mission accomplished.

The result is a masterfully directed, acted and photographed movie, which again disproves predictions that the time of the Holocaust-themed movie has expired, even as the last eyewitnesses are dying.

Torok, who is not Jewish, said that part of the continued interest in a place like Hungary, whose Jewish population was decimated during the war, has to do with the fact that for many years while the nation was a Communist satellite, the subject of the Holocaust — and particularly the participation of many Hungarians in it — was taboo. The same applied to the collaboration of many Hungarians with Hitler’s regime, as German and Hungarian troops fought together in the invasions of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

The film started as a short story by Hungarian Jewish writer Gabor T. Szanto, titled “Homecoming,” which won the Yad Vashem Avner Shalev Prize for best artistic representation of a Holocaust-related topic. Torok, relying on Szanto’s intimate knowledge of Jewish life and rituals, asked him also to write the screenplay.

In a separate phone interview, Szanto, editor of the Hungarian-Jewish magazine “Szombat” (Sabbath), made a number of observations on Hungarian Jewry, past but mostly present.

“The Holocaust is still the cornerstone of our thinking, not only for Hungary’s 80,000 Jews (compared with 450,000 before World War II) but to every other Nazi-occupied nation,” he said. “This film is really Europe’s story.”

In general, Hungarian Jews, like their American counterparts, tend to be liberals and left-leaning and they are concerned by their country’s political shift to the right, Szanto said. Among the worrisome signs is the growing strength of the nationalistic Jobbik party.

Another sign is the recent public poster campaign by the Hungarian government, depicting George Soros, a Hungarian-American and Jewish billionaire and philanthropist, as the mastermind of a massive of influx of illegal immigrants from the Middle East into Hungary.

“As a writer, I am a bit of an outsider and try to look at Hungary and its Jewish community realistically,” Szanto said. “We have many problems, but I don’t think they can be solved by ideologies. We can believe in ideals, but our solutions must be realistic. You can’t change human nature.”

“1945” begins screening on Nov. 25 at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles, Playhouse 7 in Pasadena and Town Center in Encino, as well as Westpark 8 in Irvine. On Dec. 8, the film will open at the Laemmle’s Claremont 5 in Claremont.

 

 

© Copyright 2017 Tribe Media Corp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCg3jVRX85A&feature=em-subs_digest

 

10th Annual Christmas Eve FIDDLER SING-A-LONG is Around the Corner! Tickets now available!

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*** FIDDLER UPDATES  (skip to main article)
We’re pleased to announce an dynamic and eclectic line-up of Fiddler Hosts for 2017!

Ahrya Fine Arts
Kenny Ellis – entertainer, comedian, singer of Hanukah Swings! – BUY TIX

Royal
Gustavo Bulgach – musician, bandleader of Klezmer Juice – BUY TIX

NoHo 7
Susan Edwards Martin – Broadway star, entertainer – BUY TIX

Playhouse
Jason Moss – of Jewish Federation of the San Gabriel and Pamona Valleys – BUY TIX

Town Center 5
Steve Sass – of Jewish Historical Society (5:00pm show) – BUY TIX
 Cantor Phil Baron – of Valley Beth Shalom (7:30pm show) – BUY TIX

Claremont 5
Cantor Paul Buch  – of Temple Beth Israel – BUY TIX

Jump below to find out more about our hosts.

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Wonder_of_Wonders_edit_2You heard right … it’s our 10th year of FIDDLER!  Join us as we celebrate a decade of song, shtick, and shenanigans by once again coming together as a community for Laemmle’s legendary Christmas Eve experience.

For 2017, this ever-popular event will be occurring at six of our neighborhood venues including the magnificent single screen, art deco AHRYA FINE ARTS in Beverly Hills (see below for full listing and ticket links).

(Jump down to watch the Sing-A-Long trailer.  For tickets, visit Laemmle.com/Fiddler).

In addition to movie and song, the evening will feature TRIVIA with PRIZES being awarded to Fiddler buffs with the quickest recall.  Dressing in COSTUME is not required, but highly encouraged! Who knows, perhaps the best costume will garner a prize?  Or perhaps this is the year you’ll be given an opportunity to do your best Tevye or Golde impression?  That will be up to the emcee.  Indeed, each location will feature its own host, among them some of our favorites from year’s past including CANTOR PHIL BARON and klezmer band leader GUSTAVO BULGACH.

As Greg Laemmle is fond of saying “Christmas Eve isn’t just Chinese food!”  He elaborates, “This is your once-a-year chance to be the star of the shtetl. Join with friends and neighbors and sing your heart out alongside Fiddler’s screen legends. And it’s okay if you haven’t memorized all the songs. We provide the lyrics.”

Song highlights include the iconic “TRADITION”, “IF I WERE A RICH MAN”,  “TO LIFE”, “SUNRISE SUNSET”, “DO YOU LOVE ME?” and “ANATEVKA”, among many, many more.

Don’t be late! Those who wish to attend the program are advised to purchase tickets in advance as the program has traditionally sold to capacity. We welcome all those in the community who are looking for an alternative Christmas Eve.

See you in the shtetl…


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnuyNaOEBt4&feature=youtu.be

Fiddler Hosts – 2017

KENNY ELLIS at the Ahrya Fine Arts (Beverly Hills)
Once known as “The Man Behind the Matzoh Ball,” cantor and comedian KENNY ELLIS will be our host at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills. He appears in support of our community partner, the LOS ANGELES JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL. As a cantor and comedian, Ellis has entertained audiences all around the globe. Currently the cantor at Temple Beth Ami in Santa Clarita, you can also catch Ellis at the LAUGH FACTORY in Hollywood. Ellis achieved success with HANUKKA SWINGS! a recording that broke new ground as the first ever big band Hanukkah album. Large YouTube audiences have enjoyed “Swingin’ Dreidel” and other tracks from the hit record.

gustavositting_crop_prGUSTAVO BULGACH at the Royal (West L.A.)
Accomplished Klezmer musician and bandleader GUSTAVO BULGACH will be our host at the Royal in West L.A. Born and raised in Buenos Aires, Bulgach was inspired at an early age by the religious and secular life of the Argentine community. Now based in L.A., Bulgach travels the globe uplifting audiences with a vibrant, soulful Klezmer he terms the “soundtrack of the Diaspora.” Bulgach has been a longtime member of the House of Blues Foundation house band backing artist such as LITTLE RICHARD, TAJ MAHAL, and THE WAILERS. His own outfit, KLEZMER JUICE, was featured in the Hollywood mega hit movie THE WEDDING CRASHERS featuring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn.

susan_martin_crop_prSUSAN EDWARDS MARTIN at the NoHo 7 (N. Hollywood)
Broadway star SUSAN EDWARDS MARTIN will represent partner Temple Beth Hillel at our NoHo 7 venue. A star of Broadway, Martin is an accomplished singer, musician, actress and comedienne who originated the role of ‘Lady Blue’ in HARVEY FIERSTEIN’s Tony Award-winning play “Torch Song Trilogy.” She has also appeared in many other Broadway and Off-Broadway productions such as “Bubbling Brown Sugar,” “The Suicide,” and the long-running musical comedy “Scrambled Feet.” Numerous television credits include a recurring role on “Days of our Lives,” and guest appearances on “NYPD Blue,” “Designing Women,” and “Columbo,” among many others. Martin is currently creating a new original musical, “Unlimited” based on her personal story of growing up in Long Island and her ensuing life in show business.

jason-photo_02_edit_cropJASON MOSS at the Playhouse 7 (Pasadena)
Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys JASON MOSS will be our host at the Playhouse 7 in Pasadena. Under his leadership, the Federation has doubled its programming with the creation of such programs as the Cultural Arts Program, PJ Library, a nationally recognized program to reach and connect with unaffiliated Jewish families. In addition, Moss recently launched JLife SGPV, a lifestyle magazine celebrating Jewish life in the San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys.

phil-baron_02_crop2_lrCantor PHIL BARON at the Town Center 5 (Encino), 7:30pm Show
Cantor PHIL BARON of Temple Valley Beth Shalom in Encino comes to us courtesy of community partner JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY (JHS) and the BREED STREET SHUL. Baron is the son of a violinist and the grandson of a Vilna rabbi. Before becoming a cantor, he took a successful detour into children’s entertainment, where he had over 300 original songs recorded – nearly 200 of these by the Walt Disney Co. He co-created two television series for Jewish children, Bubbe’s Boarding House, and the multiple award-winning series Alef…Bet…Blast-off! As a vocalist he has been featured with the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra and the New Orleans Philharmonic.

Paul Buch_prCantor PAUL BUCH at the Claremont 5 (Claremont)
Cantor PAUL BUCH has served Temple Beth Israel in Claremont since 2003. He came to the cantorate after a 25 year career in TV and film production in Los Angeles, New York, and Portland. In addition to his cantorial duties, Buch is President of the Claremont Interfaith Council and serves on the Faith-Based Roundtable of the Pomona Unified School District. He is also Chair of the City of Claremont’s Human Relations Committee and serves on an advisory committee at the Claremont School of Theology. This will be his fourth consecutive year as our Fiddler host in Claremont!

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PROGRAM DETAILS

DATE: Sunday, December 24th

TIME: 7:30pm

PRICING:
General Admission – $18
Seniors/Children – $15
Premiere Card Adult – $12
Premier Card Seniors – $10

LOCATIONS:
Claremont – Get Tickets
Ahrya Fine Arts – Get Tickets
NoHo – Get Tickets
Playhouse – Get Tickets
Royal – Get Tickets
Town Center – Get Tickets