2013 Festival Highlights
Complete 2013 Film Selection List and Online Tickets
OPENING NIGHT GALA
Los Angeles Premiere
Directed by Jason Chaet
Produced by Allegra Cohen
Starring Jack T. Carpenter, Melanie Lynskey, Susie Essman, John Pankow
Saturday, June 1
7:30 pm doors open for red carpet 8:30 pm show begins
Dessert reception to follow
Writers Guild Theater, Beverly Hills
Romance, lox and laughs with a schmeer of big Hollywood stars marks the opening of LAJFF this year as we pay homage to the Jewish comedians who have shaped American humor. Robert Klein kicks off the festival by narrating the tasteful romantic comedy, “Putzel” (played by Jack Carpenter) who has aspirations of taking over his family’s smoked fish emporium on the upper west side of Manhattan…at least until the arrival of Sally (Melanie Lynskey.)
Pre-show appetizers provided by Lenny’s Deli.
Dessert reception sponsored by Mickey Fine Pharmacy & Grill and Hansen’s Cakes.
“Lunch”
Los Angeles Premiere
Sunday, June 2, 3:00 pm
Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills
Have lunch with the guys that made America funny.
BUY TICKETS NOW!
For the past 40 years, a group of writers and directors including Sid Caesar, Arthur Hiller, Monty Hall, Carl Reiner and others have been meeting for lunch every other Wednesday. What would you give to be a fly on that wall? Join us for “Lunch” and hear what these Hollywood legends kibbitz about over pastrami sandwiches.
Q&A with Arthur Hiller, Rocky Kalish, Ben Starr, John Rappaport and director Donna Kanter, moderated by Jerry Cutler.
Film introduction by Charles Aidikoff.
Sponsored by Factor’s Famous Deli
LEST WE FORGET
“Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir”
Los Angeles Premiere
Sunday, June 2, 7:00 pm
Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills
This intimate documentary reveals a raw and personal portrait of actor, director and Krakow Ghetto survivor — filmmaker, Roman Polanski, who addresses every aspect of his celebrated, tragic and scandalous life. Most heartbreaking are his stories of survival as a child during the Holocaust and how those painful experiences manifested into scenes of his most important film to date, “The Pianist.”
BUY TICKETS NOW!
Q&A with director Laurent Bouzereau and Danielle Berrin of the Jewish Journal
Sponsored by the LA Museum of the Holocaust, Pamela & Randol Schoenberg and the Goldrich Family Foundation
“Sonny Boy”
Los Angeles Premiere
Monday, June 3, 7:30 pm
Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills
This adaptation of the best-selling novel by Annejet van der Zijl tells the real-life love story of a mixed-race couple and their struggle to survive and help others in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands.
BUY TICKETS NOW!
Introduction by actor and Dutch holocaust survivor, Curt Lowens
Community Partner: The Righteous Conversations Project and USC Shoah Foundation
DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
“Neil Diamond: Solitary Man”
U.S. Premiere
Sunday, June 2, 5:00 pm
Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills
BUY TICKETS NOW!
Don’t miss the U.S. premiere of this compelling documentary that offers a surprisingly candid window into the life of superstar Neil Diamond — from shy Jewish Brooklyn kid to singer-songwriter and magnetic stage performer, sometimes called “the Jewish Elvis”.
Community Partner: MorningStar Commission and JConnectLA
CASH ON THE LINE
“My Father and the Man in Black”
Los Angeles Premiere
The untold story of Johnny Cash and his talented but troubled manager, Saul Holiff. Following his estranged father Saul’s suicide, director Jonathan Holiff discovers hundreds of letters and recordings, including phone calls between Saul and Johnny. These artifacts tell the story about how Holiff and Cash collaborated to create a superstar, while each struggled with personal demons.
Monday, June 3, 7:00 pm
Muvico, Thousand Oaks
BUY TICKETS NOW!
Wednesday, June 5, 7:30 pm
Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills
BUY TICKETS NOW!
Q&A with director Jonathan Holiff
Community Partner: Beit T’Shuvah
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
The Last White Knight: Is Reconcilation Possible? West Coast Premiere
Directed by Paul Saltzman
Decades after a violent run-in with the Ku Klux Klan, a Jewish civil rights activist returns to Mississippi to under- stand his assailant, and examine the state of racism and race relations in the New South.
Tuesday, June 4, 7:30 pm*
Laemmle’s Music Hall, Beverly Hills
BUY TICKETS NOW!
Wednesday, June 5, 7:30 pm*
Laemmle’s Town Center, Encino
BUY TICKETS NOW!
Q&A with director Paul Saltzman and LA Urban League President Nolan v. Rollins, ADL Regional Board Chair Seth M. Gerber, moderated by Naomi Pfefferman-Magid, arts & entertainment editor of the Jewish Journal.
Community Partner: Anti-Defamation League and the LA Urban League
Beyond Right and Wrong: Stories of Justice and Forgiveness
Los Angeles Premiere
Tuesday, June 4, 7:30 pm*
Laemmle’s Town Center, Encino
BUY TICKETS NOW!
From acclaimed director Roger Spotiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies, and the Band Played on) and co-director photographer Lekha Singh, comes this poignant film about restorative justice, offering the audience deep insight into the struggle for forgiveness, healing, rebuilding and asking the question, is reconciliation possible?
Discussion with director, Lekha Singh and Janice Kaminer-Reznik, Founding President of Jewish World Watch.
Community Partner: Jewish World Watch
*these two films are free for high school students for educational purposes
CLOSING NIGHT
“TAKE MY WIFE PLEASE”
When Comedy Went to School
World Premiere
Thursday, June 6, 7:30 pm
Laemmle’s Town Center, Encino
BUY TICKETS NOW!
Ironically, the festival ends with Robert Klein’s narration, as he hosts this groundbreaking film starring Jerry Lewis, Sid Caesar, Larry King, Mort Sahl, Jerry Stiller and others. An entertaining portrait of this country’s greatest generation of comedians asks the question… “Why are so many comedians Jewish?” The answer is found in New York State’s Catskill Mountains.
Q&A to follow with director Ron Frank and special guests, moderated by comedian, Judy Carter.
So take my wife, please… and make sure to get there early to get seats! This one is guaranteed to be a sell-out!
