Media Releases

18th Annual
Toronto Jewish Film Festival
April 17 - 25, 2010
www.tjff.com

Toronto Jewish Film Festival Closes Out Its 18th Year
Breaking Records and Breaking Out Of The Box Creatively

Presenting a special Legacy Award and
Honouring two documentary directors with the David A. Stein Memorial Award

David A. Stein Memorial Award presented to:

Barak Heymann, director of The Lone Samaritan

and

Pierre Sauvage, director of Not Idly By: Peter Bergson, America and the Holocaust

The Legacy Award presented to:

Sandra Schulberg and Josh Waletzky, for Nuremberg: Its Lesson For Today (1948)

[The 2009 Schulberg/Waletzky Restoration]

(Toronto, April 26, 2010) - “Chai,” (pronounced “high,” more or less) means best-in-life, and that’s exactly what the number 18 signifies, and what this year’s 18th annual Toronto Jewish Film Festival amounted to.

Last night the memorable 18th TJFF closed out 10 days of fascinating features, documentaries and shorts, highlighted by the resurrection of a previously lost and censored landmark documentary about the Nuremberg Trials, and by a remarkable programme contemplating the Jewish origins of comic art.

With the addition of SilverCity Richmond Hill to its list of venues, TJFF 18 attracted record crowds to its line-up of powerful international films. Attendance was up by 25% making this the most successful year for the Festival.

The upshot: TJFF 18 hit a “chai note” indeed.

"I loved seeing so many new faces, probably because of the sidebar series,” says TJFF’s Executive Director Helen Zukerman. “Many people remarked on the breadth of the programming and said that there really was "something for everyone."

This year the David A. Stein Memorial Award was presented to two directors for their outstanding works - Barak Heymann, the director of The Lone Samaritan, a fascinating look at a tiny, little-known sect that abhors assimilation out of fear of extinction, and Pierre Sauvage, director of Not Idly By: Peter Bergson, America And The Holocaust. The latter is a biography of the man who struggled to make saving the Jews of Europe into an American objective during the Second World War. They were two exceptional films that TJFF was honoured to showcase.

Toronto‘s David Stein was a gifted filmmaker who died suddenly in 2004, at age 34. He was the third of four siblings in a loving and supportive family who’ve chosen to remember him in a manner consistent with his passion for film. The David A. Stein Award is affectionately named the “Tzimmie”, after David’s production company, Tzimmes Entertainment. The “Tzimmie” is presented along with a cash prize of $5,000, made possible through the extended family and friends of the Stein Family, and awarded to the director of a documentary making its Canadian premiere at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival.

Finally, TJFF’s new Legacy Award was created this year for the powerful film Nuremberg: Its Lesson For Today. It was the desire of TJFF to honour Sandra Schulberg and Josh Waletzky for this incredible piece of cinematic history, which will survive and enthral for generations to come. Originally produced in 1948, and subsequently suppressed by the U.S. government, the English-language version of Nuremberg was never completed, and the original picture negative and sound elements were lost or destroyed. One of the greatest courtroom dramas in history, Nuremberg illustrates how four international prosecutors built their case against the top Nazi war criminals during a trial that lasted from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946.

Mark your calendars, TJFF returns next year, May 7 – 15, 2011.

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For more info, to request screeners, set up interviews, get GAT:
Ingrid Hamilton ingrid@gat.ca h/o: 416-482-6142 c: 416-731-3034
Vitaly Gurevich vitaly@gat.ca c: 416-888-3744
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Username: media | Password: media | Click: Films I Click: TJFF 2010

Media Accreditation is available online | www.tjff.com

18th Annual
Toronto Jewish Film Festival
April 17 - 25, 2010
www.tjff.com

** Due to an overwhelming response – and we mean overwhelming **

TJFF was able to secure a 2nd screening of
Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today (1948)
[The 2009 Schulberg/Waletzky Restoration]
USA/GERMANY 1948/2009 80MIN
Writer/Director: Stuart Schulberg
Restoration Created by: Sandra Schulberg and Josh Waletzky

Sunday April 25, 2010
6:30PM
Cineplex Odeon Sheppard Centre – 4861 Yonge St.

Tickets will go on sale, today, Monday April 19 at 12noon.

(Toronto – April 19, 2010) Toronto Jewish Film Festival is honoured to present the North American Premiere of Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today (1948) [The 2009 Schulberg/Waletzky Restoration] , which has been meticulously and painstakingly restored by Sandra Schulberg and Josh Waletzky. It was written and directed by Stuart Schulberg
(Budd Schulberg’s brother) and released in Germany during 1948/49. But it was never released to American theatres, a decision that proved controversial at the time.

Nuremberg illustrates how the international prosecutors built their case against the top Nazi war criminals during one of the greatest courtroom dramas in history. The movie is invaluable as an historical document of the Nazi rise to power and Hitler’s strategy during WWII, and startlingly relevant in depicting the trial’s establishment of the “Nuremberg principles,” the foundation for all subsequent trials for crimes against humanity. Nuremberg also presents irrefutable proof that the Jews were Hitler’s primary intended victims.

“Nuremberg is an incredible piece of cinematic history,” states Sandra Schulberg, “ and our restoration allows you to hear the American, British, French and Russian prosecutors, as well as the Nazi defendants and their defense attorneys – all speaking in their own voices. You feel you are in the courtroom.”

It is riveting… extraordinarily powerful….and not-to-be missed.

One of the largest festivals of its kind in the world, the Toronto Jewish Film Festival returns April 17-25th, 2010 with an international
programme from 18 countries and four continents, reflecting aspects of Jewish identity and diversity with universal themes. The shorts,
documentaries and features, a total of 93, hail from such disparate places as Israel, Argentina, Mexico, Switzerland, Czech Republic,
Belgium, USA, France, UK, Hungary, Germany, Netherlands, and Poland. As well, this year’s TJFF features a record 28 Canadian premieres.

The Toronto Jewish Film Festival gratefully acknowledges its major sponsors: Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, The Ontario Trillium Foundation, Sun TV, Cineplex Entertainment LP, C.A. Delaney Capital Management Ltd., MIJO Corporation, Toronto Star, The Sutton Place Hotel, UJA Federation and Shirley Granovsky, Marsha Bronfman and Zukerman Family Foundation.

The Festival screens at four theatres – the Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor St. W. at Bathurst St.), the Al Green Theatre, Miles Nadal JCC (750 Spadina Ave. at Bloor St. W.), Cineplex Odeon Sheppard Centre Cinemas (4861 Yonge St. at Sheppard Ave.) and SilverCity Richmond Hill Cinemas (8771 Yonge St.).

All films at the Festival are rated by the Ontario Film Review Board. The ratings can be viewed on the website.

Toronto Jewish Film Festival 2010
Festival dates - April 17 to 25
Media Launch - March 22

Advance Box Offices:
19 Madison - April 1 to 17 (downstairs – no wheelchair access)
Monday to Friday - 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Saturday & Sunday - 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Cineplex Odeon Sheppard Centre Cinemas - April 11 to 17
Monday to Friday - 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm - (Closed Good Friday & Easter Monday)

Phone Orders - April 1 to 25 - 416.967.1528
Monday to Friday - 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Saturday & Sunday - 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Festival Box Offices:
Al Green - April 17 or 18 to 25
Open 1 hour before the 1st screening day of and closed 30 minutes after the start of last screening of the day

Cineplex Odeon Sheppard Centre Cinemas - April 18 to 25
This box office will not be open on Friday April 23.
Opens 1 hour before the 1st screening day of and closes 30 minutes after start of last screening of the day

Bloor Cinema - April 17 to 25
Opens 1 hour before the 1st screening day of and closes 30 minutes after start of last screening of the day

SilverCity Richmond Hill - April 18 to 25
This box office will not be open on Friday April 23.
Opens 1 hour before the 1st screening day of and closes 30 minutes after start of last screening of the day

General Information
TJFF Box Office Phone Number: 416.967.1528
Or
The Toronto Jewish Film Festival
Online. http://www.tjff.com/

Passes:
The Really Flexible Pass
20 films (excluding Opening Night and Special Presentations) for the price of $140.

The Weekday Special
All films before 5 pm Monday to Friday $60

The Richmond Hill Pass
Any screening up to a maximum of 10 films only at SilverCity Richmond Hill $60

All passes and tickets are subject to availability. With a pass you still need to obtain a ticket for each screening. Passes entitle customers to one ticket per film. There will be no admittance 15 minutes after the start of a screening.

Free Student Admission
Subject to availability. Five minutes prior to each screening, students with ID will be admitted for free from a Rush Line.

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Media Accreditation is available online | www.tjff.com

18th Annual
Toronto Jewish Film Festival
April 17 - 25, 2010
www.tjff.com

NUREMBERG: ITS LESSON FOR TODAY (1948)
[The 2009 Schulberg/Waletzsky Restoration]
North American Premiere
USA/Germany 1948/2009 80 minutes
English & German (some French, Russian)
Writer/Director: Stuart Schulberg
Editor: Joseph Zigman
Producers: Stuart Schulberg & Pare Lorentz
Production Supervisor: Eric Pommer, Office of Military Government/U.S.
Musical Score: Hans-Otto Borgmann
Restoration Created by: Sandra Schulberg & Josh Waletzky
Narrator: Liev Schreiber
Musical Score Reconstruction: John Califra

The TJFF is honoured to present the North American Premiere of Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today, meticulously and painstakingly restored by Sandra Schulberg and Josh Waletzky. Completed in 1948, and widely shown in German cinemas during 1948/49, the film was subsequently withheld from American cinemas by the U.S. government for a number of reasons, including the graphic nature of its content.

There may have been concern that reaction to the film might have an adverse impact on public support for the rebuilding of Germany’s economy, a major plank of the postwar Marshall Plan. But as Sandra Schulberg discovered in her research, the decision proved controversial, as revealed in a number of investigative news stories that appeared during the fall of 1949 in major U.S. papers.

Pare Lorentz offered to buy the film from the government and release it himself. His offer was refused. The English-language version of the film was never properly completed, and the original picture negative and sound elements were lost or destroyed.

One of the greatest courtroom dramas in history, Nuremberg illustrates how the four Allied prosecution teams built their case against the top Nazi war criminals during a trial that lasted from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946 (and which is officially known as the International Military Tribunal).

The film is an invaluable historical document that traces the Nazi rise to power and Hitler’s strategy during WWII, and is startlingly relevant in depicting the establishment of the “Nuremberg principles” -- the foundation for all subsequent trials for crimes against humanity. Nuremberg: Its Lesson for Today also presents irrefutable proof that the Jews were Hitler’s primary victims.

The film’s narrative structure mirrors the four counts of indictment, and the courtroom sequences are intercut with the Nazis’ own documents and films. Much of the film footage was found by brothers Stuart and Budd Schulberg, members of John Ford’s special OSS Field Photographic Branch/War Crimes Unit, and was compiled (with the help of their colleagues Ray Kellogg, Joe Zigman, and Bob Parrish) into a 4-hour evidentiary film, The Nazi Plan. The same team created a 60-minute compilation of Allied footage, Nazi Concentration Camps, which shocked the courtroom when it was presented on November 29, 1945.

Nuremberg builds to a climax with the summations of the four chief prosecutors and the chilling verdicts of the Allied judges. Nuremberg is an incredible piece of cinematic history that can now be seen in an international version that allows you to hear the participants speaking in their own languages for the first time. Riveting… extraordinarily powerful…. and not-to-be missed.

Warning: Graphic archival footage.

NUREMBERG: ITS LESSON FOR TODAY (1948)
[The 2009 Schulberg/Waletzky Restoration]
Will make its North American Premiere as a SPECIAL PRESENTATION screening, part of the 18th annual Toronto Jewish Film Festival, Sunday April 18, 2010, at 7pm, The Bloor Cinema.

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Media Accreditation is available online | www.tjff.com

18th Annual
Toronto Jewish Film Festival
April 17 - 25, 2010
www.tjff.com

PEOPLE OF THE COMIC BOOK:

The Creators Of Superheroes, Graphic Novels & Toons
Sidebar Series to the 18th Annual Toronto Jewish Film Festival
Curated by TJFF’s Ellie Skrow
Includes
an illustrated talk with Paul Buhle – Jews and Comic Art

Al Green Theatre
Sunday April 18, 2010
11:00 AM
a FREE Event

The connections between Jews and comic art on the printed page and on screen (film, TV and computer) offer one of the most enigmatic and valuable sagas in all Jewish/popular cultural life. Before Jewish artists and entrepreneurs created the comic book and the archetypal superhero, Rube Goldberg and Milt Gross invented wildly imaginary machines and the first graphic novel. More important, the Fleischer brothers as much as invented animation, with Betty Boop’s syncopated madness. For 30 years, movie cartoons filled theatre screens between features, and as they crashed, William M. Gaines (EC Comics) and Harvey Kurtzman (Mad Magazine) reinvented comic art once more. And that was only the beginning! Comics scholar Paul Buhle opens up the TJFF’s exploration and celebration of this field with film clips and observations, high points, disappointments and, increasingly, Jewish self-identification.

The Comic Art Forum
with special guests Harvey Pekar, Ben Katchor and Paul Buhle

Al Green Theatre
Sunday April 18, 2010
4:00 PM
a FREE Event

What’s new in Jews and comics, and … what’s old! This forum includes guests Paul Buhle, Harvey Pekar and Ben Katchor who will probe familiar questions (what is it about comic art that drew Jewish artists in the first place?) and go on to recent ones (why is 90 percent of comic art on the web?). Just some of the other topics: Where is the comics industry going, now that the traditional comic book of the pulp variety is dying, and what has happened since comics became a growth industry, but mainly for the sale of superhero characters to Hollywood? Paul Buhle (author/editor of 42 books) and Harvey Pekar (American Splendor) have collaborated on a series of comic art volumes, including The Beats, Students for a Democratic Society, an adaptation of Studs Terkel’s Working and the forthcoming Yiddishland. Graphic novelist, cartoonist and regular contributor to The New Yorker and the New York Times Ben Katchor is the only cartoonist to receive a “genius” MacArthur Fellowship.

People of the Comic Book celebrates the pioneers and creators of this unique form of popular culture, and TJFF through a series of documentary films, features, shorts and special events, pay tribute to the remarkable contribution of Jewish artists. These include filmmaker Gary VandenBergh (who brings an exciting work-in-progress on Mad Magazine artist Will Elder to the Festival), and director Sam Ball (Pleasures of Urban Decay and also Joann Sfar Draws From Memory - a work-in-progress on the French graphic novelist).

Some other examples include Harvey Pekar, who will be in town with his American Splendor, and will chat following the screening, Fritz the Cat (a special midnight screening at The Bloor), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (with a special intro by Paul Buhle), Ron Mann’s Comic Book Confidential; The False Forest and Other Picture Stories (a live reading by Ben Katchor), Irreverent Imagination: The Golden Age of Looney Tunes; Joan Sfar Draws from memory (work in progress, with Pleasures of Urban Decay), The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story; The Mad Playboy of Art (work in progress on Mad Magazine art works), and Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist.

Superman, who first appeared in 1938 on the cover of Action Comics No. 1 (an issue worth $1 million today), was created by a couple of Jewish kids — Toronto-born Joe Shuster (cousin of Frank Shuster of Canadian comedy duo Wayne & Shuter) and Cleveland native Jerry Siegel and their story will be seen in the Canadian Premiere of Last Son.

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Media Accreditation is available online | www.tjff.com

18th Annual
Toronto Jewish Film Festival
April 17 - 25, 2010
www.tjff.com

TJFF presents the WORLD PREMIERE of

The Klezmatics: On Holy Ground
Directed by Erik Greenberg Anjou

Special Presentation
includes a LIVE concert with The Klezmatics

Co-sponsored by The Ashkenaz Foundation

Thursday, April 22, 2010
8:00 PM
Bloor Cinema – 506 Bloor St. W.

Director Erik Greenberg and The Klezmatics will be in attendance and available for interviews

(Toronto – April 13, 2010) The Toronto Jewish Film Festival is proud to announce the World Premiere of The Klezmatics: On Holy Ground, an honest documentary portrait that reveals the challenges faced by exceptionally creative musicians as they strive to continue making joyous, boundary-breaking music, while balancing the demands of family, career and their own individual personalities.

Made by the filmmaker Erik Greenberg Anjou (A Cantor’s Tale, TJFF 2006, who will be in attendance at the screening, along with The Klezmatics, who offer a LIVE 30-minute concert prior to the screening, at the Bloor Cinema.

For over 20 years the Klezmatics have been at the vanguard of the international klezmer revival movement. The Grammy Award-winning group¹s innovative, downtown N.Y. sensibilities have redefined the boundaries of contemporary Jewish music, through nine albums and collaborations with such diverse artists as Chava Alberstein, Arlo Guthrie, Itzhak Perlman and Joshua Nelson. Following the group through tours in the U.S., Germany and Poland, the film most certainly highlights their unique brand of wild, mystical, provocative, reflective and ecstatically danceable music.