ELLEN FUTTERMAN, Editor-in-Chief
• Published February 6, 2022
As the new president of PROMO, Missouri’s statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization, Dr. Ken Haller recalls being on a panel at Webster University’s LBGTQ film festival in 2006 discussing a documentary about marriage equality in Massachusetts. There were...
CATE MARQUIS, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHT
• Published May 31, 2021
This is the Jewish Film Festival’s 26th year, but its first without Zelda Sparks, who retired as director of cultural arts at the Jewish Community Center. Sparks helped start the festival and steered it for 25 years, and this year’s festival is...
(JTA) — An Oscar-winning documentary about the experience of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust that was produced by Steven Spielberg will be made available for streaming on Netflix.
“The Last Days” will be remastered from the original 35 mm...
Dan Buffa, Special to the Jewish Light
• Published April 23, 2021
The year 1986 was not only a very good year at the movies, it also was a very good year for Jewish talent in the movies. Both the Best Actor and Best Actress awards went to Jewish people on that fateful Oscar night.
Paul Newman took home the coveted...
Dan Buffa, Special to the Jewish Light
• Published April 22, 2021
The year 1929 may be known to many as the year the Great Depression settled in but for Jewish movie fans, it represents the first breakthrough. Norma Shearer won the Best Actress Oscar for "The Divorcee" that year. Six years later, Paul Muni would become...
Dan Buffa, Special to the Jewish Light
• Published April 21, 2021
When the Academy Award nominations were announced last month, David Fincher's "Mank" gathered the most of any film at 10, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Gary Oldman) and Best Supporting Actress (Amanda Seyfried). One would think that...
Dan Buffa, Special to the Jewish Light
• Published April 20, 2021
Bob Odenkirk may not be your typical tough guy, but boy he can throw a punch. It just took audiences 30-plus years to see him do it.
Truth be told, the "Better Call Saul" star and "Breaking Bad" co-star wouldn't be the first guy that comes to mind...
Gabrielle Hoyt, Hey Alma
• Published April 20, 2021
(Originally published by Alma)
When Barbra-Streisand-as-Fanny-Brice enters the scene of her deflowerment in Funny Girl, she can’t keep her clothes on. Compelled by the throbbing power of vermillion walls, plush curtains, suggestive female statues,...
Ellen Futterman, Editor
• Published March 24, 2021
It started where many of us have had our dreams of stardom realized: summer camp.Scott Bender, 34, recalls being tapped to audition at Camp North Star for Boys, a predominantly Jewish sleep-away summer camp in Hayward, Wisc., for the musical “Guys and...
By Ellen Futterman, Editor
• Published August 14, 2020
I don’t know about you, but I look forward to the day when it will be safe to go back to a theater to see a play or dance performance, hear music or watch a film. In the meantime, here’s a “healthy” alternative: a drive-in movie at the J’s Staenberg...
By Nate Bloom, Special to the Jewish Light
• Published July 2, 2020
‘Hamilton’ and more (Some catch-up) The film version of “Hamilton,” the mega-hit Broadway musical about Alexander Hamilton, begins streaming on the Disney Plus channel on July 3. The film was supposed to open in theaters, but COVID-19 intervened....
(JTA) — The 2020 Oscar nominations are out, and unsurprisingly, they’re already causing a firestorm on social media.The list, announced early Monday morning, didn’t do much to quell longstanding concerns that the awards have issues with race and...
