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Thursday, June 20, 2013
Tammuz 12, 5773
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The Times of Israel

The one-stop news site
covering Israel, the region and
the Jewish people worldwide

Founding editor:
David Horovitz

Fair, fresh and fast

The Jewish world's
fastest-growing
news site

Writer: Jordan Hoffman

June 20, 2013
9:28 am

Brad Pitt in 'Israel' in 'World War Z' (photo credit: Paramount Pictures)

In Turkey, ‘World War Z’ is no World War Zion

The summer zombie blockbuster, opening June 21 in the US, is the greatest piece of cinematic propaganda for Israel since ‘Exodus.’ So how come one version censors references to the Jewish state?

By Jordan Hoffman

June 14, 2013
2:27 pm

Kal-El is taken to the authorities. (photo credit: Warner Brothers)

‘Man of Steel’ no longer Man of Shtetl?

Does the new Superman movie, opening Friday in the US and next week in Israel, assimilate away all of its historically Jewish connotations?

By Jordan Hoffman

May 31, 2013
8:03 pm

A scene from 'Hannah Arendt' (photo credit: courtesy Zeitgeist Films)

Hannah Arendt gets the smart, nuanced biopic she deserves

Hitting theaters Friday, a new movie shows how unhappy the German-Jewish, New York-based author was to have reached her incendiary conclusions about Eichmann and the ‘banality of evil’

By Jordan Hoffman

May 27, 2013
8:00 pm

Ari Folman's 'The Congress' (photo credit: courtesy)

What was kosher (and not) at Cannes

A whirlwind wrap-up of the world’s preeminent film festival with freelance cinema writer Jordan Hoffman

By Jordan Hoffman

May 5, 2013
11:20 pm

Stars of David over Hollywood

From ‘The Jazz Singer’ to ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,’ the way Jews are portrayed on the silver screen reflects their acceptance into American society, says author Eric A. Goldman

By Jordan Hoffman

April 25, 2013
7:43 pm

Cohen family patriarch, Roger. (photo credit: courtesy Six Island Productions)

The best little Jewish strip joint in Canada

Getting a lap dance for his bar mitzvah was just part of life for filmmaker Shawney Cohen, whose documentary debuts this week

By Jordan Hoffman

April 13, 2013
12:20 am

Outside the School of Visual Arts theater for the inaugural Israeli Film Center Festival. (photo credit: Jordan Hoffman)

Big Orange cinema comes to the Big Apple

Inaugural event Thursday launches a week of contemporary Israeli films that you won’t find on a big screen in a theater near you

By Jordan Hoffman

April 4, 2013
7:47 pm

Chris Nicola in 'No Place on Earth.' (photo credit: Magnolia Pictures)

Saved from the Nazis in the caves of the Ukraine

‘No Place on Earth,’ opening Friday in New York, shows how 30 Jewish relatives went to extraordinary lengths, and depths, to survive the Holocaust

By Jordan Hoffman

March 13, 2013
11:35 pm

Philip Roth has won every major prize except the Nobel, and says he's retired. (Courtesy of Film Forum)

Rare return allows re-reading of reclusive Roth

As he turns 80, a new documentary — opening Wednesday in New York — examines the career of the world’s pre-eminent Jewish author

By Jordan Hoffman

January 9, 2013
5:59 pm

The winner of three awards at the Jerusalem Film Festival, "Policeman" focuses on an Israeli anti-terrorism unit and wealthy young anarchists trying to unleash chaos. (Courtesy of NYJFF)

Semitic cinema invades Manhattan

Opening Wednesday, the New York Jewish Film Festival features a lineup ranging from respectful dramas to Hebraic horror

By Jordan Hoffman

December 20, 2012
8:20 pm

Director Anne Fletcher, right, works with Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand on the set of "The Guilt Trip." (Courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

Kvelling and kvetching with Streisand and Rogen

Anne Fletcher, director of the new mother-son road romp ‘The Guilt Trip,’ talks about Jewish-mom stereotypes, choreographing comedy and how to convince Streisand to do what you want

By Jordan Hoffman

November 10, 2012
5:39 pm

A Muslim Israeli struggles with his identity after enlisting in the IDF in new documentary "Ameer Got a Gun." (Photo credit: Courtesy of Black Sheep Film Productions)

His deep, dark secret: He’s Arab, Muslim and serves in the IDF

New film looks at the tiniest of Israel’s minorities — Muslim Arabs who voluntarily enlist

By Jordan Hoffman

November 9, 2012
6:23 pm

"The Invisible Men" examines the lives of Palestinians whose own families might kill them because of their sexual orientation. (Photo credit: Mozer Films)

Sympathetic film unveils ‘invisible’ gay Palestinians

In his new documentary, director Yariv Mozer explores the uneasy existence of Arab men hiding in Israel from their families

By Jordan Hoffman

November 2, 2012
10:42 pm

Israeli actor Mark Ivanir (left) and Catherine Keener co-star with Oscar winners Philip Seymour Hoffman (center) and Chistopher Walken in Yaron Zilberman's "A Late Quartet." (Courtesy of RKO Pictures)

Israeli director proves a lord of the strings with world-class ‘Quartet’

Yaron Zilberman explains how he scored Christopher Walken and Philip Seymour Hoffman for his first US movie, a well-reviewed drama with an Israeli co-star

By Jordan Hoffman

August 31, 2012
6:30 pm

A rabbi's son (Matisyahu) attempts to exorcise a dybbuk, or malevolent spirit, from a young girl (Natasha Calis) in Hollywood thriller "The Possession" (Photo credit: courtesy of Lionsgate)

Jewish horror story takes ‘Possession’ of Hollywood

With an oddball cast featuring Kyra Sedgwick and Matisyahu, a new thriller opening in the US Friday borrows heavily from Yiddish folklore

By Jordan Hoffman

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The Times of Israel

The one-stop news site
covering Israel, the region and
the Jewish people worldwide

Founding editor:
David Horovitz

Fair, fresh and fast

The Jewish world's
fastest-growing
news site

Writer: Jordan Hoffman

In Turkey, ‘World War Z’ is no World War Zion

The summer zombie blockbuster, opening June 21 in the US, is the greatest piece of cinematic propaganda for Israel since ‘Exodus.’ So how come one version censors references to the Jewish state?

‘Man of Steel’ no longer Man of Shtetl?

Does the new Superman movie, opening Friday in the US and next week in Israel, assimilate away all of its historically Jewish connotations?

Hannah Arendt gets the smart, nuanced biopic she deserves

Hitting theaters Friday, a new movie shows how unhappy the German-Jewish, New York-based author was to have reached her incendiary conclusions about Eichmann and the ‘banality of evil’

What was kosher (and not) at Cannes

A whirlwind wrap-up of the world’s preeminent film festival with freelance cinema writer Jordan Hoffman

Stars of David over Hollywood

From ‘The Jazz Singer’ to ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,’ the way Jews are portrayed on the silver screen reflects their acceptance into American society, says author Eric A. Goldman

The best little Jewish strip joint in Canada

Getting a lap dance for his bar mitzvah was just part of life for filmmaker Shawney Cohen, whose documentary debuts this week

Big Orange cinema comes to the Big Apple

Inaugural event Thursday launches a week of contemporary Israeli films that you won’t find on a big screen in a theater near you

Saved from the Nazis in the caves of the Ukraine

‘No Place on Earth,’ opening Friday in New York, shows how 30 Jewish relatives went to extraordinary lengths, and depths, to survive the Holocaust

Rare return allows re-reading of reclusive Roth

As he turns 80, a new documentary — opening Wednesday in New York — examines the career of the world’s pre-eminent Jewish author

Semitic cinema invades Manhattan

Opening Wednesday, the New York Jewish Film Festival features a lineup ranging from respectful dramas to Hebraic horror

Kvelling and kvetching with Streisand and Rogen

Anne Fletcher, director of the new mother-son road romp ‘The Guilt Trip,’ talks about Jewish-mom stereotypes, choreographing comedy and how to convince Streisand to do what you want

His deep, dark secret: He’s Arab, Muslim and serves in the IDF

New film looks at the tiniest of Israel’s minorities — Muslim Arabs who voluntarily enlist

Sympathetic film unveils ‘invisible’ gay Palestinians

In his new documentary, director Yariv Mozer explores the uneasy existence of Arab men hiding in Israel from their families

Israeli director proves a lord of the strings with world-class ‘Quartet’

Yaron Zilberman explains how he scored Christopher Walken and Philip Seymour Hoffman for his first US movie, a well-reviewed drama with an Israeli co-star

Jewish horror story takes ‘Possession’ of Hollywood

With an oddball cast featuring Kyra Sedgwick and Matisyahu, a new thriller opening in the US Friday borrows heavily from Yiddish folklore

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