The Washington Jewish Film Festival (WJFF) presents its Visionary Award to DC filmmaker Aviva Kempner, whose documentaries range from baseball great Hank Greenberg to TV pioneer Gertrude Berg to Booker T. Washington and his education project with Sears philanthropist Julius Rosenwald.
The Visionary Award event is on December 10, and features the 25th anniversary screening of Kempner's documentary "Partisans of Vilna", a post-film discussion, and a reception honoring Kempner. It begins at 6:15 PM at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center (DCJCC), which presents the festival. Tickets are $11.
The award honors a filmmaker for "courage, creativity and insight in presenting the diversity of the Jewish experience through the moving image." Kempner's many other honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship and a DC Mayor's Art Award.
"Partisans of Vilna" has been praised by Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, the celebrated author and Holocaust survivor, as "one of the best and most eloquent documentaries on the suffering and dilemmas Jews faced...enlightening, truthful, challenging, heartbreaking..."
Kempner's film is composed of rare archival footage, newsreels, and interviews with 40 Vilna Ghetto survivors. Their motto was, "We will not allow them (the Nazis) to take us like beasts to the slaughter."
The ten-day festival also presents a retrospective of some of Kempner's films. Those events will be free, and include a discussion with her and various guests:
- "Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg": December 9 at 1:00 PM, at DCJCC.
Gertrude Berg, the creator, writer, and star of radio and TV's classic "The Goldbergs", pioneered the sitcom format. The film looks at the life and four-decade career of Berg, including the stand she took against McCarthyism.
- "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg": December 11 at 2:30 PM, at the Avalon Theatre.
Hank Greenberg, “The Hammerin’ Hebrew” of the Detroit Tigers, transcended religious prejudice to become America's first Jewish sports superstar, on the eve of Hitler’s rise to power. Greenberg, one of the greatest batters in baseball history, is discussed by teammates, sportswriters, and baseball fans including Michigan Senator Carl Levin and his brother Congressman Sander Levin, actor Walter Matthau, among others. The screening celebrates the centennial year of Greenberg's birth, and will be followed by a discussion between Kempner and Franklin Foer, author of "How Soccer Explains the World".
- "The Rosenwald Schools": December 11 at 10:30 AM, at DCJCC. Kempner's newest work-in-progress.
Sears Roebuck philanthropist Julius Rosenwald partnered with Booker T. Washington to build 5,300 schools for African-American communities in the rural South early in the 20th century, when few African Americans received any public education. Kempner will discuss the project with Kinshasha Holman Conwill, Deputy Director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, and Stephanie Deutsch, author of "You Need a Schoolhouse".
Festival director Susan Barocas termed Kempner "an inspiring, accomplished filmmaker who was also the driving force behind establishing this festival 22 years ago" -- one of America's first such festivals.
The Kempner retrospective and award are part of the one of the festival's themes, “Jewish Film | Women Filmmakers”. The WJFF includes 19 films by 16 women directors. By comparison, only seven percent of the more than 14,500 members of Directors Guild of America are female.
"When I searched for the best, most interesting and diverse films to bring to the WJFF, I didn't set out to find films by women," Barocas said. "But I admit I'm delighted, and hope this says something about the growing success and accomplishments of women in the film industry."
The hugely popular WJFF offers many world, US, mid-Atlantic, or DC premieres -- from 15 countries including Germany, Sweden, Poland, Rwanda, and the US.
Descriptions of each of the 47 films, and the full schedule are at www.wjff.org.
"Satisfaction guaranteed", to quote a motto originated by Sears Roebuck chairman Julius Rosenwald.
For more info and tickets: Washington Jewish Film Festival, www.wjff.org, 800-494-8497. Film hotline, 202-777-3231. Now through December 11. Presented by the Washington DCJCC's Morris Cafritz Center for the Arts, site of most festival events, 1529 16th Street at Q Street, NW, Washington, DC. For the festival's other venues, including the Embassies of Italy and Switzerland, click here. The WJFF is co-sponsored by the Embassy of Israel and "Washington Jewish Week" newspaper.
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