Reel News


VOLUME 3, NUMBER 6 - OCTOBER 2005

Reel News The Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival e-Newsletter
October 2005


The festival is just around the corner and all the pieces are coming together. Tickets go on sale at the Palace IFC and Cine-Art House box offices starting November 1st. Don't leave it to the last minute! Last year many of our screenings were sold out.

Here are some details about a few more films that you can see at this year's event.

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In this issue...
  • The Mascot
  • Seres Queridos (Only Human)
  • The Man Who Loved Haugesund

  • Seres Queridos (Only Human)

    Leni arrives home to introduce her fiancé Rafi to her Jewish family for the first time – her mother Gloria, her promiscuous sister Tania, Tania's contrary 8-year-old daughter Paula, her recently orthodox brother David and her blind grandfather Dudu. Everything goes wonderfully until the lovers reveal that Rafi is Palestinian. With his future mother-in-law unhinged by the news, Rafi tries to ingratiate himself by helping in the kitchen but in his zeal he accidentally drops the soup he was meant to defrost out the seventh floor window, hitting a pedestrian below. Rafi sneaks downstairs to check on the body and retrieve the soup. Having seen the victim, Rafi rushes upstairs not knowing what to do. As he returns to the kitchen he notices a family portrait of Leni's father, which bears a very close resemblance to the corpse lying outside.


    The Man Who Loved Haugesund

    This fascinating documentary represents a big part of untold Holocaust history in Norway that still remains unknown. Moritz Rabinowitz, a Polish Jewish merchant, came to Haugesund, a mid-sized seaport where he built up the largest department store and clothing manufacturing business in Scandinavia. A well-known anti-Hitler activist, he was the prime target when the Germans invaded Norway. The fact that he was captured after he couldn't leave his daughter behind is one emotional kicker; the other is the suggestion that despite his love for his adopted town, a lingering, if mild, anti-Semitism towards him still remains.


    The 6th Annual Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival - November 12 - 27. Tickets go on sale starting November 1st.

    The Mascot

    For most of his life Alex Kurzem harboured a secret. As a five-year-old Russian orphan in World War Two, he had been found by Latvian soldiers, made their mascot and given a new name and birthdate. But Alex was actually a Jew who was being kept alive by those who were exterminating his people. With his real identity hidden, he became a poster boy for the Nazi ideal and was taken into a Latvian family, who later migrated to Australia. This is the story of Alex's search for his true history and the unexpected impact that it had on his family, his community and himself.

    Alex Kurzem will be in attendance.

    Read a review...
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    Holocaust survivor Kurzem finds cousin



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