INTRODUCING WMJFF’s FILM FORUM!!
Enjoy great Classic Jewish American and International Films
And hear from our guest speakers online
Although the doors of Bethlehem’s Colonial Theatre must remain closed during this time of social distancing.
The show must go on! “On-line”, that is!
BHC will offer the White Mountain Film Forum, a live discussion of classic Jewish American and international films led by guest speakers on line via Zoom. Here is what BHC’s White Mountain Jewish Film Festival will look like.:
Watch the Movie. You can find all of our films this season on Amazon Video. The cost of renting each film varies from $2.00 to $4.00 on Amazon, less than half the cost of a movie ticket, and can be viewed over the Internet on your computer, tablet, phone or Smart TV.
Sign up for WMJFF Film Forum to meet film directors, writers, critics and educators who can add their professional insights about each film.
Join the Conversation Live on Zoom. It’s Free!
Sign up! It’s Free!! For all the info you need, contact WMJFF at
whitemountainjewishfilm@gmail.com
Sign up (it’s free!) at
whitemountainjewishfilm@gmail.com
Focus | Film Forum July 16, 7:30 PM
Details: Paramount Vantage Studios, 2001, (108 Min) PG-13
Director: Neal Slavin
Starring: William H. Macy, Laura Dern, David Paymer, Meat Loaf, Kay Hawtrey
A timid office worker tries to deal with hatred and anti-Semitism in 1940s Brooklyn, causing conflict in his community as a result of mistaken identity during the height of World War II. The movie is based on a novel by Arthur Miller, which he says was written during a period of disillusionment with the stage; angered by American anti-Semitism even during the war against Hitler, he wrote it in a white heat. It's a didactic warning that it can happen here. —Roger Ebert
Neal Slavin
Our Speaker: Director of Focus
Neal Slavin, an American photographer and television/film director, is the author of Portugal (1971), When Two or More are Gathered Together (1976) and Britons (1986). Since 1988, Slavin has undertaken film-making and commercials for television. In 1994, he ceased his commercial work to devote all his time to developing, directing and producing Focus, based on Arthur Miller’s only novel, about prejudice and race in America in the early 1940s.
Remembrance | Film Forum July 30, 7:30 PM
Details: Paramount Vantage Studios, 2011, (105 Min) NR
Director: Anna Justice
Writter: Pamela Katz
Starring: Alice Dwyer, Mateusz Damiecki, Dagmar Manzel
Languages: English, German, Polish
Inspired by actual events, Remembrance depicts a remarkable love story that blossomed amidst the terror of a German concentration camp in Poland 1944. In a daring escape Tomasz, a young Polish prisoner, rescues his Jewish lover Hannah Silberstein. But during the chaos of the end of the war, they are forcibly separated, and each is convinced that the other has died. More than thirty years later in New York City, the happily married Hannah believes to have seen her Tomasz in an interview on TV. And she begins to search for him again.
Carole Renard
Our Speaker: NEH Oral History Project Coordinator at National Yiddish Book Center
In addition to interviewing community members and scholars about Jewish history and culture, she transcribes and indexes the extensive collection of interviews to make them more accessible to the public. Renard holds a BA in Anthropology and Jewish Studies from Smith College, and an MA in Jewish Studies from University College, London.
The Chosen | Film Forum August 13, 7:30 PM
Details: 20th Century Fox, 1982, (108 Min) PG
Director: Jeremy Kagan
Screenplay: Chaim Potok
Starring: Robbie Benson, Barry Miller, Maximilian Schell, Rod Steiger
Danny, a Hasidic Jew, meets Reuven, a Zionist, while playing baseball. Although they have differences, their friendship grows strong. When they reach college, outspoken support by Reuven's professor father for a national Jewish state causes conflicts with Danny's conservative father leading to tension for the friends.
Rick Winston
Our Speaker: Film expert and lecturer
Author and co-owner of Montpelier’s Savoy Theatre, and Programming Director for the Green Mountain Film Festival for 14 years, Winston has taught film history at Burlington College, Community College of Vermont, Goddard College, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. He has made presentations throughout Vermont on film history and is one of WMJFF’s favorite guest speakers.
God’s Slave | Film Forum August 27, 7:30 PM
Details: Filmed in Venezuela, Argentina, 2013, (90 Min) NR
Director: Joel Novoa
Starring: Mohammed Alkhaldi, Daniela Alvarado, Laureano Olivares, Marialejandra Martin
Languages: Spanish
Based on the actual events of a 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires still making headlines today, GOD'S SLAVE follows Ahmed, trained since childhood as an Islamic terrorist, and now assigned to execute a suicide bombing at a synagogue, and David, the cold-blooded Israeli special agent who will stop at nothing to prevent the attack. But neither man is defined solely by his extremist views. Ahmed, posing as a doctor, lives happily with his wife and young son; though David’s marriage is on the rocks, he remains devoted to his wife and daughter. With time running out before the attack, David zeros in on Ahmed as a suspect, his investigation culminating in violent, if unexpected, consequences.
Marjorie Agosín
Our Speaker: Chilean-American poet, novelist and human rights activist
Marjorie Agosin is the daughter of Jewish parents who fled Europe. The family moved to the United States to escape the military coup that overthrew Salvador Allende’s Socialist government.
In both her scholarship and her creative work, Professor Agosin focuses on social justice, feminism, and remembrance and has received numerous honors and awards for her writing and work as a human rights activist, including a Jeanette Rankin Award in Human Rights and a United Nations Leadership Award for Human Rights. The Chilean government honored her with a Gabriela Mistral Medal for Lifetime Achievement. Agosín is the Luella LaMer Slaner Professor in Latin American studies and a professor of Spanish and Latin American literature at Wellesley College.
Past Film Series
We have saved our past film series logs for your review. If you need assistance finding a past film or have suggestions for future seasons, please email Artistic Director Dorothy Goldstone: dorothygoldstone@gmail.com
Co-sponsored by the Gretchen Beinecke Trust
We are ready and eager to invest in speakers for every event. This is our biggest budget item, since most speakers are traveling to Bethlehem and require room and board, as well as an honorarium. Your donations, large and small, are the underpinning of the WMJFF and promote our ultimate goal of “Building Community Through the Arts." Thank you so much for your generous support!
For more information, call 917-838-2646, Dorothy Goldstone, Festival Director, WMJFF