BY ASHLEY DAY
A&E EDITOR
For the past 21 years, San Diego’s Jewish community celebrated the history and experience of Jews with films based on Jewish obstacles and lifestyle. The San Diego Jewish Film Festival portrays the Jewish experience in the form of contemporary films.
Our campus also offers a course on the Jewish culture. This semester, the class, History 383: Women and Jewish History, taught by Dr. Alyssa Sepinwall, surveys Jewish culture and the roles women partake in, as Jews. Dr. Sepinwall requires History 383 students to attend a film from the San Diego Jewish Film Festival.
“The festival tries to bring to life the diversity of the Jewish experience around the world,” Dr. Sepinwall said.
Everyone understands the struggles the Jewish community endured throughout documented history, but the festival picks films that shed new light on different realities Jews faced.
“The films range from Holocaust themes to…Jewish in American baseball and in the Civil War. The films also focus on universal issues like teenage angst, feminism and childhood memories,” Dr. Sepinwall added.
One film premiering at this year’s festival is the French made, “La Rafle.” In English, “La Rafle” translates to “The Round Up.” The film showcases the true story of French Jewish refugees being ‘rounded up’ to go to the horrible Eastern European internment camps of World War II.
Dr. Laurance Baron, Nasitir professor of modern Jewish history, opened the film with a few words. Dr. Baron spoke of the history of Jews in France, reminding the audience that France was the first country to grant Jews equal rights. “La Rafle,” reveals the travesty of these equal rights being rescinded.
The spoken language of the film is mostly French, but audience members quickly adjust to reading English subtitles. “La Rafle” is beautifully composed of rich scenes that propel you into 1940s France. Themes of loss, gender, importance of family and human atrocity against each other capture the hearts of the viewer. French actors Jean Reno and Melanie Laurent portray medical physicians, who care for Jewish children while they wait to be shipped off to die.
“La Rafle” is one of 40 plus films featured at the 2011 festival. Anyone interested in learning more about Jewish culture or more on life is welcome to attend the festival.
“The festival has always been really welcoming to CSUSM students,” Dr. Sepinwall said. “Students in History 383 and other classes have been offered free tickets, thanks to the festival and the Leichtag Family Foundation,” she added.
The San Diego Jewish Film Festival runs from Feb. 10 – 20. This year, the festival added three new venues in Clairemont, Carlsbad and conveniently at the Edwards San Marcos Stadium 18, along with their existing venues in La Jolla and Mission Valley. Actors and directors from the films and guest speakers precede or follow most of the presentations, so you may get a chance to speak to them. For more information, visit www.sdjff.org