The 11th Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival
Press Release
Thursday, 11 Dezember 2009
Monday, december 13th, 2009
Cinematheque 3 and 4
Jerusalem
The city of Linz in Upper Austria was named the European Capital of Culture for 2009 -ironically bringing to fruition one of the visions of Adolf Hitler, who grew up in the city and honored it with his first parade immediately after the Anschluss (Germany’s annexation of Austria) in February, 1938. Micha Shagrir was born in Linz four months before the Anschluss. His great-great-grandfather settled in the city at the end of the 18th century and built his house on the Bishofstrasse. Later the family opened a candy factory, which ironically continued to function, albeit under different ownership, during and after the Second World War. At the beginning of the 20th century, another family settled on Bishofstrasse - the family of Adolf Eichmann. Taking from the connections between the two families and of course on the context of Austria and the Holocaust, Shagrir produced and directed the documentary film Bishofstrasse, Linz.
The organizers of the events in Linz 2009 commissioned three films from Micha Shagrir about natives of the town living abroad, each for different reasons. Two of the subjects chosen were young people in their forties, living, respectively, in Namibia and in Haiti. The third, Yehezkel Mandler, is over eighty years old and lives in Tel Aviv. He was born in Linz and managed to escape in time. He tells his story in the film Hoppa Hoppa Reiter, directed by Zohar Brant, which had its premiere screening at the Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz in April 2009.
After the presentation of the two films in attendance of Micha Shagrir, Ulrich Fuchs, deputy director of Linz09, will present the focus on contemporary history in the program of Linz09. Furthermore Alon Chitayat talks about the project TAXILINK, which was part of the project 80+1 A JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD which took place in summer 2009 in Linz and Jerusalem.
Program:
17.00, Jerusalem Cinematheque 3
Screening:
Bishofstrasse, Linz, dir.: Micha Shagrir (54 minutes. German & Hebrew, English subtitles)
Hoppa Hoppa Reiter, dir.: Zohar Brant (30 minutes. German & Hebrew, English subtitles)
19.00, Jerusalem Cinematheque 4
Linz09 – Panel and Presentations
Participants:
Dr. Ulrich Fuchs, Deputy Director of Linz09
Mr. Uri Sella, Retired intelligence officer, native of Linz
Alon Chitayat, artist who initiated a vitual TaxiLink between Jerusalem and Linz
