Don't miss the 41st Annual "Y" Sports Dinner featuring Drew Brees as keynote speaker and honouring Jeff Rabb and Arch Honigman.For more details: CLICK HERE
Yiddish and African American Music Meet in Celebration of Two Cultures
From the power of song to overcome persecution to the celebration of life through spiritual music, the African-American and Jewish people have many shared traditions. In the spirit of unity, we honour Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, Paul Robeson, Benny Goodman, Cab Caloway and countless others who pioneered integration and cultural exchange. The concert is headlined by Elmore James, a veteran of five Broadway productions and numerous opera stages around the world; Tony Perry, a commanding young singer-actor; and Magda Fishman, Israeli singing sensation. English translation super titles will accompany all Yiddish songs.
Featuring Entertainer Allan Blye and Gray Academy Students Yiddish Choir
A Bisele Haimeshe Yiddish: A Little Homespun Yiddish showcases some of the best local contributions to Yiddish culture in Winnipeg. Back by popular demand will be the Gray Academy of Jewish Education Yiddish Choir.
Well-known former Winnipegger Allan Blye has a long-standing career as a Chazzan in broadcasting, producing and many aspects of the entertainment industry. Alan will be presenting an enjoyable Yiddish program at Mameloshen.
Canada’s first and original Klezmer group Finjan is about to start celebrating their 31st year making music. The three times Juno Award nominated band and Western Canadian Music Award winners are performing in their hometown of Winnipeg for Mameloshen this June. Since breaking onto the scene in 1982, Finjan has appeared in movies, documentaries and has toured all over North America and in Europe. Their five albums have received critical acclaim and are highly sought after. What makes this upcoming Winnipeg concert extra special is that Finjan has been on hiatus for the last few years and is excited to perform back in Winnipeg. Featuring Myron Schultz (clarinet), Victor Schultz (violin), Shayla Fink (accordion, voice), Kinzey Posen (bass, voice) and Daniel Koulack (guitar, mandolin, banjo).
Torn apart by tragedy, a legendary band reunites to play an emotional final concert in the captivating feature The Ballad of the Weeping Spring, a stylized homage to spaghetti westerns and samurai epics, shot entirely in Israel but set in a mythical time and place. With a pervasive pan-ethnic soundtrack serving as the film’s backbone, the story centers on the brooding Josef Tawila (Israeli Film Acadmey winner Uri Gavriel), once the leader of a Mizrahi band (a unique musical form combining Middle Eastern and North African influences), who lives a hermit-like existence in the wake of a terrible accident. In a series of quirky vignettes across stunning exotic locations, Tawila brings together his old musician buddies to grant the last wishes of a dying friend, while healing his own tortured soul.
Israel, 2012
Director: Benny Torati
Hebrew with subtitles 105 minutes Print Source: Israelfilms
Awards
Awards of the Israeli Film Academy, 2012
One of American music’s great untold stories, A.K.A. Doc Pomus pays homage to an unlikely rock ‘n’ roll legend who overcame polio and poverty to pen the soundtrack of the baby boomer generation. Starting his career as a blues singer, Jerome Felder (better known as Doc Pomus) later reinvented himself as a songwriter, churning out a staggering string of Top 10 hits for artists like Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Ray Charles, Andy Williams, the Coasters and the Drifters. The Brooklyn-born son of poor Jewish immigrants, who was largely confined to crutches and a wheelchair, the spirited Doc never allowed private pain or personal limitations to derail a life of extraordinary accomplishment. This delightful documentary treats audiences to a treasure trove of performance footage and enduring music of the 1950s and ‘60s, including such Billboard chart-toppers as Save the Last Dance for Me and This Magic Moment. Interviews with collaborators and friends, as well as excerpts from his personal diary (read aloud by rock musician Lou Reed), augment this moving tribute to a musical genius, co-directed by former Winnipeger William Hechter and Peter Miller (Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story).
Canada/USA, 2012
Directors: Will Hechter and Peter Miller
English
99 minutes
Print Source: Clear Lake Historical Productions
This heartfelt drama follows the story of a family drawn into crisis after the parents discover their child is secretly a cross-dresser and kicks him out of the house. Years later, when the father is dying of cancer, the mother hires a private detective to track him down. Instead of a "son", the detective finds a woman who earns her pay dancing at gay cabarets. Will the daughter now manage to overcome the past and forgive her parents? Will the parents be able to adapt to their new daughter? For the first time in the history of Israeli cinema, a feature film dealing with parents coping with their transgendered child. Melting Away has been conceived in reaction to the deadly attack on the Tel Aviv LGBT Youth Centre and shock of parents refusing to visit their injured children at the hospital. Melting Away is a sincere and moving drama of family, love, and understanding.
Director: Doron Eran
Hebrew with English Subtitles
86 minutes
Print Source: Go2 Films
