Seder-Masochism: The Plagues
Wonderful animator Nina Paley (see “This Land Is Mine,” below) takes on the Ten Plagues. The First Plague uses Josh White’s 1933 “Blood Red River Blues.” To see more about Paley’s project, click here.
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This Land is Mine
Please take a look at Nina Paley’s brilliantly sardonic “This Land Is Mine,” the strongest statement you’ll ever see for a two-state solution in the Middle East, right now! Paley’s films include the full-length animation, Sita Sings the Blues. She is committed to freeing art, including her own, from copyright restriction. Enjoy her fantastic work […]
Read MoreYoung Jews Telling Jokes
Jewish Currents has been running its “Off the Stage!” feature, with caricatures and one-liners of young Jewish stand-up comics, in its print edition for nearly two years. Five of these are artfully strung together in this video.
Read MoreAmerican Jewish Troublemakers, A-Z
Jewish Currents editor Lawrence Bush’s delightful doggerel about radical Jewish activists and artists.
Read MoreChronicles of a Professional Eulogist
Narrated by a eulogist-in-training, Lapp’s film portrays the late, great Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf musings on the burden of his profession. This is a six-minute excerpt from a 26-minute, hand-drawn animation (India ink, gouache, and wax), created in collaboration with Mark Dresser. It uses the imagined figure of the professional eulogist to explore the function […]
Read MoreLove and Stuff
Wonderful documentary filmmaker Judith Helfand lost her beloved mother Florence last September. In true documentary fashion, Helfand dissected the process, meaning, and catalytic opportunities — missed, lost, and found — connected to figuring out what to do with her mother’s lifetime of stuff. This moving, don’t-miss short film (from the New York Times website) will […]
Read MoreThe Rabbi in Berlin
The Rabbi in Berlin, 2006, created during the brutal war between Gaza and Israel, is a 12-minute imagining of what might happen if Israel lost and its land were given to the Arabs. Recorded in Berlin by Bil Thompson, based on a script and edited by Shalom Gorewitz, the video features legendary artworld luminary Willoughby […]
Read MoreLove & Fear
Animator, painter, video artist, and professional guitarist Hanan Harchol has created a video series from which these three are selected. The series and other works are available on his website, www.hananharchol.com. His videos were created with funds granted by the Covenant Foundation with fiscal sponsorship by the Foundation for Jewish Culture.
Read MoreHeadpieces for Peace
Jessica Mitrani is a film director and multidisciplinary artist who works in theater, visual art, and performance and has exhibited at venues internationally, including Jeu de Paume Museum, Paris; Hors Pistes Festival at Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; White Columns Gallery, New York; FIAF, New York; Museum of Modern Art, Bogotá; […]
Read MorePoem Teller
Quimetta Perle, a contributing artist and poet to the 2013 Jewish Currents Arts Calendar, has performed at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Roulette, St. Marks Poetry Project, NYU’s Loew Theater and Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute, streamed in live performance over the internet, and embedded in art installations. Her mixed media work, digital prints and artists books have […]
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