Golden Globes 2016: ‘Son of Saul,’ ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ star claim trophies

January 12, 2016

(JTA) — The Hungarian Holocaust movie “Son of Saul” and the star of the Jewy show “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” Rachel Bloom, won Golden Globe Awards.

“Son of Saul” won for best foreign film and Bloom was named best actress in a...

Canadian court to hear $3 million case over disputed Holocaust memoir

January 11, 2016

(JTA) – The Federal Court of Canada will consider a lawsuit filed by three filmmakers alleging that a Canadian author and her publisher plagiarized a family history presented in their documentary.

Judy Maltz, an Israeli-American journalist, along with Barbara Bird...

Lena Dunham show ‘Girls’ to end after 6th season

January 07, 2016

(JTA) — Lena Dunham’s successful HBO series “Girls” will end after its sixth season.

On Wednesday, HBO confirmed the rumor first reported on Entertainment Weekly.

The upcoming fifth season will premiere Feb. 21. The show has been renewed for a...

BBC releases documentary on Jerry Lewis’ secret Holocaust film

January 07, 2016

(JTA) — The BBC has released a short documentary about an unreleased Holocaust film by Jewish comedian Jerry Lewis.

Lewis wrote and directed “The Day the Clown Cried” at the height of his Hollywood career in 1971. The BBC documentary...

Sean Penn, in Tel Aviv, praises Israeli aid group working in Haiti

December 02, 2015

(JTA) — Academy Award winner and activist Sean Penn, in Israel for the first time, credited the Israeli international relief organization IsraAID for the success of his humanitarian efforts in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Penn was the keynote speaker Monday at an...

Jennifer Lawrence’s image erased from ‘Hunger Games’ posters in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak

November 20, 2015

(JTA) — Posters promoting the final “Hunger Games” movie in Jerusalem and the coastal Israeli city of Bnei Brak have scrubbed star Jennifer Lawrence from the main image.

The posters for “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay-Part 2” in these cities contain...

MoMA to return Nazi-looted painting to heirs of German-Jewish art collector

November 19, 2015

(JTA) — The Museum of Modern Art in New York will return a painting to the heirs of a German-Jewish art collector.

“Sand Hills,” a German Expressionist painting by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, will be returned to the heirs of Max...

Actress Zooey Deschanel converts to Judaism

November 09, 2015

(JTA) — Actress Zooey Deschanel has converted to Judaism.

Deschanel, the daughter of a Quaker and Roman Catholic, converted shortly before marrying producer Jacob Pechenik, Us Weekly reported Monday. The article did not say what denomination of rabbi supervised her...

’70s sitcom king Norman Lear on making TV that breaks ground

November 06, 2015

By CINDY SHER

CHICAGO (JUF News via JTA) — Norman Lear describes a lot of encounters in life as the “foolishness of the human condition” — and he’s examined that foolishness for nine decades and counting on television and off.

Real...

Ex-porn star Jenna Jameson to have reality show about her conversion to Judaism

October 28, 2015

(JTA) — Former porn star Jenna Jameson will be the subject of a reality show documenting her conversion to Judaism and her upcoming marriage in Israel.

Jameson’s Israeli fiance, diamond merchant Lior Bitton, told Israel’s Walla news that the show...