While the Academy Awards buzz was mostly about “Oppenheimer” and “Poor Things,” a smaller film starring Anthony Hopkins – “One Life” – was also released in 2023 and distributed nationally this past month. Starring Sir Anthony Hopkins as the aged Nicholas Winton, the now 86-year-old actor delivers a deliberate and understated performance on celluloid that is truly worthy of being seen.
(JTA) — More than 150 Jewish filmmakers, writers, actors, and creatives — including Oscar nominees and winners — have signed an open letter in support of director Jonathan Glazer’s acceptance speech at the 2024 Academy Awards.
Glazer, whose Holocaust movie “The Zone of Interest” won best international feature, used his speech to denounce Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, which he said had led to “dehumanization” that had...
LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Steven Spielberg warned that “the machinery of extremism is being used on college campuses” and lamented those killed in Israel and Gaza while being honored for his Holocaust remembrance work at the University of Southern California.
The renowned Jewish filmmaker spoke at a ceremony Monday afternoon in which USC bestowed its prestigious University Medallion on the 56,000 Holocaust survivors who have provided testimony...
(JTA) – More than 1,200 Jewish Hollywood creatives have signed onto a statement rejecting the speech criticizing Israel by “The Zone of Interest” director Jonathan Glazer at this month’s Academy Awards.
The signatories include “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” writer Amy Sherman-Palladino, horror director Eli Roth and actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, as well as several show-business figures — Debra Messing, Brett Gelman, Michael Rappaport and others — who...
(JTA) — A Jewish executive producer of the Oscar-winning Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest” said he disagreed with director Jonathan Glazer’s speech at the Academy Awards ceremony criticizing Israel, while the Auschwitz Memorial issued a statement in its defense.
They were the latest reactions in what has become a prolonged firestorm over Glazer’s remarks Sunday. While accepting the best international feature award, the British Jewish filmmaker...
(JTA) – More than 80 bands and several scheduled panelists have pulled out of the ongoing South by Southwest festival, citing Israel defense ties among its organizers.
Organizers of the Austin, Texas, event that draws attendees from around the world have threatened legal action against the boycott’s leaders. But they also said on Tuesday that they “fully respect” the boycott.
(JTA) – In the wake of the Oscars, Hollywood has been treated to a rare spectacle: Jewish communal leaders attacking the Jewish director of an award-winning Holocaust movie.
The Anti-Defamation League and an organization representing Holocaust survivors are among those now angry with Jonathan Glazer, the British Jewish filmmaker behind the widely acclaimed drama “The Zone of Interest,” which is set in Auschwitz. During his acceptance speech...
(JTA) – As widely predicted, “Oppenheimer,” the biopic of Jewish nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, swept a number of categories at Sunday’s Oscars, including best picture, in a year unusually heavy with Jewish nominees.
But the most talked-about Jewish moment of the night came courtesy of Jonathan Glazer, writer-director of the cerebral Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest,” who used his acceptance speech to comment on the...
Cantor Rebecca Garfein took the opportunity to show her talented secular side at the Temple Sinai Gala this past Sunday, keeping the banter on the microphone lively as she described much of her life through song.
Accompanying the cantor on piano and providing the arrangements for the songs she sang was her longtime collaborator Bob Egan, who flew in from his residence in New Hope, Pennsylvania to...
(JTA) — David Draiman, the Jewish frontman of heavy metal band Disturbed, is raising money to provide private security for Matisyahu after the Jewish reggae singer had two venues cancel on him in the face of pro-Palestinian protests.
“I’m raising funds to provide security for our brother @matisyahu,” Draiman, the heavy metal singer, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Him and his family have been relentlessly harassed during...
