Lectures, Courses & Their Recordings
2023

ur guest speaker, Fred Rosenbaum, talked on the history of Hungarian Jews on Thursday, November 2. The 1999 drama Gloomy Sunday was available for streaming October 30 through November 5. Both the film and Fred's talk were part of the IJWC year-round programming 2023-24.

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The program was sponsored by the EBIJFF in partnership with the CCJCC, Congregation B'nai Shalom, and Diablo Valley Hadassah.

Most likely you remember the 1989 classic Driving Miss Daisy starring Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy and Dan Aykroyd. The film takes place in 1950s Atlanta. On Thursday, September 7, award-winning historian Fred Rosenbaum explored Black-Jewish relations in America's South. This talk was part of the IJWC year-round programming 2022-2023.

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This program was sponsored by the Independent Jewish World Cinema. Co-sponsor: CCJCC, Congregation B'nai Shalom and Diablo Valley Hadassah.

Christopher Nolan’s film “Oppenheimer” opened in theaters. It tells part of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s story and his role in making the atomic bomb. However, there is much more to learn. Tom Ramos, from Lawrence Livermore National Lab, spoke about Oppenheimer’s work before and after the bomb, as well as telling us about the many Jewish scientists who participated. Those Jewish scientists, many of them fleeing the Nazis (and later, Stalin), worked with Oppenheimer, and also with the beginnings of the “Rad Lab” & Livermore Lab. Tom is a physicist whose work at LLNL spans 40 years, including the team that developed the X-Ray laser and is the author of “From Berkeley to Berlin: How the Rad Lab Helped Avert Nuclear War.”

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This program was sponsored by Congregation Beth Emek. Co-sponsors: Independent Jewish World Cinema and the EBIJFF and the  CCJCC.

On Thursday, June 8, EBIJFF Director Riva Gambert explored how The Third Reich fought Hollywood even before WWII broke out and used cinema in its war against the Jewish people. Speer Goes to Hollywood was available for streaming June 6 through June 10. Both the film and the talk were part of the IJWC year-round programming 2022-23.

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This program was sponsored by the Independent Jewish World Cinema. Co-sponsor: CCJCC, Congregation B'nai Shalom and Diablo Valley Hadassah.

On Thursday, May 18, Joseph Samuels, who was born in the Jewish Quarter of the old city of Baghdad, shared a very personal presentation via Zoom. 2014 drama The Dove Flyer was available for streaming May 16 through May 20. Both the film and the talk were part of the IJWC year-round programming 2022-23.

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This program was sponsored by the Independent Jewish World Cinema in partnership with JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa). Co-sponsored by CCJCC, Congregation B'nai Shalom and Diablo Valley Hadassah.

Greg Laemmle is the President of Laemmle Theaters, a family-owned and operated company which has been exhibiting movies in Los Angeles since 1938. The chain was started by Greg's grandfather Max and his brother Kurt. Both Max and Kurt got their start in the industry working for Carl Laemmle, the legendary founder of Universal Studios, who was their father's first cousin. Greg is the third generation to run the company, having taken over in 2004 from his father Robert. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Greg is one of less than a handful of exhibitors honored with membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Eran Kaplan is the Rhoda and Richard Goldman Chair in Israel Studies at SF State. He received his B.A. (magna cum laude) from Tel Aviv University and his Ph.D. in Modern Jewish History from Brandeis University. Before coming to San Francisco, he taught at Princeton, Cincinnati, and Toronto.In addition to his scholarly publications, he contributed articles to Haaretz and Tikkun. At SF State, Professor Kaplan teaches courses on Modern Israel, the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Israeli Cinema, Modern Hebrew Culture and the History of Jerusalem.

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The director of Schachten, Thomas Roth, was born in 1965 in Graz, Austria. He is also a screenwriter and is known internationally for directing episodes of TV series Trautmann, Tatort, and Wolfgang Bauer. 

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Gioia is the author of three historical novels, four biographies, and a play. Her writing, which focuses on women's lives, has been praised for combining rich storytelling and literary grace with deep research to bring alive worlds as varied as Jazz Age Paris and nineteenth century Chicago, Belle Epoque Paris and disco era Manhattan. As a journalist, Gioia has written for many publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian, Town & Country, and Vanity Fair. She also teaches writing and has taught at the Savannah College of Art and Design and DePaul and Northwestern Universities.

Jake Marmer is a poet, performer, and educator. He is the author of three poetry collections: Cosmic Diaspora

(Station Hill Press, 2020), as well as The Neighbor Out of Sound (2018) and Jazz Talmud (2012), both from The Sheep Meadow Press. He also released two klez-jazz-poetry records: Purple Tentacles of Thought and Desire

(2020, with Cosmic Diaspora Trio), and Hermeneutic Stomp (Blue Fringe Music, 2013). Jake is the poetry critic for Tablet Magazine. Born in the provincial steppes of Ukraine, in a city that was renamed four times in the past 100 years, Jake moved to the US when he was 15. His family still lives in Ukraine.

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Author and historian Fred Rosenbaum grew up in Queens, New York in a family that was "marked by the Holocaust". His mother fled Poland and escaped to the United States. His father had earlier emigrated from Poland and became a sergeant in the United States Army, and fought in Europe during World War II. Rosenbaum earned a bachelor's degree at Washington University in St. Louis in 1968, and then studied the history of Nazi Germany as a Fulbright fellow in West Germany. He earned a master's degree in European history at the University of California Berkeley. He was the founder of Lehrhaus Judaica (now functioning as New Lehrhaus) in Berkeley, California.

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Jake Marmer is a poet, performer, and educator. He is the author of three poetry collections: Cosmic Diaspora

(Station Hill Press, 2020), as well as The Neighbor Out of Sound (2018) and Jazz Talmud (2012), both from The Sheep Meadow Press. He also released two klez-jazz-poetry records: Purple Tentacles of Thought and Desire

(2020, with Cosmic Diaspora Trio), and Hermeneutic Stomp (Blue Fringe Music, 2013). Jake is the poetry critic for Tablet Magazine. Born in the provincial steppes of Ukraine, in a city that was renamed four times in the past 100 years, Jake moved to the US when he was 15. His family still lives in Ukraine.

Author and historian Fred Rosenbaum grew up in Queens, New York in a family that was "marked by the Holocaust". His mother fled Poland and escaped to the United States. His father had earlier emigrated from Poland and became a sergeant in the United States Army, and fought in Europe during World War II. Rosenbaum earned a bachelor's degree at Washington University in St. Louis in 1968, and then studied the history of Nazi Germany as a Fulbright fellow in West Germany. He earned a master's degree in European history at the University of California Berkeley. He was the founder of Lehrhaus Judaica (now functioning as New Lehrhaus) in Berkeley, California.

Eran Kaplan is the Rhoda and Richard Goldman Chair in Israel Studies at SF State. He received his B.A. (magna cum laude) from Tel Aviv University and his Ph.D. in Modern Jewish History from Brandeis University. Before coming to San Francisco, he taught at Princeton, Cincinnati, and Toronto.In addition to his scholarly publications, he contributed articles to Haaretz and Tikkun. At SF State, Professor Kaplan teaches courses on Modern Israel, the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Israeli Cinema, Modern Hebrew Culture and the History of Jerusalem.

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On Thursday, April 20, award-winning author and historian Fred Rosenbaum returned with another in the series, Around the World with Fred. Rosenbaum explored the history of the Jews of Norway and the impact of WWII on the community. The 2021 drama Betrayed was available for streaming April 16 through April 20. Both the film and Fred's talk were part of the IJWC year-round programming 2022-23.

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This program was sponsored by the Independent Jewish World Cinema. Co-sponsors were: CCJCC, Cong. B'nai Shalom, Cong. B'nai Tikvah, and Diablo Valley Hadassah.

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This was a 3-part program on the Ethiopian Jewish Community. The film Exodus 91, along with the companion short documentary Tzvika streamed for five days beginning January 12, 2023. At the end of the film Tzvika, we shared a pre-recorded interview with Ethiopian Israeli dancer Tzivka Iskias on his life and career since the documentary was made. This interview is now available for viewing here. 

The streaming of the films and the speakers are sponsored by the EBIJFF in partnership with the CCJCC and Cong. B'nai Shalom.

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Underwritten by the Goodman Family Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund.

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