SLOVAKIAN FILM BROKEN PROMISES TO BE SHOWN AT CHAI TEA, NOV. 21
Toronto Jewish Film Festival presents Broken Promises, Slovakian director Jiri Chlumsky’s 2008 film about the experiences of a Slovakian Jewish boy and his family in Nazi work camps and then in the partisan underground. With a script that spans over a decade, Chlumsky captures an impressive 140 locations across four seasons, using a total of 130 actors. English subtitles. Chai Tea and a Movie, SilverCity Richmond Hill, 8725 Yonge St. (at Hwy 7). $15. Sunday Nov 21; tea 4 p.m., film 5 p.m. 416-599-8433. www.tjff.com
Media Mondays: Film critic Adam Nayman presents “Surfing the New Waves – Contemporary Foreign-Language Cinema,” with film clips. Nayman tries to define the term “new wave” as he discusses recent art-house exports from numerous countries. A new series going over six Mondays, starts Nov. 15, 7 to 9 p.m. First lecture on the origins of new-wave cinema. $12 drop in per lecture. 416-924-6211, ext. 606.
Awards & Prizes
• A book of selected poems by Ottawa-based poet Seymour Mayne as rendered into Hebrew by Moshe Dor has been chosen to receive the J.I. Segal Award for the translation of a book on a Jewish theme. The prize is being given to Fly Off Into the Strongest Light: Selected Poems (Keshev Publishing House) this week at the Gelber Conference Centre in Montreal.
• Toronto klezmer folk band Beyond the Pale has been nominated in four categories of the Canadian Folk Music Awards. The band consists of six musicians who play a mix of klezmer, Balkan, Romanian and other styles. The awards are scheduled for Nov. 20 in Winnipeg.
• On the international scene, a graphic novel rooted in the Holocaust won the grand prize at an international cartoon and comics festival. The Gateway to Zion, by Walter Chendi, was awarded the prize at the International Comics and Games festival in the Italian city of Lucca.
Arts in Brief
• Active Seniors at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre presents “Great Jewish Canadian Personalities – J. B. Salsberg.” Adam Fuerstenberg discusses the life and times of this colourful personality. Thursday, Nov. 18, 1:30 p.m. Refreshments. 416-924-6211, ext. 155.
• Harold Green Jewish Theatre presents Lenin’s Embalmers, an “absurdist, savagely funny dark comedy” about two Jewish scientists chosen to embalm Vladimir Lenin after his death in 1924. $49 to $76. Miles Nadal JCC, Al Green Theatre. Until Nov. 21. 416-366-7723. www.stlc.com
• Planet Music, Lectures on World Music for the Armchair Traveller. Series continues at Miles Nadal JCC, Nov. 11 & 18, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Drop-in for $18 per lecture. 416-924-6211, ext. 0.
• Toronto not-for-profit theatre company Steppin’ Out Theatrical Productions presents Oliver!, featuring a cast of local performers. The play is at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, Nov. 18 to 21. The company also presents a holiday show with the Renanim Youth Singers under the direction of Susan Michael and others, Dec. 2. www.steppinout.ca
• Dogs, a series of paintings by Julie Glick, is on view in the Jacobs Lounge Visual Art Space, Miles Nadal JCC, until Nov. 21.