Jewish Film Festival Opens in Beverly Hills

Several hundred people made their way to the Writers Guild Theater on Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills on Thursday night for the opening of the 6th Annual Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival.

The festival, which runs through May 12, is presenting more than 25 Jewish-themed films from around the world at 10 cinemas across the Los Angeles area.

On opening night, guests mingled in the foyer snacking on tacos from the Takosher truck, while several celebrities walked the red carpet, including astronaut Buzz Aldrin and his wife Lois, American Idol season nine competitor Tim Urban, Israeli actress Moran Atia and 10-year-old guitar prodigy Nik Kai.

Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Koretz presented a proclamation to the festival on behalf of the city and told attendees, “[The LA Jewish Film Festival] is a great program which raises awareness of our diversity and humanity. It creates a unique opportunity to take pride in our Jewish culture, heritage and way of life.”

Festival founder and director Hilary Helstein (a renowned filmmaker in her own right), chose to open the weeklong festival with Dan Cohen’s An Article of Hope, a documentary about Israel’s first astronaut, Col. Ilan Ramon, and the impossibly tiny Torah given to a Holocaust survivor that he took into space with him.

Ramon was killed Feb. 1, 2003, along with six other astronauts when the Space Shuttle Columbia exploded over Texas upon re-entry.

Despite the tragedy of the loss of the astronauts, An Article of Hope is an uplifting film, as viewers learn the story of how Ramon came to choose that tiny scroll to take aboard.

Ramon had struggled with choosing what items to take into space to represent Israel and the entire Jewish people. Joachim (Yoya) Joseph, a scientist working with Ramon in Israel, told him the story of how the tiny scroll had been smuggled into Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by a rabbi who had been in Joseph's barracks. As Joseph had approached the age of 13 the rabbi taught him his bar mitzvah Torah portion from the tiny scroll. He handed the scroll to Joseph as a gift and told him if he were to get out alive, he should tell the world what happened in the camps.

The film delves into not only the journey of that scroll from the depths of hell to the heights of space, but into Ramon’s early life as a fighter pilot in Israel and the bonds he forged with the rest of the Columbia crew.

Helstein reportedly had a difficult time deciding upon which film to screen at the opening, but finally settled on An Article of Hope, which happened to be screened on May 5, 2011—50 years to the day that Alan Shepard became the first American in space.

After the screening, Cohen spoke briefly with Patch before taking part in a Q&A session alongside Article producer Dr. Christopher Cowan and Peter Diamandis, a shuttle astronaut and founder and chairman of the XPrize foundation for space initiatives.

Cohen stumbled across the story of the Torah scroll in the Style section of The Washington Post almost seven years ago. He told Patch he was drawn to Ramon’s story “because I have a passion for space exploration and I saw this as a new way to tell a Holocaust story.”

During the Q&A Cohen said, “[This film] began by me trying to tell a Holocaust story and became the story of three men (the rabbi, Joseph and Ramon) who were tied together and the relationships of the Columbia crew.”

Among the highlights of the evening was when Aldrin received a prolonged standing ovation. In an impromptu address, Aldrin said, “I am so moved not just by the spirituality these men and Ilan had. The humanity he had and the way this crew faced their mission is something that needs to be seen by so many people.”

For a schedule of films and venues for the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival, click here.

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