Television

Multiply by Six Million
Evvy Eisen’s film based on her photography exhibit “The Legacy Project” includes 40 luminous black-and-white prints of Holocaust survivors (right) and the subjects’ narrations of their experiences of loss as well as lives rebuilt. “When the Holocaust survivors have all died, I hope the younger people will continue to tell our story…,” says one survivor. The 25-minute work premieres on the Sundance Channel on May 2 and will be rerun over two years; it is also available on DVD. Check local listingsmultiplybysixmillion@yahoo.com).
—Renata Polt

Exhibits

Sosúa: A Refuge for Jews in the Dominican Republic
The history of the 700 Jews of the Dominican Republic—the only country to welcome refugees from Nazism in 1938—and the agricultural settlement at Sosúa (above), an abandoned banana plantation they built into a thriving town, is explored with images, letters, maps, religious artifacts and German sheet music (“I Lost My Heart in Heidelberg”). Former urbanites, Jews were unprepared for the tropics, though they eventually inegrated into island life. Until July 25 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage–A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, New York ( www.mjhnyc.org).
—Rahel Musleah

Dry Tears: An Installation by Rosalyn Engelman

Inspired by the 1941 Nazi pogrom in Babi Yar, Engelman calls this mixed-media exhibit her “silent scream against man’s in­humanity to man.” The works include seven sculptures (left), eight paintings and barbed wire, railroad ties, chains, nails and newspaper articles. From May 14 to July 7 at the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion Mu­seum, New York(www.huc.edu/museums).

—Stewart Kampel

Recordings

Streams in the Desert
Composer Meira Warshauer’s glorious interpretation of the Shabbat morning service (“Shaharit”) for orchestra and chorus is lush, powerful and moving—from the dramatic cadences of “Sh’ma” to the tender strains of “Oseh Shalom.” With the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Philharmonic Chorus and soloists; Kirk Trevor, conductor (www.albanyrecords.com).
—R.M.

Borsht with Bread, Brothers: Klezmer
Yale Strom & Hot Pstromi offer a rich and diverse collection—from militaristic (“Vemen Veln Mir Dinen, Brider,” from Russia) to ethereal (“Szol a Kakos Mar,” Hungarian Hasidic by way of Roma) to dance (“Oberek Palota,” Slovakian-Polish) to prayerful (“Ki Onu Amekho,” Ger Hasidim) as well as a wedding niggun from Germany. ARC Music ( www.arcmusic.co.uk).
—Zelda Shluker

Film

Praying With Lior
This tender portrait of Lior Lieb­ling (right), his family and com­mun­ity shows that Down syn­drome does­ not stop a young man from having a joyous bar mitzva. From the time he is a toddler in his moth­er, Devorah’s, lap, Lior davens with abandon. Though she dies when he is 6, Devorah’s spirit hovers over this award-winning documentary directed by Ilana Trachtman. Keep tissues handy. First Run Features (www.prayingwithlior.com).
—R.M.

Fugitive Pieces
After his family is murdered in World War II, Jakob, a Po­lish Jewish child, is spirited out of the country by a Greek archaeologist. Though protected and loved, Jakob grows up facing the agony of his past. The film cannot capture the lyrical language of Anne Mi­chael’s novel, on which it is based, but the reordering of past and present events give it a more unified feel­ing. IDP/ Samuel Gold­wyn Films (www.samuelgoldwynfilms.com).
—Z.S.

More Than 1,000 Words
Beneath the clichés, truisms and convictions the West has about Israel lies a terrifying reality lived every day by people on both banks. This award-winning documentary about photojournalist Ziv Koren lays bare that reality. Koren and filmmaker Solo Avital produce work of such exceptional quality that this film is one that (pardon the cliché) is a must see. Telepool Films (www.telepool.com).
—Judith Gelman Myers

House of Life: The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague
Replete with legends, Prague’s cemetery (left) is where travelers en­coun­ter old souls whose graves are piled 12 layers high. Allan Miller and Mark Podwal’s documentary provides historical background, and current interviews reveal a mystical city and its claim to fame—Rabbi Judah Loew’s golem. The Music Project for Television (www.houseoflifefilm.com).
—Sara Trappler Spielman

Constantine’s Sword
Former priest James Carroll and director Oren Jacoby travel the world to explore Church-sanctioned persecution of Jews and Muslims from the rise of Emperor Con­stantine. As the film, based on Carroll’s book of the same name, looks at modern-day religious fanaticism and evangelical proselytizing, the author questions how religion and freedom of belief can coexist. First Run Features (www.constantinessword.com).
—Susan Adler

DVD

Campus Battleground
“Is there hope?” a student at the Uni­versity of California, Berkeley, asks in Bill Jersey’s documentary. Still, des­pite expected confrontations—especially at talks by anti-Zionist Norman Finkelstein and pro-Zionist Alan Dershowitz at Columbia Uni­ver­sity in New York—there is no violence. In fact, several dialogues lead, if not to cooperation, to a degree of understanding. Quest Productions (www.questprod.com).
—R.P.

His People 
In Edward Sloman’s 1925 drama of family love and loyalty (left), Papa throws one son out because he’s be­come a boxer, yet it is his up-and-coming lawyer son who tells his boss and fi­ancée he’s an orphan. Happily, Papa reevaluates his values, but not before the plot takes some unexpected turns. National Center for Jewish Film (www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm).
—R.P.

Web Sighting
An abundance of sites herald Is­rael’s 60th anniversary. Both the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Conservative movement list upcoming events. The JAFI’s www.60israel.org includes children’s programs, while the Conservative www.israelanniversary.org links to educational material throughout the Web. For a look at the Jewish state’s achievements, try www.israelcelebrates60.com or a blog from the World Zionist Organization, www.israelatsixty.org.il, which focuses on news and opinions.
—Leah F. Finkelshteyn