Film, Courage, and Connection: The Heart of the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival

Arnold00:00:01

If you like the movies or film festivals, you need to get acquainted with the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival.At its heart, the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival is about bringing people together across generations, neighborhoods and perspectives to experience powerful stories that remind us of who we are and what we share. Next on St. Louis in Tune.Welcome to St. Louis in tune and thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts, community leaders, and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker along with co host Mark Langston. Greetings to you, Mark.

Mark00:00:51

Howdy,

Arnold00:00:53

Mini Pearl.

Arnold00:00:54

Howdy.

Mark00:00:55

How do.

Arnold00:00:56

But you don't have a price tag hanging from your headphones.

Mark00:00:59

Oh, I know. Mini Pearl, right? Was that who did it? Okay, I remember that now.

Arnold00:01:04

Good to see Mark.

Mark00:01:05

Good to see you. But good to be seen.

Arnold00:01:06

It is, right? And we are glad that you've joined us today, folks. We can't see you, but we can give you information.And we want to thank our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, for their support of the show. You can listen to previous shows@stl and tune.com where or you can follow us and even leave a review.Some are thought to ponder today is kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. Mark Twain.

Mark00:01:34

Oh, yeah. Hannibal Guy.

Arnold00:01:36

Hannibal Guy. Very interesting perspectives. Kindness goes a long way.

Mark00:01:40

Oh, boy. We could use more of it.

Arnold00:01:42

We can.

Mark00:01:43

I don't mean to sound preachy, but.

Arnold00:01:45

No, you can preach kindness all day long.

Mark00:01:47

Come on, a little bit more of that.

Arnold00:01:50

Especially on the roads.

Mark00:01:52

Yes.

Arnold00:01:53

I'm talking to myself too sometimes there.

Mark00:01:55

Are you?

Arnold00:01:55

Yes.

Mark00:01:56

Okay. Yeah, that happens when you get older, Arnold. You talk to yourself, you walk in a room, you forget why you came into that room.

Arnold00:02:02

Who are you?

Mark00:02:04

What was I doing here?

Arnold00:02:07

The person sitting across from me, we know who he is. He's John Wilson, cultural arts director at the Jewish Community Center.And he's here to give us the latest Lowdown on the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival, which is returning March 15th through the 26th. And it will be at the BNB Theaters in Creve Core six days. John, welcome back to St. Louis in Tune.

John00:02:27

Thank you so much. And thank you for that sparse applause.

Mark00:02:31

Yeah, that's sparse.

John00:02:32

Yep.

Arnold00:02:32

Yeah, that's the pistachio gallery.

John00:02:34

Hoping for the standing O. But I guess I gotta earn that.

Mark00:02:37

All right, guys, let's pick it up here.

John00:02:38

All right. All right.

Arnold00:02:39

There they go.

John00:02:40

Thank you. Hey, happy to be here. Tip don't forget to tip your waiter.

Mark00:02:43

I'll be here and your bartenders for

John00:02:45

the next half hour.

Arnold00:02:47

So, more than movies, what? Give us a little lowdown on the Jewish Film Festival, just to start, and then we'll get into. Because the series that you have here is just crazy.Unbelievable.

John00:02:57

Yeah, it is really good this year, and this is our 31st year. Doing that was one of my questions.

Mark00:03:04

How many years? 31 years.

John00:03:06

31.

Mark00:03:07

How long have you been doing it?

John00:03:08

I've only been doing it for three.

Mark00:03:10

Wow.

John00:03:11

Yeah. Okay, so I came in January of 2023, and I just fell in love with it right away. And what you said, even in your preview, it is more than movies.That's our. That's our tagline this year. But it's really about connecting.Connecting people and getting people out of their homes and getting them into one space and watching some incredible cinema together and feeling all the feels and having the conversations and really feel like you're at a place of connection and belonging. And that, to me, is what the festival is always about.It's like, the movies are great and we try and provide, like, fantastic movies from every genre, but it's really about who you're sitting next to. And if you came with a friend, you came by yourself. You meet a stranger, you're with your family, whatever it is.But it is a chance to, like, communally take in any given story and then leave us something on your heart that you want to share.

Arnold00:04:09

And there are. It's just not films because you have people come in and do some talks. There's even a group doing it. Gonna do a performance before one of the shows.

John00:04:18

That was Sugihara, which was our festival preview event.

Arnold00:04:22

Okay.

John00:04:23

And that was in late February.

Arnold00:04:24

Okay. Yeah, so we missed that one.

John00:04:26

Yeah, we missed that one. But we had the Asuwa Taiko drumming group come in and rattle our bones in this, like 10 minute performance. It was so cool.If you wanted to make sure, like your eardrums and your heart. Val. All working. You had every opportunity to feel them all working.

Arnold00:04:45

I have to turn my hearing aids off.

John00:04:48

It was awesome. It was so good.

Arnold00:04:50

But there's people that come in and they do talk about the films. Are these like director types? Are these editors or who are they?

John00:04:56

Yeah, for our opening day, we're doing this really amazing documentary called for the Living. And they.Man, they do this whole, like, large umbrella, 30,000 foot view on dehumanization and genocide throughout the ages through just all these multiple eras. And then they start to narrow that down to the Holocaust.And then they start following this one particular story of a Holocaust survivor who walked from Auschwitz to Krakow. And that has become a commemorative bike ride. And then the story switches to that bike ride and the people that participate in it.And so the executive, that film, as well as the writer and co director are coming. And so they're going to talk about that in a live Q and A.

Arnold00:05:46

Interesting. Yeah. So I was going to ask, is it a Q and A or is it just a lecture kind of thing?

John00:05:51

It'll be very interactive. They might say a few words in the beginning, but we'll quickly get to questions because this will be post film and people will want to ask them.Yeah, all sorts of stuff.

Arnold00:06:01

Let's get into the. I guess what I would call all of the details and the festival experience and the lineup that you have.That's the word I was looking for, the lineup that you have. You start out, what, Sunday, March 15, with this for the Living, which is the one you were talking about, right?

John00:06:17

Yeah. Really fantastic. Our opening day always comes with a reception as well, in between both films.So you could come early in the 5 o' clock hour to the reception and stay for Nuremberg. You could come to for the Living and stay for the reception.And obviously we want people to spend the day with us, come to both and get fueled up with the reception between those films. Yeah, Opening day is always a really exciting way to kick off.And Nuremberg being our 7pm feature that did play in St. Louis, huge blockbuster film with Russell Crowe and so many other stars. But our unofficial polling, we just found out that a lot of people ended up missing it.And even though it's available online, I have to encourage people this is not a film you want to watch on your television.As far as the impact of it, we're going to be in the grand screen, that 195 seat theater that has a screen that is as far as the east is from the west. It's just like this thing is huge and is such an amazing experience watching film on that screen. And Nuremberg's gonna play amazing on that.

Arnold00:07:24

Yeah. I was gonna say sometimes films are meant to be seen on the big screen.

John00:07:28

Oh yeah.

Mark00:07:28

I miss the Nuremberg too. Be a good one to see.

Arnold00:07:31

I do too. Yeah.

John00:07:32

See, there you go.

Mark00:07:33

Yeah.

Arnold00:07:34

So Sunday, March 15, you got the for the living at 3pm and then at 7pm you have Nuremberg and that's from remembrance to reckoning. And then Tuesday. I like the way you do this.And you explained this I think last time that you sometimes it was just bombarded with films all in one day, and now you're doing two and given a little breather in between because people can only absorb so much.

John00:07:59

Right.

Arnold00:08:00

So let's talk about Tuesday. Bearing Witness and Choosing Courage is the theme.

John00:08:04

Yeah.And just even from the thematic standpoint, that's really been something that has developed over the last couple of years where we try and categorize certain days to be a certain theme, and that's just been fun to put that kind of stuff together.But with Bearing Witness, Choosing Courage, we start with the Elie Wiesel film Soul on Fire, looking at his career as an outspoken Holocaust survivor, his activism. But this takes you behind the scenes, and it's just a really, like, you learn stuff about him that you. That none of us really ever knew.And a lot of it is narrated by him from the book that he wrote and just other interviews and things like you hear his voice throughout the film. And afterwards, we've got Aaron McLaughlin, Professor Erin McLaughlin from WashU, who's a Holocaust studies professor and expert.And she was actually. She says, if you blink, you'll miss me. But she actually has a small moment in the film itself, so she's very familiar with this particular film.So she's going to talk to us afterwards.

Arnold00:09:11

Mark, I want to make. Insert a comment here that when we were in high school, there were many of our classmates whose parents were Holocaust survivors.

Mark00:09:21

Yeah.

Arnold00:09:22

And whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors. And I never really realized that. I never really wrapped my brain around that. But obviously they lived that. And every day they.And that was something that they didn't mention, but it was something that was a part of who they were.

Mark00:09:40

Yeah. University City, we're from, which is. Has a large Jewish population.My dad was in World War II, and he would talk about it, and he had photographs from it that were just. And I still have them. They're terrible. Just terrible what happened then. Hope we never repeat it. Sometimes I worry about that, though.But, yeah, we never had. I had so many Jewish friends. They would walk to temple on Saturdays, and it was just like. It was the culture that was there with us as we grew up.But never, like you say, Arnold never really plugged into what had happened. And it wasn't that long ago when we were young, like that. It was like 20 years ago, maybe 30 at the most. So really was.It still hasn't been that long ago.

Arnold00:10:26

No.

Mark00:10:27

So, yeah. It's amazing how I guess when you're young and you haven't experienced it, people just don't get it. They don't get.They don't understand that that happened.

Arnold00:10:36

I think age also has a way of bringing a perspective on history and the impact that it has on our lives. We didn't experience back then because executive function hadn't kicked in yet.

Mark00:10:48

And this festival is so great because it does attack some of the Nazi ism and stuff that was happening in a good way. Lets us understand it a little bit more.

John00:10:58

The other thing that it does is it really challenges us in every generation.When you watch a film and you see the courage of the people that decided to protect Jewish people and at what cost and sacrifices they had to make to do that, it absolutely just suddenly turns the mirror right back on you. And you have to ask yourself, what would I have done in a situation like that?And would I have been in that bold and to your point, Mark, will I be that bold if something like this starts to happen again? And that's made me think of Frontier, which is our 7pm film on that Tuesday in the bearing Witness. Choosing Courage Day.And Frontier is about this small town on the border of Spain and France and how people in Spain were watching Jews fleeing France and coming crossing at their border and the Nazis started to close in and start to understand that there could be some Jews hiding in this area and just what the people of that town were doing to keep them safe and to keep them hidden. It's a remarkable film.

Arnold00:12:07

And that's an interesting comment that John makes because we all know about Schindler's List and we also did a show on.The name escapes me right now, but she was a nurse in Poland and she helped children out of the country one by one, one by one, one by one and was unknown. And then you have this frontier where people fleeing from Spain into Spain, from Spain and France.You have the initial one where the Japanese ambassador was signing visas for people coming out of Russia to come to Japan. You don't hear about those particular things. And those are the things that, you know, that particular gentleman I saw that preview he saved.There are 40,000 people who are alive today because of what he did. And that is just crazy.

Mark00:12:56

Choosing Courage. Yes, it really is. Choosing courage, hard thing to do.

John00:13:01

And I know I've only been doing it for three years, but I am amazed when I'm watching films that ultimately we're curating these final 12. I'm amazed at the stories that I hear that I never knew. And it happens even in the films that we don't choose.There's a Lot of great film we have to leave on the floor because we just really only have room for 12. And every single year I am watching and hearing stories that I had no clue about different people's heroism or just. It's.History is such a multifaceted diamond.And there are just like every time I turn that part of history in front of me through film, I'm learning just like a multiplicity of facts in that historical genre that I. I never knew. And it's just fascinating.

Arnold00:13:49

That's one reason, folks, you need to attend this Jewish Film festival. This Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of St. Louis in Tune. We're talking to John Wilson. He's. Gosh, John, what's your title again?

John00:14:00

Senior Director of Cultural Arts.

Arnold00:14:05

Senior Director of Cultural.

Mark00:14:07

Look like a senior to me. But that's all right.

John00:14:09

Hey, I appreciate that. I appreciate that.

Arnold00:14:11

At the Jewish Community center and the Jewish film festival is March 15th to the 26th. And John, where can people get tickets? We're going to keep going, but where can people get tickets?

John00:14:23

Yeah, so you can get them online super, super easily at STL. Jewish film festival.org you can also call our box office at 314442, 3179. And Alex, our box office manager, will take care of you.

Arnold00:14:44

Okay, very good. We'll repeat that throughout the show. Irena Sendler, she's the one who saved 2500 Jewish children during the Holocaust.We did an interview about her story.

Mark00:14:55

I noticed that quite a few of these films are in other languages and then made into English or.

John00:15:03

Listen, this is. That is very common. Our St. Louis Jewish film Festival isn't international film festival.I would say that often half, sometimes even more than half of our films are coming from other countries and are in foreign languages with English subtitles. We try and strike a really good balance that. And I think this year it's. I think it's actually 50%. We've got 50% English and 50% foreign film.

Arnold00:15:28

And I think more people are at least. I like subtitles, even in English, especially the Brave. You know, my hearing.

Mark00:15:37

And as you get older, you want to. It's better, you understand.

Arnold00:15:40

I want to be able to understand what they're saying.

Mark00:15:42

I know and I do. I use subtitles a lot lately, too. And I know a lot of young folks that do. Young.

Arnold00:15:47

That's because they've blown their ears out with their.

Mark00:15:50

Okay, that's right. It's a whole other show. That's true.

John00:15:54

That's right.

Arnold00:15:54

They don't know anything. So Women under The Reich Thursday, March 19 yes.

John00:16:02

So we've got two amazing films and I'm going to pivot to the 7pm film Vindicta and talk about that first, because what's not in our brochure but is on our website is Vindicta is actually being shown twice. And on Wednesday, March 18, it's premiering at the Alamo Drafthouse. So we.It's been my ambition to try and expand the Jewish Film Festival into other communities, increase our footprint.And so we're really trying to get our midtown neighbors, who I think understandably sometimes don't want to drive all the way out to creve core, especially for an evening film, and then have to drive back home.So I'm dipping my toe into the waters of expansion and we're going to do Vindicta at the Alamo Drafthouse on the 18th, a 7pm film and just really hoping that we will get not only our Jewish community that's embedded there, but as always, our non Jewish community. We're very eclectic in that regard. And this is the film to do it with. So Vindicta is. It hasn't been released anywhere yet.It's not streaming, it hasn't made any kind of premiere. It's only being limited release to certain festivals. And so we got a hold of it and this is a collection.There were women who went rogue and tried to do everything they could to resist the Nazis and even bring a little bit of harm and destruction on their own. Whether that was first in self defense and then it became an offense.And so a lot of the stories have been collected into this single narrative of this woman.So it's based on a number of true stories, but the narrative is about this woman who single handedly by herself starts to isolate Nazis in her community one on one and take them out. And it's like Lara Croft, Laura Croft meets the Nazis. And it's cool. It's probably our most. When I say bloody film, I don't want to scare anyone away.It's not so graphic that you have to look away, but it's just. It's got some realism to it and some psychological realism too.It's like sometimes you're not sure you're completely on her side because she's also filled with a lot of rage because of an experience that she has at the beginning of the film that kind of sends her in this direction.So that's the midtown film on the 18th and then we'll take a second look at it on the 19th with the 7pm film showing of Vindicta in Our Women under the Reich. But at 3pm, I don't know if you guys ever knew this. This is based on absolute truth. The tasters. Hitler had a hideout in the woods.He moved around, and in one of the areas in which he was hiding and encamped, they took women from the nearest nearby village and forced them to be food tasters for him. Because the one thing Hitler was incredibly paranoid about was being poisoned that someone would come against him.And so he always had people tasting his food first. And so this is a story about the women.

Arnold00:19:16

What a sick puppy.

John00:19:17

I know.

Mark00:19:18

Oh, yeah.

John00:19:19

And so that's, like I said earlier, one of those stories, like I had.

Mark00:19:24

No.

John00:19:25

And it is so well written and directed and acted and the intrigue that exists between the women themselves and the relationships that the women have with their Nazi guards. It's. Man, it's so good.

Mark00:19:38

Wow.

Arnold00:19:38

I want to mention, you don't have to be Jewish to go to the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival.

John00:19:42

No, no. You just have to be. You have to be human and breathing and want to learn about amazing stuff.

Arnold00:19:49

Just putting that out there, folks. Just putting that out there. Gosh. Okay. And we move to Sunday, March 22, where you have love, legacy and moral choice.I love these titles because what it does is it.And you mentioned this, John, it's making people look in the mirror of where an individual is at the time where they're confronted with this information. Now, what do you do? If you were in this situation, what would you do? And you may get into a situation similar. What are you going to do?Because we don't think this will never happen to us. We live in the United States of America. We live in the middle of the country. Nothing's ever going to happen here.

Mark00:20:32

Wrong.

John00:20:34

Yeah. This first film on Sunday, March 22nd at 3pm, the Pianist's Choice. This is just. Okay. So artistically, this is like a beautiful film.This is so well done. The music in this film is just gorgeous. But the basic plot line is that a young gentile boy is learning piano from a Jewish piano teacher.And 10, 12 years later, this is like in the early, late 20s, early 30s. And then he grows up and continue studying with her. And they fall in love just as World War II is breaking out.And so now they are romantically involved. And he's a gentile, she's a Jew. And he has to navigate as he learns, like, everything that's happening now from a gentile perspective.He has to, like, Totally find out what's his level of investment because this is the love of his life. What is he willing to give to do and willing to give? And so yeah, that's. It's an amazing, amazing story.I will use a hyperbole for every single film that we have that we talk about. I will say that it's wonderful. It's amazing. Never before seen. Just because I.We watch 75 to 80 films to come up with the 12 films that are in our film festival. So if you ask me. Yeah, but which one's the best or which one? Which one? If I can only see one, what should I see? Like why are you seeing one?Don't be dumb.

Arnold00:22:07

Like come see them all.

John00:22:09

See them all because they're just so good.

Mark00:22:12

Which kid is your favorite?

John00:22:14

No, that I can't answer.

Mark00:22:15

Oh great.

John00:22:15

No, I'm kidding.

Arnold00:22:17

On their birthday. He answers that you're my favorite.

John00:22:22

But we finally start to lighten some things up. So we've had, we've had some pretty heavy choices as we move through.As we get into the second week, we do start to lighten it up and I think that's also important. So our 7pm film on Sunday, the Ring, it's a film from Israel. It's in Hebrew with English subtitles.Adir Miller, very famous comedian and actor in Israel. He wrote, directed and stars in this film.And the basic plot line is that this main character's grandmother gave away a ring as kind of collateral to save her life during the war. And now his daughter is, is off looking for the Ring. Yeah, for the Ring. And they're a bit estranged. And so it's about how they come together.And so a few flashbacks into that World War II era, but a much more contemporary film. And so that's a. And it's fun, it's funny as well. It's got some nice light hearted moments.

Arnold00:23:20

Now let's remind people again, John, how they can get tickets.

John00:23:24

Yeah. Online we're at STL jewishfilmfestival.org and then 314-442-3-179 and let me mention at this juncture, Arnold and Mark, we have an all festival pass.And the all festival pass covers all 12 films and even the 13th film, the second showing of Vindicta at Alamo. If you have the all festival pass, you're saving like 110, $120 over. If you had bought these tickets individual.Our individual ticket prices went from $15 to $16. But our all festival pass stayed the same price as Last year. So a phenomenal deal. The all Festival Pass.Plus, this year we created the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival Passport. And it's like legit. It looks and feels like a real passport. It's got that blue alligator skin cover.We've got an all festival or a festival passport stamp. So you can get your pages stamped with each film that you see. It walks you through and asks you questions about the kind of film goer you are.And then on each page, you can be a critic, you can rate it, you can talk about your favorite moment, who you saw it with, what affected you the most. There's a place where you could get signatures from our guest speakers if you want to get an autograph.And if you buy the All Festival pass, you get the passport for free. So it's like a really good deal.

Arnold00:24:49

Cool.

John00:24:50

So I'm super excited to launch that this year. It's this interactive keepsake that we've created for the film festival.

Arnold00:24:56

Okay. St. Louisjewish film festival.org 314-442-3179. Also jccstl.com and just follow through there.

John00:25:07

Go to our arts and culture page and then just start. Just start looking for the film festival.

Arnold00:25:11

Okay. Family, faith and finding yourself. This is on Tuesday, March 24th.

John00:25:18

Yeah. We kick this off with Ethan Bloom, a brand new film starring Joshua Molina.And Joshua Molina was at our St. Louis Book Festival and speaker series in November. So he was here live in St. Louis just talking about what it's like being Jewish in Hollywood and just in the industry.And then at the time he was here, we in our little film festival committee, we were watching Ethan Bloom. And so I was like, this is really fun. And I actually had Joshua Molina, while he was here, record a, like an Instagram video for us.I told him, so we haven't actually chosen your film yet, but we're leaning in that direction. And he was so nice.He filmed one reel where he's talking about Ethan Blum, and then he even did a second reel, like just supporting the film festival in general. Like, it is nice. I was like, that was really nice. He was willing to do that. But we ultimately did choose it. A really fun family film.And it's basically about a young Jewish boy who's about to have his bar mitzvah and is secretly taking Catholic confirmation classes.

Mark00:26:25

All right, now you're talking.

John00:26:31

So super cute. Really fun, fun movie.

Mark00:26:34

It's hilarious.

John00:26:35

And then Once Upon My mother is our 7pm feature that night that's out of France.And this is a true story about this baby who was born with a club foot and the mother who was determined that he get mainstreamed, she was going to find a way for him to receive healing and she tried everything imaginable.And it's a truth, she said that the only day, the very first day you ever go to school, you won't go until you can walk, until you can walk to school.And so she was like absolutely determined to give him like a quote unquote normal life, a story just about the love of a mother for her child and the lengths to which someone will go to sacrifice their wealth and their time and everything, their health, just to make sure their children have the best life possible. Beautiful story and very funny. The mother is a riot. She's really funny. It's a, it's, that's a very uplifting film.

Arnold00:27:38

We've got more to go to, but let's take a quick break. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston of St. Louis and Tune. Don't go away because we have more of the St. Louis Jewish film Festival.

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Arnold00:28:49

Welcome back to St. Louis in Tune. This is Arnold Strucker with Mark Langston.We're talking to John Wilson about the Jewish Film festival here in St. Louis and I want to give you some information, folks. Go to STLJewishFilmFestival.org or you can go to JCCSTL.com and get information or the box office is 314-442-3179.This is a film festival that you do not want to miss. And we're kicking back off Here with love, loss and connection on Thursday, March 26th. So we.

John00:29:23

This is the last day of our film festival. We've seen all the sights, we've done all the things we felt, all the feels. And now we're going to bring it home with two of my favorite films.Both of these are just so delightful. Love, Statistically speaking at 3pm is a film from Israel. And it's about an actuary who, his wife passes away.And he has spent his whole life statistically predicting all these different things about just the human experience and how that leverages his own business and being an actuary and everything. And he starts to try and calculate, well, my wife did not die the way that I had predicted.And so now he's trying to figure out how much time he has left. But during this process, not only did he just lose his wife, he also loses all of her insurance money.And so his granddaughter shows up and she's dad, like I was going to. Some of that money was coming to me and I need that money. And what do you think happened?And they start to investigate everyone who is at this community center that they had belonged to.

Arnold00:30:40

And.

John00:30:40

And it just. They become like Laurel and Hardy, the two of them. And then all of these people that become these random suspects in their life.The whole thing is so ridiculous and really funny.And it's also heartwarming because once again, we have this estranged relationship between grandfather and granddaughter and we just get to see them find their way as well.

Arnold00:31:04

That's something that happens a lot in families, is an estrangement. For some reason, whether it's somebody didn't do something that was expected or did do something that was unexpected. And it's where it goes back to.Kindness goes a long way. And forgiveness. Forgiveness is not for the other person, folks. It's for you.

John00:31:25

Oh, yeah.

Arnold00:31:25

It's for you to let go. And you're not bound by chains of what that other person did to you.

Mark00:31:34

It's hard sometimes.

Arnold00:31:35

I won't.

Mark00:31:36

Kidding. Absolutely it is. I know it's a challenge sometimes too,

Arnold00:31:40

but you're right, estrangement is.

Mark00:31:42

It's terrible.

Arnold00:31:43

It's horrible. I've experienced that. My parents, I'm not going to mention, they're both gone. So it doesn't matter.My mother and her immediate family, her brother and what happened with their mother and other things that went on and the support of who you're going to support, you're going to support the family. You're going to support somebody who's outside the family. And what that does to a family. And I know I'm telling tales out of family here.They're all gone.

Mark00:32:11

That's all right.

John00:32:12

I get it.

Mark00:32:13

It's tough.

Arnold00:32:13

And people, I think nowadays there's even worse things that happen.

Mark00:32:18

Oh, yeah. And yeah. Throwing the family under the bus. Family is important. Everybody counts or nobody counts. Family counts a little more.

Arnold00:32:28

And I'll throw something else in is that people say your spouse is important, your kids are important, your parents are important. The people that you have spent the most time with in your life are your siblings.

Mark00:32:38

Yeah, yeah, that's true.

Arnold00:32:39

It's important to be close to your siblings, too. So I just thought I'd throw that in.As you mentioned, that with family dynamics and, you know, the finally getting back together and so love, loss and connection. That was the movie love, statistically speaking. But then you have another one in the evening.

John00:32:57

Yes. This is Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut.

Mark00:33:01

Oh, wow.

Arnold00:33:01

Shazam.

John00:33:02

Yeah.

Mark00:33:03

And in English too.

John00:33:04

Yeah. And she's directing June Squibb, this amazing actress in a film called Eleanor the Great. This is the other.Maybe not the blockbuster size of Nuremberg, but this is another, like, mainstream Hollywood film that did play in St. Louis for a short run. Again, my unofficial polling, I couldn't find really anyone who had seen it, never heard of it. And it is. Oh, my gosh. Okay, one.June Squibb is just outstanding, whether it's the comedy that she brings or just the ethos of the film. But she. She has a best friend who survived the Holocaust and they live together and they're.They're just these two friends who are doing life together. And that best friend very early on in the film passes away. And so Eleanor decides to relocate and she goes to Manhattan and joins A J.A Jewish community center and starts getting involved with some of their programs. I don't want to give too much away, but her.The narrative that she shares about who is taking a little bit more from her friend than necessarily her own experience. And so there is a pressure point on what is the truth that is starting to build and the tension is growing and it is.This is a feel good film and it is laugh out loud in many different moments. And it really is about who do we say that we are and how do we identify with just our own selves? What are the stories that we tell?Why do we tell the certain stories that we tell? And it's just Scarlett Johansson. I've seen her in plenty of films. She's quite the heavyweight actress as well.But she's, I think, she's just a heavyweight artist. Yeah. Because this film has just artistry stamped all over.

Mark00:35:02

Is she Jewish? Do we know? Not that it matters, but I'm just wondering. I don't know.

John00:35:07

Gosh, Mark, I should. Absolutely. There's a part of me that wants to say. Yes.

Mark00:35:12

I want to say that too, but.

John00:35:13

And I. Yeah, I feel like I read that somewhere.

Mark00:35:17

I feel like it. She is, but I. Yeah. Which would be even better. But it doesn't matter.

John00:35:21

No, it doesn't. I just wish I. I should know the answer.

Mark00:35:24

But that's a great thing.

John00:35:25

Yeah.

Mark00:35:26

Yeah. I. I want to see that for sure. I want to see what she's done with.

John00:35:30

Yes. It's, you know, directing.

Mark00:35:31

That's neat.

John00:35:32

Yes.

Mark00:35:33

That's her first film that she's ever directed.

John00:35:35

Yeah. Yeah.

Mark00:35:36

Wow. So much more to come, probably.

John00:35:39

Oh, I hope so. I hope so. If her first film is any indication of the story she wants to tell and the way that she wants to tell them. Yeah. Bring it on. Yeah.This is a fantastic closer to our festival. And that's another purposeful thing that our committee tries to do. What do we want to open with? How do we want to kick this off?What's the arc of the festival? What's the journey? Because we really do have a number of pass holders.We sold out nine films last year where we had to rent other auditoriums for the overflow, which is just one more call to get your passes, get your tickets. Because we do have. We have limits. Some room right now. Definitely limits. But we're trying to really think about the arc of the festival.And that ending film is. That's a really coveted spot that our committee looks at now.

Arnold00:36:26

Go into that. John, if you would. Let's get behind the scenes so people can understand. When does the committee meet often? Like, when are you planning next year's?How do you get films? You said you saw, what, 75 films? Something like that.

Mark00:36:39

Yeah.

Arnold00:36:40

Gosh. Where do you have the time to find.

Mark00:36:41

I don't know.

Arnold00:36:42

That's your job. So I guess you have to do that. That's a tough one.

Arnold00:36:45

Market.

John00:36:46

Yeah.

Mark00:36:46

That's a hard watch.

Arnold00:36:47

75 films. Yeah.

John00:36:48

Sometimes at work, I have to. A lot of popcorn, get some coffee and start watching movies in my office.

Arnold00:36:56

Boring.

John00:36:57

But it's my life.

Arnold00:36:58

Yeah. So you sit around the table and watch it. Do you watch them individually? Do you rate them? How do you rate them? What's your scale?Except what do you like and what

Mark00:37:05

kind of popcorn do you like?

John00:37:06

I'm not sure Yeah, I used to be a big butter fan, but I don't do the buttered popcorn anymore.

Mark00:37:10

That happens when you get older.

John00:37:12

Yeah, you just start to back off some of the excess. So how this works is I'm the main person that is contacting a bevy of international and national distributors.A lot of them can reach out to you, but you also form relationships with them and you can reach out to them. And you also have websites that you can peruse.You also, it's really good to look at what San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Atlanta Jewish Film Festival are doing, some of the bigger ones, and you start to hear certain titles that are resonating throughout the zeitgeist of one particular year. But what happens as far as the process is, we have about a 15 person committee, but a five person screening committee.So the screening committee is going to watch all 75 to 80 films. And there's some where you're really trying to tough it out just in case the film turns.Sometimes a film that does that isn't a great 20 minutes ends up being a film that makes it into the film festival just because it turned a corner and it was amazing. So you got to stick with them. So the screening committee, they all get the Olympic gold. They are, they're watching everything to the end.And then they will forward to the larger committee a number of films every month. Here's what we're thinking is worthy of consideration.

Arnold00:38:35

And when is this? During the year.

John00:38:37

So our festival right now happening at the end of this week in March, by April, we'll start watching film again.

Arnold00:38:45

Wow.

John00:38:45

And we will watch through. We will try and have a final discussion about the festival either mid December or early January.Because we've got to get ahead of the marking materials. The films that we choose, I've got to now confirm that those are going to be available with the distributors.I've got to pay our fees and all this kind of stuff. And we've got to start the marketing machine getting this beautiful brochure together, which doesn't happen overnight.So from about April to December, maybe early January.

Arnold00:39:15

Okay. So they're pushing that out to the rest of the committee. And the committee goes thumbs up, thumbs down.

John00:39:21

Everyone has a rubric, okay. I send a sheet out. They rank in all these different categories.And then we come together once a month with all of our notes and we just, one by one, we discuss films. And in the beginning, it's not necessarily about, oh, this is going to be in the festival. It's, this is good enough to hold for future consideration.In those early months. It's more about what are we just saying to.

Arnold00:39:43

That makes sense.

John00:39:44

And so we build a list of about.I'd say anywhere from a couple of dozen to 30ish films that we get into November, December, and we're like, okay, now we need to start thinking about genre categories, foreign films with subtitles versus English, and start, like, narrowing those 30 down to those final 12.And what will often happen in the month after the film festival, we're looking at some of those films that got left on the cutting room floor, so to speak, because we do leave some excellent films on the floor. For whatever reason, they didn't fit the

Arnold00:40:20

titles that you guys came up with or something.

John00:40:22

Yeah, it just didn't fit as an overall. It just didn't quite fit. Maybe it was a phenomenal drama, maybe it was a phenomenal holocaust drama. But we have three of those already.We don't want a fourth.We'll first return to a number of the films that didn't make it that we thought were really worthy and see do we still want to hold those on for consideration.

Arnold00:40:42

And.

John00:40:42

And then we'll start the process over.

Arnold00:40:44

Wow. And that's. In addition, as the director of cultural director, you've got the.The Jewish Book Festival, the Youth Theater, the Theater Unlimited, and the New Jewish Theater.

John00:40:58

Yeah.

Arnold00:40:59

That you also oversee, right?

John00:41:00

Yes, yes.

Arnold00:41:01

In your spare time.

John00:41:02

In my spare time. In my spare time. Yeah. It is. But you know what? I. So I am either thinking about literature, film, or theater every single day of the week at my job.

Arnold00:41:15

That's not a bad thing to think about.

John00:41:17

Diversity of just going. And I recently started doing some acting with the New Jewish Theater, and that was like my past. My decades passed.

Arnold00:41:29

You brought it back out.

John00:41:30

I was in their season Closer Baskerville, and now I'm in their season opener.

Arnold00:41:35

Gonna do any fight scenes or anything? You're gonna direct this.

John00:41:37

Hey, you know what? I just. Thank you. Thank you. Especially you in the blue. Thank you so much.So I just actually finished doing the fights for winter operas, Romeo and Juliet, which just played a little over a week ago. Teaching, like, trained professional opera singers how to sword fight. That was so much fun.

Arnold00:42:00

You haven't done that for a while. Because he's a certified fight scene director, right?

John00:42:06

What?

Arnold00:42:06

Yeah, no, that's why I said that.

John00:42:09

Yeah. Yeah. So. And yeah.

Mark00:42:12

So who knew?

John00:42:13

Main. Mainly the fight direction and intimacy direction has been in house with new Jewish theater since that's. That's also at the J. And I work There.And so it's been very easy to collaborate with them and offer the choreography, the fight choreography stuff. But yeah, just recently did that with winter opera.By the way, do you know there are three separate operas in St. Louis and opera companies, and they are all fully supported because these three are genius. They collaborate, they go on different times of the season so that they can bring in the same audience.And winter operas, my first experience working with one of the opera companies and everyone at winter opera. A plus. Top notch people. Amazing.

Arnold00:42:55

So we've got Opera Theatre St Louis, we have Union Avenue Opera and Winter Opera. And Winter Opera.

John00:43:01

Yeah.

Mark00:43:01

I didn't know.

John00:43:02

Yeah, yeah.

Mark00:43:03

Guys are ahead of me on this.

John00:43:04

Yeah, that's good. Yeah. And the singing is just amazing. Oh, yeah. And Romeo and Juliet as an opera is like phenomenal. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

Arnold00:43:14

I think Opera Theater St. Louis is doing that one again.

Mark00:43:18

That's neat that they collaborate. I think that's important.

Arnold00:43:21

And it. St. Louis is a big, small town.

Mark00:43:24

It is. And you don't see a lot of collaboration like that. I see same weekends with competing performances on things.

Arnold00:43:31

And there's no reason to do that.

Mark00:43:32

No, there isn't any. No. It doesn't take much.

Arnold00:43:35

And there's no competition with other film festivals. This is a unique film festival. Every. Every film festival has its, like. What do I want to say? It's path.

Mark00:43:45

Yeah.

John00:43:45

It's deal.

Arnold00:43:46

What's the word I want?

Mark00:43:47

It's steel.

Arnold00:43:50

It's lane.

John00:43:51

That's what I was about to say, Lane. Because you were. Your physical gesture was so clear, but I was like, does he mean something as simple as lane? Yeah.

Arnold00:43:59

Every film festival has its lane that they like to be in. And the Jewish Film Festival has that. And folks, if you have not been, you need to go. The film festival is March 15th through the 26th and you can.Don't forget about getting a passport. It's a ticket to a deeper festival experience and you can get more information.And I'm going to let John go ahead and say all those things because he's more adapt at doing that. He's got all these things memorized off the top of his head. As I'm flipping through where I wrote my notes.

John00:44:29

Yeah, everyone. I just want to. For anyone in the shout, the sound of my voice, listen.This is an amazing festival and I know that sounds like platitudes and hyperbole and whatnot, but honestly, it's the experience. This is what you're coming for. It's phenomenal film films that you won't see most of these films, you won't see anywhere else.And it is such amazing storytelling. The human condition is about storytelling.It's about finding out who we are by entering into stories, being able to talk about how we're affected, what that meant to me, how it's applicable in my own life. You start to. You grow as a human being through certain cultural arts experiences. It's, you know what Hamlet said, hold the mirror up to nature.And that's what happens when you see film. And I just want to advocate for this festival because it is such an incredible human experience.And so please get your all festival pass with your passport for free. Get your individual tickets. Come join us stljewishfilmfestival.org 314-442-3179 and it's

Mark00:45:35

all at the B and B theaters in Creve Core, on Olive. Is that where it is?

John00:45:40

That's exactly.

Mark00:45:40

It's a great place.

John00:45:41

Oh, my gosh. They just remodeled three years ago. It's our new festival home. We absolutely love it.But don't forget that one off as we dip our toe into the midtown area with the Alamo Drafthouse on Wednesday the 18th with Vindicta.

Mark00:45:56

That's it.

John00:45:57

At the Foundry at the City Foundry. Yeah.

Mark00:45:59

Is that where that is? I don't think I've ever been there.

Arnold00:46:00

It's great.

John00:46:02

Really cool place.

Arnold00:46:03

Very comfortable chairs.

John00:46:04

Yeah.

Mark00:46:04

But John says turn off the tv.

John00:46:07

Yes.

Mark00:46:07

And come out and maybe shower. That would be good.

John00:46:12

Don't sit on the couch streaming in your underwear, unshowered, like you've been doing since 2020. Because that's what we've been programmed to do. Come on, everyone.Clean up and go out, jump in the shower, put on some clothes, and let's join the human race.

Mark00:46:28

Sit in the dark with your friends, family, and fellow movie lovers is what he says. There you go in his little opening thing here. We can't wait to see you at the movies.

Arnold00:46:37

That's right.

Mark00:46:38

Some of these little cliches that John came up with, he's got him. Yes. He's got it all. This is really exciting. And honestly, I hate to say it, but I want to really see the Scarlett Johansson.

John00:46:50

Oh, yeah. Eleanor the Great.

Mark00:46:51

I really last. It's the last movie.

John00:46:53

Yes.

Mark00:46:54

But I really. I want to see. I want to make.

John00:46:57

It's so good.

Mark00:46:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Arnold00:46:59

Thanks for coming in.

Mark00:47:00

Yeah.

John00:47:00

Thank you, guys. It is. This is, like, one of my favorite interviews to do every year. I'm so glad you always have me back. Yeah, you guys are awesome.

Arnold00:47:08

You guys are all. You're always open to come in. You got something that you need to share, please feel free to call.

Mark00:47:13

Yeah, you can cut my grass if you want. This summer.

John00:47:16

We'll talk. We'll talk off air.

Arnold00:47:18

Yeah, we'll talk about that, Mark. Okay, so I want to do a little mental floss, folks. Sybil Ludington. Never heard of her. Sybil Ludington?

Mark00:47:28

No, I don't know who you're talking about.

Arnold00:47:29

Paul Revere may be the most famous horseback rider to emerge out of the Revolutionary War, but his efforts actually may have been far surpassed by Sybil Ludington, who at the age of 16 is said to have ridden 40 miles in the rain to subbing local militias after a British attack on Danbury, Connecticut on April 26, 1777. Her ride is believed to have been twice the distance of Paul Revere's. Yet she receives a fragment of the attention he does in history classes.Still, she is said to have received a formal thank you from General George Washington after her efforts at the time. Who knew? Sybil Ludington. L U D I N G T

Mark00:48:08

O N Had no idea because she's a woman. I don't want to say that.

Arnold00:48:13

There we go.

Mark00:48:13

You never know.

John00:48:14

But you. Or it's just one of those things about history. Like how much do we think we actually know about history? That's for sure, right?

Arnold00:48:24

Yeah.

Mark00:48:24

What you don't know could fill a book.

Arnold00:48:26

And who was writing the history at the time was the guys, right?

Arnold00:48:29

Oh, yeah, my buddy.

Arnold00:48:30

My buddy Paul. Yeah, I bought some. I bought some stuff for. I bought some goblets from him one time. So he's going to be in the book.

Mark00:48:36

My buddy Paul. I love that.

Arnold00:48:39

Mark, what do you got days of the day today?

Mark00:48:41

Oh, I got a couple of fun ones. It's national napping day. Do you nap?

Arnold00:48:47

Sometimes.

John00:48:48

Really?

Arnold00:48:48

Yes.

Mark00:48:49

Shawn, do you nap?

John00:48:50

If I have the opportunity for a Saturday nap.

Mark00:48:52

Oh, Saturday. Okay, I'll take a Saturday nap. Yeah, A lot of people.

John00:48:56

Because you know why? Because I get up so early every single day. You think I can. You think I can sleep in on the weekend? No, your bot. Your body is so used to it.So I'm up just as early on the weekend. So Saturday. Yeah, I might take a nap.

Mark00:49:09

Do a little napping. John F. Kennedy used to nap 20 minute naps. Just like. That's it.

Arnold00:49:16

Just don't take one at work.

Mark00:49:17

No. National pack your lunch day. You were gonna bring your lunch.

John00:49:20

I did.

Mark00:49:20

Did ya?

John00:49:21

Yeah.

Mark00:49:21

Yeah. Who can afford It. Festival of Life in Cracks Day. I don't know what that is. Okay, let me see here. International Bagpipe Day.Anybody play the bagpipes there?

Arnold00:49:33

Nope.

Mark00:49:34

International Day of Awesomeness.

John00:49:38

That's Arnold's Day. That is Arnold.

Mark00:49:42

No, this is Arnold's Day. International Wig Day. I just gotta see it.

Arnold00:49:52

Got it for a wig.

Mark00:49:53

I know. It's Mario Day today. National Blueberry Popover Day. National Dry Shampoo Day. I don't. National Landline Telephone Day. Anybody have a landline still?

John00:50:04

No.

Mark00:50:05

No, I do. It's a fax machine, just even worse. Okay. International Day of Women Judges.

Arnold00:50:16

Okay. There you go.

Mark00:50:18

And.

John00:50:18

Oh.

Mark00:50:19

National Skirt Day. Salvation Army Day. And the last one is Paper Money Day. Do you have any paper money with you?

Arnold00:50:27

I don't carry money.

Mark00:50:29

John, do you have any?

John00:50:30

I don't have any. I've got. My car is filled with quarters, nickels and dimes.

Mark00:50:34

Yeah. No pennies, though.

John00:50:36

There's probably a few pennies in there, but those I just throw out the window as I go through the down downtown area. I'm just hurling pennies out of my

Mark00:50:45

penny here and there. I know. Yeah. I don't have any paper money. I got some on my mantle at home if you want to rob my house.

Arnold00:50:51

Okay. There you go. His address is.

Mark00:50:54

That's where it is. Honest to goodness, I don't. I know.

Arnold00:50:57

You know. The job interview anymore? The job interview? Mark said it says on your resume you went to Harvard University.And the interviewee responded, yes, for my cousin's graduation. I'm so poor, I rub cologne from magazines on my shirt. And when people say, oh, you smell good, what is that? I say, oh, page 14.

Mark00:51:19

It's terrible stuff.

Arnold00:51:20

And lastly, salons have hair on the floor. Garages have oil on the floor. Banks. What is your problem?

John00:51:28

Love it. Love it.

Arnold00:51:30

That's all for this hour, folks. Thank you for listening. If you've enjoyed this episode, you can listen to additional shows@stlintune.com where you can follow us and leave a review.Thanks to Bob Berthisel for our theme music, our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, our guest, John Wilson and co host, Mark Langston. And we thank you for being a part of our community of curious minds. St. Louis in tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US Radio Network.Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy, and let your light shine. For St. Louis in tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.