Years ago I met a pretty young lady in Manhattan who was the great niece of actress Fanny Brice.
In her NYC digs, she prominently displayed a couple of antiques once owned by the legendary stage performer who appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies.
Of course, her uncle was Ray Stark, the producer who brought the intriguing Brice story to the silver screen starring Barbara Streisand.
This week, the Jewish Film Festival kicks off on Saturday January 17th - with the documentary "Making Trouble" - which focuses on Jewish women who broke comedy barriers in theatre, film, and and television - of which - Ms. Brice was one
Tickets: 702-341-7512
The festival is produced annually by the Desert Space Foundation as well as the Jewish Community Center of Southern Nevada.
Funding is also raised through grants from the Jewish Federation in Las Vegas, the Nevada Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Cinemark Theatres is also a generous sponsor.
According to the Festival organizers:
"The Las Vegas Jewish Film Festival utilizes the art of film to provide cultural enrichment, promote community collaboration, engage the unaffiliated, and offer educational education outreach to the Jewish and non-Jewish community by enhancing awareness and appreciation of Jewish identity, history and culture.
In addition to the "Brice" documentary, there are several other celluloid offerings worth catching for those who aren't inclined to trundle off to colder climbs to take in the Sundance film fest underway back east.
Some highlights include:
January 18th (1 p.m.)
Praying with Lior
The acclaimed doc focuses on Lior , a rabbi's son with down syndrome, preparing for bar mitzvah.
Valley Outreach Synagogue
Info: 702-869-0190
4 p.m.
My Mexican Shivah
In Mexico city, a dysfunctional Jewish family observes a seven-day mourning period for their patriarch, by sharing stories, secrets, conflicts and rivalries.
Chabad of Southern Nevada
Info: 702-804-1333
January 19th (1 p.m.)
Au Revoir Les Enfants
Director Louis Malle's award-winning 1987 drama - inspired by his own experience at a Catholic Boarding School during World War II - focuses on a friendship between two boys (one French and the other Jewish) who are hidden from the Nazis by the friars who run the school.
Adelson Educational Campus (free)
JANUARY 22 (7 p.m.)
Strangers (South Point)
At the World Cup finals in Germany, an Israeli man and a Palestinian women meet and find themselves drawn into a passionate love affair.
Congregation Ner Amid
Info: 702-733-6292
January 24th (7 p.m.)
Nina's Journey
An award-winning fact-based Swedish drama about a woman who - imprisoned with her family in a Warsaw Ghetto - escapes to the Aryan side and masquerades as a gentile.
Nevada Governor's Advisory Council on Education (Free)
The festival runs through January 25th (with one screening on Feb 1st) at various venues around Las Vegas.
Tickets are $10 except for those advance-posted as free.
Info: http://www.desertspace.org/film_festival/index.html
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