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Jewish Story Partners (Jsp), which works to “stimulate and support the highest caliber of independent films that expand the Jewish story,” has selected 26 documentaries to receive $545,000 in a major new round of grants, TheWrap can exclusively reveal.

The new grantees for Jsp, which was launched in 2021 with the support of Kate Upshaw and Steven Spielberg’s Righteous Persons Foundation, have crafted narratives that explore the current state of U.S. democracy, antisemitism, the mission to help build a more peaceful society and the conversations that are taking place following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

Among the titles are “The Day After,” “Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny,” “The Paradox” and “White Rose.” There were more than 220 applications submitted by filmmakers. The funding round was curated by filmmaker Amy Berg, Impact Partners’ Geralyn Dreyfous and Michael Renov, a USC professor of critical studies and Vice Dean for Academic Affairs.

“With its capacity to humanize the ‘other’ through storytelling,...

The St. Louis Jewish Film Festival has begun is 29th season and hosted a special opening night celebration on Sunday, April 7 at B&b Theater in Creve Coeur.

“On October 7, 2023, Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack caused the evacuation and cessation of all activities at Sapir College in Sderot, Israel—home to its premier film program. Sapir students were just weeks away from presenting their final film projects at the annual film festival at Cinema South. In solidarity with Israel, and to specifically draw attention to the Israeli filmmakers coming out of Sapir College, the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival featured five students’ films. Attached to each one is a one-of-a-kind story about the directors, actors, and other individuals who participated in the making of the film whose lives have been turned upside down in the days since October 7, 2023. With Israel fighting for its very existence, these films can be viewed...

Plot: The life and career of Gene Wilder are remembered by his friends and colleagues.

Review: Gene Wilder was a one-of-a-kind talent. While it seems like he’s mostly remembered these days for playing Willy Wonka (with his performance inspiring Timothee Chalamet’s recent take), there was a lot more to him than just that one film. For one thing, his cinematic partnership with Mel Brooks resulted in three all-time classics: The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Plus, he and Richard Pryor made an iconic mismatched duo in a slew of films (some better than others), while Wilder directed several highly successful films on his own.

In this loving tribute to the late icon, director Ron Frank pulls back the curtain to dip into both Wilder’s creative process and sometimes tragic life. Pulling from an audiobook he recorded of his memoirs, the film is distinguished because Wilder himself tells much of the story.

Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein, co-written with Gene Wilder (seen here with Marty Feldman and Teri Garr) inspired Tony McNamara’s screenplay adaptation of Alasdair Gray’s novel for Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things (Oscar wins for Emma Stone and costume designer Holly Waddington).

By using well-chosen excerpts from the audiobook of Gene Wilder’s autobiography, Kiss Me Like A Stranger, Ron Frank lets Wilder himself guide us through the documentary, by positioning him in dialogue with many friends and colleagues assembled here, most prominently Mel Brooks, who directed Wilder in a number of groundbreaking movies. We find out how the two met, because Anne Bancroft, starring at the time on stage in Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage (with Wilder as the Chaplain), was dating Brooks, who was looking for an actor to play Leo Bloom in what was to become The Producers. The two men clicked, as they both recall,...

A new film uses the late actor’s voice to illustrate a career of neurotic humor on the big screen and a gentleness in real life

Generations of viewers first got to know Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, and with a new documentary about the beloved actor, director Ron Frank argues that that’s as good a place to start as any.

The twinkling strains of Pure Imagination open the affectionately wrought Remembering Gene Wilder, transporting the audience back into fond memories of the candyman’s immortal introduction: he hobbles out to meet his adoring public with cane in hand, staggers a bit, starts to stumble, then somersaults himself into a sprightly upright stance. Like so many of Wilder’s finest moments, it was a surprise to his scene partners proving his nimble versatility as performer. He could mine humor from tension, aggravation or anxiety, but his desire to keep...

Individuals like Andy Kaufman, Richard Pryor, John Candy, Sam Kinison, Bill Hicks, Robin Williams, Gilda Radner, George Carlin, and Gene Wilder come to mind in a list of late comedic greats who changed the comedy landscape. Their influence remains a part of the art, with up-and-coming joke-slingers citing them as sources of inspiration. Sometimes, it’s good to reflect on the contributions of comedy’s titans. So Kino Lorder is proud to present Ron Frank’s Remembering Gene Wilder trailer, celebrating the life and career of the curly-haired clown alongside notable friends.

Remembering Gene Wilder is a heartfelt documentary and entertaining portrait of the life and career of the beloved actor, featuring an extensive array of highlights from Wilder’s most memorable films and interviews with his closest friends, family, and fellow comics.

Here’s the official description for Remembering Gene Wilder:

Remembering Gene Wilder is a loving tribute to...

Comedy actor and writer Gene Wilder is to be celebrated in documentary Remembering Gene Wilder, and here’s the trailer.

To several generations, Gene Wilder will forever be known as the definitive screen version of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka in 1971 film Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory. To others, he might be best known for his frequent collaborations with comedian Richard Pryor in films like Silver Streak, Stir Crazy, See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Another You.

Going on to forge a career as a writer and director, one of the most underrated comedies of the 1970s, and one that is well worth tracking down if you haven’t had the pleasure, is The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes’ Younger Brother. Wilder’s 1975 directorial debut saw the actor star alongside the powerhouse pairing of Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldmen, both of whom he worked with in Young Frankenstein, the...

"He had a unique ability to find humor in anything." Kino Lorber has revealed their trailer for a doc film titled Remembering Gene Wilder, a loving tribute to the comic genius and acting legend. The film was the Opening Night Selection of the Boston & San Francisco Jewish Film Festivals, as well as the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival, where it won Best Picture. It's set for a theatrical release starting in March before it's available on VOD. Kl introduces it: "In this loving, career-spanning documentary, Ron Frank has captured both the public Gene Wilder that we all know and love as well as the more private Gene, a funny, kind, and gentle man beloved by his family, friends, and confidants. We're thrilled to share this film with audiences worldwide, so they can join us in spending 92 delicious minutes with the magical man behind the characters we love.” It's a moving...

Gene Wilder is rightfully remembered fondly for his performance as Willy Wonka. However, the comedic actor’s career is the stuff of legends, thanks to his collaborations with legendary comedian Richard Pryor, as well as starring in Mel Brooks classics like The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. The beloved actor has a new documentary that tells the story of his life from filmmaker Ron Frank. The film, Remembering Gene Wilder, has just picked up distribution from Kino Lorber, which has planned the movie’s release for this March.

According to Deadline, the documentary “touches on the actor’s Jewish upbringing in Milwaukee, marriage to Gilda Radner, and his final chapter living with Alzheimer’s. It will include never-seen-before home movie footage, narration by Wilder from the audiobook of his memoir, and interviews with collaborators including Mel Brooks, Alan Alda, Carol Kane, and his widow Karen Boyer Wilder.

Directed by...

Exclusive: Kino Lorber has acquired all rights worldwide to Ron Frank’s documentary Remembering Gene Wilder, a portrait of the life and career of the beloved actor and comedian.

Featuring highlights from Wilder’s most memorable films as well as interviews with his closest friends, family, and fellow comics, the film will next play as the Closing Night movie of the New York Jewish Film Festival on January 24.

Kino Lorber is planning a theatrical release in March 2024, followed by a home video, non-theatrical, and digital release.

Wilder, who died in 2016, is best known for his collaborations with Mel Brooks in The Producers, Young Frankenstein, and Blazing Saddles, his partnership with Richard Pryor in movies like Silver Streak and Hear No Evil, See No Evil, and his performance as the mysterious chocolatier in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

The doc touches on the actor’s Jewish upbringing in Milwaukee, marriage to Gilda Radner,...

Title: When Comedy Went to School Directors: Ron Frank, Mevlut Akkaya A grand-scale survey of Jewish humor from the middle portion of the 20th century, shambling documentary “When Comedy Went to School” represents an amiable, openhearted attempt to shine a spotlight on the ethnic lineage of observational stand-up, and its roots in the vaudevillian era. Ostensibly a look at the so-called greatest generation of comedians — a generation that includes the likes of Jerry Lewis, Sid Caesar, Jerry Stiller, Jackie Mason and Mort Sahl, all interviewed here — and the manner in which they got their training, pre-television, the film is unfortunately too scattered and bereft of focus to connect [ Read More ]

The post When Comedy Went to School Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

From When Comedy Went to School's opening moments, when a dulcet-toned Robert Klein says, "It was an Oz without the Wicked Witch," this enchanting documentary on the rise, fall, and small-scale rebirth of the Catskills has something of a fairy tale quality. Directors Ron Frank and Mevlut Akkaya have crafted a deceptively (in the best way) soothing tribute to the Catskills as the geographical and cultural birthplace of modern stand-up. It succinctly sketches in the trek from vaudeville to Chris Rock; from "take my wife, please" jokes to stinging political humor. But at the film's core is a mapping of the evolution of American Jewish identity, and how the trajectory of the Eastern European Jews who built the Catskills came to embody the American dream. Rich with clips from films (...

Title: When Comedy Went to School International Film Circuit Director: Mevlut Akkaya, Ron Frank Screenwriter: Lawrence Richards Cast: Jerry Lewis, Sid Caesar, Robert Klein, Jackie Mason, Mort Sahl, Jerry Stiller, Larry King Screened at: Vimeo, NYC, 6/8/13 Opens: July 31, 2013 You’re intimidated by Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Bentham, Russell, and Nietzsche. You think their writings and dialogues are too difficult to understand or even irrelevant to our times. But you want to know the answer to the most basic philosophic question, which is “how should I live my life?” So what do you do? Simply memorize this: “We’re all going to die, so we might as well laugh until we [ Read More ]

The post When Comedy Went to School Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.