Chicago 2008: Film Festival volunteers needed

This just in from Chicago 2008 Film Festival coordinator Pamela Weisberger, with a deal you can't - or shouldn't - refuse! Fellow genealogy bloggers are welcome to post this request as well for their readers in the Chicago area.

We need volunteers to staff the screening room for different shifts. In return, volunteers may attend the entire film festival - and lectures - on the day he or she volunteers ... for free.

The film festival will run August 17-22, at the 28th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, at the Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile.

Duties are simple, and involve running a DVD player and announcing films. High school or college students, seniors or community members can all volunteer. Anyone with an interest in seeing great films is welcome to help out.

Contact: Pamela Weisberger
IAJGS Film Coordinator, Chicago 2008
pweisbergerAThotmailDOTcom - Subject: Film Festival
[replace AT and DOT with the proper symbols]

Films cover Jewish genealogical, historical and sociological topics from ancient times to the present day, including first-person narratives and memoirs, theatrical films, classic silent films, and those reflecting the Jewish artistic experience.

There will be portraits of Holocaust heroism, the immigrant experience, vanished shtetls, DNA technology, analysis of Nazi-era looted art investigations, and family dynamics.

Screening this year will be Stuart Urban's new documentary, "Tovarisch: I Am Not Dead," "Stealing Klimt," Yaron Zilberman's "Watermarks," "The Rape of Europa," plus theatrical releases like the Martin Scorcese-produced "Golden Door," “Everything is Illuminated” and Academy Award-winner, "The Counterfeiters.'"

In some cases, the filmmakers will be on hand to introduce their films and take Q&A afterwards.

On Tuesday, August 19, Brown University Professor Omer Bartov will lecture on his book, "The 'Jew' in Cinema: From 'The Golem' to 'Don't Touch My Holocaust,'" which will take place between screenings of both these unique and powerful films.

Filmmakers Susannah Warlick and Michael Schwartz of "Match and Marry," a film dealing with Orthodox matchmaking customs will be available for two Q&A sessions. Their film, along with "Tovarisch," about dashing Galician-born Dr. Garri Urban who managed to survive the Holocaust, the Gulag and working for the KGB; "The World Was Ours," dedicated to the memory of pre-war Vilna; "Yiddish Theatre: A Love Story;" and "Mahjong and Chicken Feet," will all be Chicago premieres.

For more details, click here .