TJFF announces films for 2011

TJFF will start on May 7 at The Underground with the North American premiere of Elan Gale’s "Looking For Lenny". The film is a documentary about the late comedian and social commentator Lenny Bruce, and features interviews with many of his colleagues and friends.

The opening night film connects with the festival’s sidebar series "The Three Lennys" – a 19-part series that celebrates Leonard Bernstein, Leonard Cohen (who recently received the Glenn Gould Prize) and Lenny Bruce. The series will include documentaries, shorts, concert films, speakers, a live musical component and more.

TJFF will be co-presenting with TIFF Bell Lightbox and Montreal-based arts organization Scored, the film "Leonard Cohen: Bird on a Wire". The documentary was directed by Tony Palmer, who was given a lot of access to Cohen during his European tour in 1972. Palmer will be present for the special presentation.

The festival is also presenting the world premiere of "Between Two Worlds", a documentary by Deborah Kaufman and Alan Snitow. You can also see the international premiere of "I Shall Remember" by Vitaly Vorobjev and the Canadian premiere of Yoav Potash’s "Crime After Crime" (which was picked up by OWN – Oprah Winfrey’s network) following its premiere at Sundance.

Other Canadian premieres include "The Karski Report" by Claude Lanzman and "A Jewish Girl in Shanghai" – the first animated feature from China that deals with the Holocaust.

TJFF is also bringing a number of Israeli TV shows to the big screen, including the latest season of "Arab Labor", "Mary Lou" (the new TV series from director Eytan Fox) and the Israeli adaptation of "The Office".

The festival will close on May 15 with "Leonard Cohen: Live in London". The concert was recorded in 2008 and features 26 songs by the Canadian artist.

The 19th Toronto Jewish Film Festival runs from May 7 to May 15. For more information, visit www.tjff.com

Reprinted with permission from Shalom Life

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