Chicago YIVO Society’s Blog

Mira Jedwabnik Van Doren

The World Was Ours, a film by Vilna native Mira Jedwabnik Van Doren, will screen at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie on Sunday February 12 @ 1:30 PM.

Once known as the “Jerusalem of the North,” Vilna (now Lithuania) was a vibrant center of Jewish learning and culture. The World Was Ours is narrated by Mandy Patinkin, draws on interviews with survivors and scholars, and makes extensive use of archival photographs and film footage. Q&A with filmmaker Mira Jedwabnik Van Doren follows the screening.

Reservations are required! Click HERE for more information on the ILHMEC website.

NOTE: This film was originally scheduled for last September as part of the Chicago YIVO Summer Festival of Yiddish Culture, so we are very pleased to announce this new opportunity to finally see The World Was Ours in Metro Chicago.

So We Said Goodbye

Date: August 4 (Thurs)

Time: 12:15 PM

Where: Skokie Public Library

Two Shorts by Jorge Gurvich

(~ 60 min combined runtime)

Two short narrative features provide an Israeli filmmaker’s poignant reflections on generational change as grandparents reveal themselves after decades of silence.

So We Said Goodbye is about an elderly man thinking back on 1937 when he left Poland and emigrated to Argentina, leaving his mother and siblings behind. (Languages: Spanish and Yiddish with English subtitles)

Pesya’s Necklace is about an elderly woman who accompanies her granddaughter on a Heritage Tour, returning to Poland for the first time since she emigrated to Israel after the Holocaust. (Languages: Hebrew and Polish with English subtitles) 

Pesya's Necklace

Filmmaker Jorge Gurvich was born in Argentina in 1957. He emigrated to Israel in 1978 and studied in the Department of Cinema and Television at Tel Aviv University from 1979-1983. He is the producer-director of numerous fiction short films and television dramas, including the multi-award winning films The Shower, So We Said Goodbye, Pesya’s Necklace and Next Year in Argentina. He is a renown and sought-after cinematographer, serving as director of photography on many feature films and documentaries.

Gurvich has taught cinematography at Tel Aviv University, Sam Spiegel Film School, Camera Obscura & Maale, Beit Berl and Sapir University. He has been awarded the Ministry of Education Special Prize for directors and screenwriters and the Golden Lens (prize for best cinematography) three times. He has co-written several feature films scripts. Gurvich’s full-length feature film directorial debut, Mrs. Moscowitz and the Cats premiered at the 2009 Jerusalem International Film Festival.

NOTE: Replacing the film originally scheduled on this date!!! 

So We Said Goodbye

Date: August 3 (Wed)

Time: 6:00 PM

Where: Harold Washington Library Center

Two Shorts by Jorge Gurvich

Two short narrative features provide an Israeli filmmaker’s poignant reflections on generational change as grandparents reveal themselves after decades of silence.

So We Said Goodbye is about an elderly man thinking back on 1937 when he left Poland and emigrated to Argentina, leaving his mother and siblings behind. Runtime is 26 minutes. Languages are Spanish and Yiddish with English subtitles.

Pesya’s Necklace is about an elderly woman who accompanies her granddaughter on a Heritage Tour, returning to Poland for the first time since she emigrated to Israel after the Holocaust. Runtime is 35 minutes. Languages are Hebrew and Polish with English subtitles. 

Pesya's Necklace

Filmmaker Jorge Gurvich was born in Argentina in 1957. He emigrated to Israel in 1978 and studied in the Department of Cinema and Television at Tel Aviv University from 1979-1983. He is the producer-director of numerous fiction short films and television dramas, including the multi-award winning films The Shower, So We Said Goodbye, Pesya’s Necklace and Next Year in Argentina. He is a renown and sought-after cinematographer, serving as director of photography on many feature films and documentaries.

Gurvich has taught cinematography at Tel Aviv University, Sam Spiegel Film School, Camera Obscura & Maale, Beit Berl and Sapir University. He has been awarded the Ministry of Education Special Prize for directors and screenwriters and the Golden Lens (prize for best cinematography) three times. He has co-written several feature films scripts. Gurvich’s full-length feature film directorial debut, Mrs. Moscowitz and the Cats premiered at the 2009 Jerusalem International Film Festival.

Screening Co-Sponsored by Chicago’s Alliance of Latinos & Jews

Date: July 7  (Thurs)

Time: 6:00 PM

Where: Harold Washington Library Center

An Ashkenazi family in Mexico City celebrates shiva for its patriarch, who had a Gentile mistress many years younger than him. The family is dysfunctional—almost beyond belief. The deceased has brought together family, friends and former lovers who have side-splitting stories, conflicts and rivalries that are catalogued over the seven-day shiva mourning period. The film is a consistently entertaining and wacky cinematic experience!  (2007, 98 minutes.)

From Tzivi’s Spotlight in the JUF News:

My Mexican Shivah is an artful blend of farce and philosophy. People come to Moishe’s funeral obsessed with private problems, but as the yahrzeit candle melts away, immersion in Jewish ritual has a purifying effect… Most of the dialogue is in Spanish, but all of the prayers (which are numerous) are in Hebrew, and two elderly Hassids function as a Yiddish-speaking “Greek chorus.”

Click HERE to read complete review.