The City of Parkland in partnership with Congregation Kol Tikvah announces a special film series. “Jews in Sports –Who Knew?” This will be a weekly presentation of films that feature a wide range of Jewish individuals in a variety of sports and their challenges and victories. The schedule for the films is the following: Wednesday, 7 p.m. March 12 at Kol Tikvah -- Jews in Baseball JEWS AND BASEBALL traces the Jewish involvement in the history of the sport from the games earliest days, through the tumultuous war years to todays All-Star games. By analyzing various stages in this history, including how the legendary Sandy Koufax pioneered rights for players and Hank Greenbergs support of Jackie Robinson, the film demonstrates how Jews shaped baseball, and baseball shaped them. Narrated by two-time Academy Award® winner Dustin Hoffman, this lively and thorough account of Jewish Americas love affair with baseball sheds new light on Americas national pastime Includes interviews with former player Al Rosen, sports historian Maury Allen, celebrity enthusiasts Larry King and Ron Howard, and all-stars Shawn Green and Kevin Youkilis, as well as a rare interview with baseball legend Sandy Koufax. Thursday 1 p.m. March 13 at the Parkland Library -- Berlin 36 Karoline Herfurth stars in this foreign-language drama -- inspired by actual events at the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin -- as Gretel Bergmann, a Jewish high jumper who was barred from competition by the Nazi party in spite of international protest. When Gretel is kicked off the team under false pretenses, shes promptly replaced by her roommate, Marie Ketteler (Sebastian Urzendowsky), an odd-looking girl who with a surprising secret. Wednesday 7 p.m. March 19th at Kol Tikvah -- The First Basket The First Basket is a 2008 documentary film on professional basketballs influence on Jewish culture.It is narrated by Peter Riegert. The film includes interviews and narratives provided by, and footage of, well known Jewish basketball personalities including Ossie Schectman, Red Auerbach, Sidney Hertzberg, and Edward Gottlieb as well as other Jewish basketball players. David Vyorsts documentary The First Basket takes a look at the early days of the Basketball Association of America. When it was formed in 1946, the majority of players were Jewish -- a fact that certainly is not true of American basketball just 60 years later. This film showcases how these athletes provided inspiration for Jews suffering discrimination. Thursday, March 20 1 p.m. at the Parkland Library -- Watermarks Watermarks is the story of the champion women swimmers of the legendary Jewish sports club, Hakoah Vienna. Hakoah (The Strength in Hebrew) was founded in 1909 in response to the notorious Aryan Paragraph, which forbade Austrian sports clubs from accepting Jewish athletes. Its founders were eager to popularize sport among a community renowned for such great minds as Freud, Mahler and Zweig, but traditionally alien to physical recreation. Hakoah rapidly grew into one of Europes biggest athletic clubs, while achieving astonishing success in many diverse sports. In the 1930s Hakoahs best-known triumphs came from its women swimmers, who dominated national competitions in Austria. After the Anschluss, in 1938, the Nazis shut down the club, but the swimmers all managed to flee the country before the war broke out, thanks to an escape operation initiated by Hakoahs functionaries. Sixty-five years later, director Yaron Zilberman meets the members of the swimming team in their homes around the world, and arranges for them to have a reunion in their old swimming pool in Vienna, a journey that evokes memories of youth, femininity, and strengthens lifelong bonds. Told by the swimmers, now in their eighties, Watermarks is about a group of young girls with a passion to be the best. Wednesday, March 26 7 p.m. at Kol Tikvah – The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg Hank Greenberg was the first great Jewish star in baseball. Greenberg became a first-class hitter for the Detroit Tigers (a host city not always known for its tolerance, as the career of Father Charles Coughlin will prove), nearly beating Babe Ruths home run record and becoming one of the games best loved figures (he was also a friend and confidant to Jackie Robinson as he was breaking baseballs color barrier). Hank Greenberg became a powerful role model in Americas Jewish community, and this documentary follows his life and career up to his death in 1986. Director Aviva Kempner includes extensive interview footage of Greenberg filmed in the year before his passing, as well as newsreel footage of Greenberg in action, reminiscences from his teammates and testimonials from his family, friends and fans, including Alan Dershowitz and Walter Matthau Thursday, March 27, 1 p.m. at the Parkland Library - The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg Wednesday, April 2, 7 p.m. at Kol Tikvah – Holy Land Hardball When Boston bagel maker Larry Baras wanted to create a professional baseball league in Israel, his idea was met with incredulity, dismissal and even hostility. He attempted it anyway. Enlisting a group of players from around the world, Baras must overcome a skeptical Israeli media, delayed stadium preparations, customs snafus, and a rapidly approaching Opening Day. Holy Land Hardball is an engaging account of his dream to bring America’s pastime to the Middle East. The New York Daily News call Holy Land Hardball “a biblical sports saga magnificiently told” while the Boston Globe declares “Holy Land Hardball is absolutely about baseball, but often hilariously about a whole lot more.” Thursday, April 3, 1 p.m. at the Parkland Library – Holy Land Hardball
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 13:57:09 +0000
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