Zorros Bar Mizwa

Zorro's Bar Mitzva
Ruth Beckermann
Austria
90
Spanish Premiere
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Synopsis

At the Wailing Wall or in the spotlight of a stage, wearing a Zorro costume or a designer dress: crossing the threshold into the adult world can take place in very different ways. This film accompanies four 12-year-olds as they prepare for their bar or bat mitzvot. It takes a critical and ironic look at Jewish tradition, questions the significance of initiation rituals, and attempts to explore the diffuse terrain of adolescence.

Festivals

- Cinéma du Réel (2006)
- Chicago International Film Festival (2006)
- Créteil International Women's Film Festival (2006)
- Doc A Tunis, Rencòntres du Film Documentaire -Geißendörfer Award (1998)

Biography of the director

Rithy Panh
Ruth Beckermann

She was born in Vienna where she also spent her childhood. After her studies in journalism and history of art in Vienna, Tel Aviv and New York, she got her PhD degree in 1977 at the University of Vienna. She has since contributed as a journalist to several Austrian and Swiss magazines.

In 1978 she (co-)founded the distribution company Filmladen, where she was active for seven years. During this period, Ruth Beckermann started to make films and write books. Since 1985 she has been working as a writer and filmmaker. Her film The Dreamed Ones was selected at many international festivals and won several awards. In 2018, Ruth Beckermann finished her latest film The Waldheim Waltz and won, among other awards, the Glashütte-Original Documentary Award from the Berlin International Film Festival.

Filmography: The Dreamed Ones (2016); The Missing Image (2015); Those Who Go Those Who Stay (2013); Jackson/Marker 4am (2012); American Passages (2011); Mozart Enigma (2006); Zorros Bar Mizwa (2006); Homemad(E) (2001); A Fleeting Passage to the Orient (1999); East of War (1996); Towards Jerusalem (1991); Paper Bridge (1987); Return to Vienna (1984); The Steel Hammer Out There on the Grass (1981); Suddenly, a Streik (1978); Arena Squatted (1977).

Finished

Sessions

May

Thursday 16
18:00 h
Filmoteca Española. Cine Doré Sala 2

Credits

Language
German, English, Hebrew - Subtitles in spanish and english
Director
Ruth Beckermann
Cinematography
André Wanne, Leena Koppe, Nurith Aviv
Editing
Thomas Woschitz, Dieter Pichler
Sound
Stefan Holzer, Günther Tuppinger
Web