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"Strange Fruit" Documentary To Be Shown By Museum In
Observance
Of Martin Luther King Day
Monday, January 15, 2007
The
National Museum of American Jewish History is observing Martin
Luther
King Day on Monday, January 15, 2007 with a free screening of the
documentary Strange Fruit.
Strange
Fruit explores the history and legacy of a song unique in the
annals
of American music. Best known from Billie Holiday's haunting 1939
rendition,
the song "Strange Fruit" is a harrowing portrayal of the lynching of a
black
man in the American South. In telling the story of the song, filmmaker
Joel
Katz addresses the history of lynching, the early civil rights
movement,
and the relationship between Jewish songwriters and performers and
African
American music.
The film, which was
featured
on PBS’s Independent Lens series, will be shown at noon and 2
p.m.
Admission to the Museum is free. Currently on view is Forshpeis! A
Taste
of the Peter H. Schweitzer Collection of Jewish Americana, which
explores
the role food played in helping immigrant Jews adjust to life in the
United
States and illustrates how Jewish foods, like American Jews themselves,
have
become part of the American mainstream.
The National Museum of American Jewish History, located on Independence
Mall
East in Philadelphia, presents educational programs to inspire in
people
of all backgrounds a greater appreciation for the diversity of the
American
experience.
Philadelphia
Jewish Film Festival
The
National Museum of American Jewish
History is a sponsor of festival films that explore aspects of the
American Jewish experience.
"Blues By The Beach"
Mike's PlaceMike’s Place on the Tel Aviv beachfront is a popular rock
and blues bar that could be anywhere. The worldly English-speaking
denizens who congregate there regularly laugh, dance and sing
undeterred by the ever present warfare and terrorism. If anything,
their desire to live life to the fullest is intensified. But on April
30, 2003, Mike’s place was forever changed when a suicide bomber
exploded himself at the club. The film about the bombing, Blues
By The Beach, not only has footage of
the suicide bombing, it shows the effects of terror, the aftermath and
moving on.
Blues by the Beach, by American-born director Joshua Faudem, will be
screened Monday, January 15, 7 p.m. at the Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad
Street, Philadelphia, as part of the Documentaries & Dialogue
series of the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival. Admission is $10, with
discounts for students and senior adults.
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