FLICKERS:Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) is proud to present its Fall edition of the annual Roving
Eye International Film Festival™. The popular and acclaimed festival celebrating global cinema and artists, announces its 2013 sidebar program on the Jewish Experience through short films, documentary, media and a guest speaker. The event takes place November 12, 13 & 17th. This year’s series explores representations of the Jewish experience in Israel and of the Holocaust through four recent films. The series culminates with a talk by Michael Hoberman, Associate Professor of English and Folklore at Fitchburg State University and author of the 2011 book, New Israel/New England: Jews and Puritans in Early America.
"Through film and scholarship, the series tells the stories of the Jewish experience globally—stories of joy and sorrow, faith, diasporas, rich culture, fear and hope—stories that must be told again and again," said the Rev. Nancy Hamlin Soukup, RWU University Multifaith Chaplain co-organizer of the event with Flickers.
All programming is free of charge and open to the public and screened on the campus of Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI.
The Fall Jewish Experience sidebar of the Roving Eye Festival are presented in partnership with FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival, the Helene and Bertram Bernhardt Foundation, the RWU Department of Communication the RWU Feinstein College of Arts and Sciences, Dean Robert Eisinger, Associate Dean Roberta Adams, the RWU Film Production Club, RWU Hillel, and the Spiritual Life Office.
Welcome to the official mobile app for The Rhode Island International Film Festival! This app is a joint development of EDGE Media Network and The Rhode Island International Film Festival; it's designed to be a comprehensive guide to the annual festival each year in Providence, RI, including events, photos, film screenings and interactive features.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12th:
FACING FORWARD WHILE LOOKING BACKWARD: THE JEWISH EXPERIENCE TODAY Introduced by Adjunct Professor George T. Marshall and the Rev. Nancy Soukup, RWU Multifaith Chaplain
REPORTING ON THE TIMES: The New York Times and The Holocaust | Directed by: Emily Harrold | 18 min. | USA | 2012
Inspired by Laurel Leff's award winning book Buried by The Times, this film explores how The New York Times handled reports of The Holocaust during World War II. It also explores why The Times, a Jewish owned newspaper, buried more than one thousand articles in its back pages. Was it simply an oversight? Or did the publishers and editors fear an American Antisemitic backlash? Though interviews and testimony of a Holocaust survivor, historians, journalists, and American citizens who lived through World War II, Reporting on The Times encourages audiences to reevaluate America's place at The Great Liberator. The film also asks viewers to consider the power of the press in creating change.
A Universal Language | Directed by: Igal Hecht | 80 min. | Canada | 2013
What do you get when you pack six of Canada’s top comics into a mini-van, and you take them across the Holy Land? This might sound like a an opening of a joke, with the punch being a laugh out loud, roaring comedic mayhem, with the maestro of Canadian comedy over seeing it all. Ask any major Canadian comic of the last thirty years what mark Breslin means to them and the answer will most likely be, the guy who helped me launch my career. From Russell Peters, Howie Mandel and Chris Rock, Breslin's comedy club, Yuk Yuk’s, have jump-started the career of thousands of North America’s leading comics. In 2009, the Toronto International Film Festival had a spotlight on Israeli films. A group of Anti-Israel activists decided that the films should be censored, because they were made in Israel. Breslin, who believes that art should be used as a bridge between people, was shocked. He decides that the best way to fight the the censorship of an art form was to foster dialogue and deeper understanding of Israel and the Middle East, through the power of comedy. Breslin along with the six top Canadian comics travel to the Holy Land on a cultural exchange journey, bringing Canadian comedy to Israel and the Palestinian Territories for Jews and Arabs. Along the way meet with local Palestinian and Israeli comics, and try to bridge years of conflict through a common ground every individual has, the power of laughter.
Location: Mary Tefft White Cultural Center (RWU Library)
Roger Williams University, One Old Ferry Road, Bristol, RI
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Cost:Free Admission
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 13th:
IMMUTABLE MEMORIES: The Jewish Experience And The Holocaust
Introduced by the Rev. Nancy Soukup, RWU Multifaith Chaplain
Forget Us Not | Directed by: Heather E. Connell | 70 min. | USA | 2012
Forget Us Not is a moving, in depth look at the persecution and subsequent death of the 5 million non-Jewish victims of the WWII Holocaust and the lives of those who survived. Through stories of survivors and historical footage, these lesser-known voices are brought to life. From the Roma and Sinti people who were also targeted for complete annihilation to the thousands of Catholic Priests who were killed for speaking out, Forget Us Not strives to educate and give tribute to those who were killed for their religion, ethnicity, political views, sexual orientation and physical handicaps.
Roger Williams University, One Old Ferry Road, Bristol, RI
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Cost:Free Admission
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17th:
TRANSCENDING BOUNDARIES AND BUILDING BRIDGES
With guest Speaker, Michael Hoberman, Associate Professor of English and Folklore at Fitchburg State University. Hoberman is a dynamic young scholar and author of the 2011 book, New Israel/New England: Jews and Puritans in Early America.
The New England Puritans' fascination with the legacy of the Jewish religion has been well documented, but their interactions with actual Jews have escaped sustained historical attention. "New Israel/New England" tells the story of the Sephardic merchants who traded and sojourned in Boston and Newport between the mid-seventeenth century and the era of the American Revolution. The book also explores the complex and often contradictory meanings that the Puritans attached to Judaism and the fraught attitudes that they bore toward the Jews as a people.
More often than not, Michael Hoberman shows in his writing that Puritans thought and wrote about Jews in order to resolve their own theological and cultural dilemmas. A number of prominent New Englanders, including Roger Williams, Increase Mather, Samuel Sewall, Benjamin Colman, Cotton Mather, Jonathan Edwards, and Ezra Stiles, wrote extensively about post-biblical Jews, in some cases drawing on their own personal acquaintance with Jewish contemporaries.
Introduced by the Rev. Nancy Soukup, RWU Multifaith Chaplain
Plus the Academy Award Shortlisted Documentary:
The Lady In Number 6 | Directed by: Malcolm Clarke | 39 min. | Canada, USA, United Kingdom | 2013
The Lady In Number 6 is one of the most inspirational and uplifting stories of the year. 109 year old, Alice Herz Sommer, the world's oldest pianist and Holocaust survivor shares her story on how to achieve a long and happy life. She discussed the importance of music, laughter and how to have an optimistic outlook on life.
Location: MNS 200 (Marine and Natural Sciences Building)
Roger Williams University, One Old Ferry Road, Bristol, RI
Time: 2:30 p.m.
Cost:Free Admission
Fall 2013 marks the beginning of the 32nd year of the Flickers Arts Collaborative, the creator and producer of the Annual Rhode Island International Film Festival (that will
take place August 5-10, 2014 at locations throughout
the state of Rhode Island.) Through its affiliation
with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
RIIFF is a qualifying festival for the Short Film Academy
Award, the only festival in the region with this distinction.
RIIFF provides a venue to encourage new talent and establish
the contacts needed for wider distribution.
ABOUT ROGER WILLIAMS UNIVERSITY:
Roger Williams University located in Bristol, R.I. is a leading independent, coeducational university with programs in the liberal arts and the professions, where students become community- and globally-minded citizens. With 42 academic majors, an array of co-curricular activities and study abroad opportunities on six continents, RWU is an opencommunity dedicated to the success of students, commitment to a set of corevalues and providing a world-class education above all else. In the last decade, the University has achieved unprecedented successes including recognition as one of the best colleges in the nation by Forbes, a College of Distinction by Student Horizons, Inc. and as both a best college in the Northeast and one of the nation’s greenest universities by The Princeton Review. For more information, go to: www.rwu.edu.
ABOUT FLICKERS: RHODE ISLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL:
FLICKERS:Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) discovers and empowers filmmakers. Held in Providence, and locations throughout the state of Rhode Island, RIIFF is one of only a handful of festivals worldwide that is a qualifying event for the Academy Awards (i.e. “Oscars”). RIIFF incorporates gala celebrations, premiere screenings, VIP guests, industry seminars, educational programs, and award ceremonies into a weeklong extravaganza. Cited as one of the "Best International and Short Film Festivals in the United States," RIIFF is New England’s largest film festival, screening a record 175 films. Its innovative programming, cultivated industry ties, and loyal audiences have made the Festival a strategic and desirable platform for film premieres, drawing hundreds of independent filmmakers from around the globe.
For more information about films, dates, and venues
for the 2014 Roving Eye International Film Festival™,
please call 401-861-4445, email info@film-festival.org
RWU PARKING INFORMATION:From Providence: Take Routes 136 South or 114 S passing campus on the left. Take a left at the traffic light just before the Mount Hope Bridge, onto Old Ferry Road. Enter the campus via the front gate passing Campus Security.
From Newport: Take 114N over the Mount Hope Bridge and take the first right off the bridge onto Old Ferry Road. Enter the campus via the front gate passing Campus Security.
Guests should enter through the main entrance at the fountain. they will be able to obtain a guest parking pass. Lot 24a will be blocked off for guests of the festival. Proceed through the main entrance through to the lot 24a on left. Events will take place in the Global Heritage Hall, the Marine and Natural Sciences Building, and the Mary Tefft White Cultural Center.
The 2014 Roving Eye International Film Festival is sponsored by The RI Film & the Television Office; Flickers; the Edwin S. Soforenko Foundation; the Helene and Bertram Bernhardt Foundation; Roger Williams University Office of the Provost; the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences; the Department of Communications; Hillel; and the Spiritual Life Program.
Forget Us Not | Directed by: Heather E. Connell | 70 min. | USA | 2012 
The New England Puritans' fascination with the legacy of the Jewish religion has been well documented, but their interactions with actual Jews have escaped sustained historical attention. "New Israel/New England" tells the story of the Sephardic merchants who traded and sojourned in Boston and Newport between the mid-seventeenth century and the era of the American Revolution. The book also explores the complex and often contradictory meanings that the Puritans attached to Judaism and the fraught attitudes that they bore toward the Jews as a people. 
