Landmark Jewish Film Night at WV Cultural Center
Dr. Jubilaire, his wife Sharon, and Joel Blasberg in front of Miners Statue, WV Capitol
Joel Blasberg flew in from LA on Saturday, August 11th, to present “Withdrawl from Gaza,” his deeply touching film about one of the most amazing political acts in recent memory - The Jewish government making thousands of their own settlers leave the Gaza Strip because of political negotiations with the Palestinians. More than 100 people attended the film event - the first Jewish film event with the producer/director present. since decades earlier when Morton Silverstein came in the 1980s to show his film, “The Golden Age of Second Avenue”at the B’Nai Jacob Synagogue as programmed by Peter Godfrey.
Dr. Fred Pollock and Joel Blasberg at WV Cultural Center
Dr. Fred Pollock, taking a tip from a friend about the film that was shown at the Baltimore Jewish Film Festival, contacted the filmmaker. Blasberg discovered that he had several friends living in Charleston, and after his arrival discovered that Dr. Jubilaire’s cousin was married to Blasberg’s sister.
The film was technically first rate, using truly beautiful visuals of the Gaza “Garden of Eden” that the settlers had built over the years, clean sound, fitting music - a really enjoyable film to watch except for the extremely painful subject. No guns came out - and it was nice to see that the Israelis could finally cooperate without bloodshed.
I was particularly impressed by the man who cared for the animals. He quoted the Torah, saying that any man with animals had to feed them before he fed himself, etc., etc. and it was moving to see how carefully the bewildered animals were moved out.
Blasberg had a lot of great stories talking about producing/directing his first documentary film at the age of 62 after decades working in the Hollywood TV and film business. ( The stories were taped by Digital Visionworks. I have no idea for what purpose.)
Ella Taylor for the L.A. Weekly wrote reviewing the 22nd Israel Film Festival, ”Noteworthy among the documentaries is Joel Blasberg and Arnie Pelts’ searing Withdrawal From Gaza, about the planned Israeli withdrawal from parts of the occupied territories that pitted Jewish settlers against leftists committed to returning Israel to its pre-1967 borders.” This film certainly presented the true inside story of a sound byte that few non-Jews around the world gave a second thought to. I rank it as one of the very best programs I have assisted since I began providing assistance in January 1979.
As a person who has worked in film programming since 1972, I have found that just showing great films is the best way to focus scarce dollars and human resources, avoiding bringing in directors, stars, etc. Thanks to Dr. Pollock’s great energy and ability to make connections on his own, the Jewish Film Festival in Charleston picked a great film with a friendly, intelligent director/producer. Hopefully the huge financial costs won’t prevent Pollock and the Jewish Charities of Charleston from presenting another first-class program like this for another two decades. *
* I just remembered - the WV Jewish Film Fest brought Jeremy Newman, an Ohio-based doc filmmaker to Charleston in July 2002 to show his nice film on the B’Nai Jacob Synagogue, “Children of Jacob.”
Joel Blasberg in the audience talking with a person - Dr. Juliaire and wife in middle
The audience of 111 people attended the first showing of the WV Jewish Film Festival in the Norman Fagan Auditorium of The WV State Cultural Center.
