Kung Pao Kosher Comedy returns for 15th year
The Bay Area Jewish community’s annual antidote to Santa overdose, Kung Pao Kosher Comedy, is back for its 15th year of stand-up comedy and Chinese food. The Christmas-week show this year features headliner Shelley Berman, a comedy mainstay since the 1950s and now a regular on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
Also on the bill are comics Scott Blakeman (a veteran of Kung Pao 2001), Korean Jewish comedian Esther Paik Goodhart and host/founder Lisa Geduldig. A portion of the proceeds benefit JFCS’ Chicken Soupers and the Jewish Community Free Clinic.
Kung Pao Kosher Comedy runs from Dec. 22 through Dec. 25 with a 6 p.m. dinner show and 9:30 p.m. cocktail show each day. On Dec. 23, and Dec. 25, show times are 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Tickets: $60 for the dinner show (7-course dinner, fixed menu), $40 for the cocktail show (veggie egg rolls, beer, wine and nonalcoholic drinks). For tickets and information: (925) 275-9005 or www.koshercomedy.com.
Send the troops a Bible DVD this Chanukah
BiblesOnDVD, a division of the DVD Acquisition and Development Group, has announced a new initiative to send free copies of its best-selling BiblesOnDVD to members of the U.S. armed services, in cooperation with the nonprofit group Soldiers’ Angels.
The new initiative, called “Operation DVD Bible” will donate one copy of the DVD Bible to American soldiers for every copy purchased before the end of the year.
For more information, visit www.dvdinternational.com.
Hadassah chooses Dara Horn for major literary prize
Dara Horn, author of “The World to Come,” has won Hadassah Magazine’s 2007 Harold U. Ribalow Prize.
‘The Tribe’ hits No. 1 on iTunes store
A documentary about Jewish identity is currently the most downloaded short film on iTunes.
Tiffany Shlain, the Mill Valley director of “The Tribe,” a humorous look at American Jewish identity through the lens of Barbie, launched her film on iTunes on Oct. 2, hoping to crack the top 10 list. It is now the first independent documentary to hit number one, Shlain said.
“This says there’s an audience that wants to watch documentaries about American Jewish identity,” Shlain said. “This opens the doors for other filmmakers and expands the options of what is available to download.”
The other films in the top 10 are all by major studios such as Disney and Pixar, except for the indie “West Bank Story,” in the number seven spot, which won this year’s Academy Award for Best Short Film.
“The Tribe,” released in December 2005, was shown at 75 film festivals, including Sundance and Tribeca, and won nine awards. It is available at www.tribethefilm.com, along with a discussion kit that is used by educators in many Jewish and secular classrooms. — jta
Music collection, stolen by Nazis, donated to Juilliard
A collection of manuscripts and musical scores stolen from Arthur Rubinstein’s Paris apartment by the Nazis has been donated to the Juilliard School in New York by the late pianist’s family.
The collection of dozens of items, including original scores from other composers autographed for Rubinstein, will be kept at Juilliard as the Arthur Rubinstein Music Collection and available to scholars.
The Nazis stole the material from Rubinstein’s music library in 1940 and took it to Berlin. The Soviets took control of the collection in 1945 and returned some of the material to Germany in the late 1950s. Experts returned the collection to Rubinstein’s heirs last year.
The Polish-born Rubinstein, who died in 1982, is considered one of the finest pianists of the 20th century. He lost his family in World War II and dedicated himself after the war to performing in support of the newly created state of Israel. — ap
‘Band’ won’t be playing at Oscars
The winner of Israel’s highest cinematic honor won’t be making a visit to the Kodak Theatre for next year’s Academy Awards ceremony.
“The Band’s Visit,” the best picture winner at this year’s Ophir Awards — Israel’s equivalent of the Academy Awards — has been disqualified from the Oscar race because more than 50 percent of the film is in English and not in one of Israel’s primary languages, Hebrew and Arabic.
According to the official rules, a film may only be nominated for the best foreign film Oscar if it appears “predominantly” in one of the submitting country’s primary languages. Nine foreign films have been disqualified in the past two years for not meeting the requirement.
The disqualification for “The Band’s Visit” is being appealed, but it appears that Israel will nominate Joseph Cedar’s military drama “Beaufort,” which received the second-highest number of votes at the Ophir Awards, in its place.
“Beaufort” won the prestigious Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, among other awards. The film looks at the last days of the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000 from the perspective of an army unit stationed at an ancient Crusader fortress. — jps
The award is given annually during Jewish Book Month to an author who has written an outstanding work of fiction on a Jewish theme. It will be presented on Nov. 20 in New York City.
“The World to Come” is based on the true story of an art heist from New York’s Jewish Museum. Horn uses the theft of a Chagall painting as a portal into one family’s fictional history that, much like Chagall’s artwork, illustrates a range of emotional relationships, from the tragic to the fanciful.
“The World to Come” is Horn’s second novel. In 2006 it won the National Jewish Book Award for Fiction, and was selected as one of the best books of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Ribalow Prize was established in 1983 to honor the memory of Harold Ribalow, an editor, author and anthologist. Recent winners include Jonathan Safran Foer, author of “Everything is Illuminated”; Myla Goldberg, author of “Bee Season”; and Jenna Blum, author of “Those Who Save Us.”
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California