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Friday June 13, 2008

Shorts: Art

Play explores dating scene for seniors

Nothing is scarier (or perhaps funnier) than reentering the dating world — especially if you’re a 70-year-old widow, as is the lead character in the new play “Window Into a Widow’s World.”

A reading of the comedic one-act play about the trials and tribulations of a newly single senior will take place at 1 p.m. June 26 at the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center, 14855 Oka Road in Los Gatos.

Norma Slavit, coordinator of the Silicon Valley Senior Widow/Widower/ Singles group at the center, wrote the play, which stars Bee Shutlman and Larry Siders. The event is free and refreshments will be served. For reservations, call (408) 253-7200.

Aharon Appelfeld wins Italian literary prize

Israeli novelist Aharon Appelfeld was awarded the Grinzane Cavour’s 2008 special prize for his book “Badenheim, 1939.”

Other Israeli authors to receive a Grinzane Cavour Award include A.B. Yehoshua; David Grossman, who won for foreign literature in 1994 and 1997; Amos Oz, for Mediterranean culture in 2007; and Sayed Kashua, an Israeli Arab who writes in Hebrew, for new authors in 2004.

The awards, organized by a foundation in Italy and sponsored by regional authorities, were first conferred in 1982. — jta

Columnist wins first Be’chol Lashon award

Television news producer Robin Washington has won the first Be’chol Lashon Media Award, established to honor excellence in coverage of the ethnic and racial diversity of world Jewry. The award was presented in San Francisco at the Be’chol Lashon International Think Tank, an annual conference of black, Latino and mixed-race Jewish leaders.

Washington, who is also editorial page editor of the Duluth News Tribune and a National Public Radio commentator, was cited for “his journalistic excellence and passion in bringing the stories of Jews of color to mainstream American print and broadcast media over his 30-year career.”

Be’chol Lashon is a research initiative of the Institute for Jewish & Community Research.

Director ducks out of Israeli film festival

French director Jean-Luc Godard withdrew from an Israeli film festival last week, allegedly due to pressure from pro-Palestinian groups.

Godard, a leader of the New Wave cinema of the 1960s, planned to fly into Tel Aviv to officiate at the International Student Film Festival. But he canceled on short notice, a move event organizers said appeared to have been politically motivated.

A pro-Palestinian group had written to Godard urging him to stay away from Israel in protest of its policies.

“We are very disappointed because he seems to have succumbed to pressure from pro-Palestinian groups who launched a campaign for people to boycott Israel,” said Morane Tal, a festival organizer. — jta

Show to test new immigrants to Israel

A new Israeli reality television show will pit English-speaking immigrants against each other.

In “HaOlim,” eight new immigrants will go through a series of “Survivor”-like challenges acclimating to life in the Jewish state.

The winner “will be granted a golden ticket into Israeli society with a luxury apartment facing the beach in Tel Aviv, a brand new car, a dream job, and many more amenities to make for the ultimate aliyah,” the Israeli producers, Highlight Films, say on the show’s Web site.

Filming is scheduled to begin in the fall. The company is accepting applications from would-be contestants. — jta

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