Maine Jewish Film Festival #131

Louise Rosen:

I think that one of the important roles that the festival can play is, in a sense, celebrating cultural diversity through the lens of the Jewish experience. And in a place like Maine, celebrating diversity feels like a mission that maybe you wouldn't have if you were in New York or Los Angeles or Chicago, because it's already there.

Richard Kane:

I just like to be involved in a visual medium like film and which is what perhaps attracted me to making films about art in Maine. I mean, that really has become my life's work and for that I'm very grateful to have that opportunity.

Larry Rubenstein:

We end up meeting all these unbelievably funny people, good people, smart people, creative people because of the film festival, and that's what the film festival brings to the state of Maine. We find it to be an illuminating part of the cultural life of Portland to go to these films.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and Podcast Show Number 131, Maine Jewish Film Festival, airing for the first time on Sunday, March 16, 2014. Today's guests include Louise Rosen, executive and Artistic director with the Maine Jewish Film Festival Richard Kane of Kane Lewis Productions and filmmaker with the Maine Jewish Film Festival and Larry Rubinstein, retired rabbi and supporter of the Maine Jewish Film Festival. Now in its 17th year, the Maine Jewish film festival has presented over 300 domestic and foreign films and sold over 32,000 tickets to both Jewish and non Jewish attendees. This year, the Maine Jewish Film Festival will be held from March 22nd to 29th in venues throughout Greater Portland as well as selected sites throughout the state. Today we speak with Film Festival artistic and executive director Louise Rosen, filmmaker Richard Kane, and retired Rabbi Larry Rubenstein, an avid supporter of the Maine Jewish Film Festival. Thank you for joining us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I first heard of the Maine Jewish Film Festival several years ago when one of our original sponsors for the radio show asked me If I wanted to go to a reception and I wasn't able to make it to that reception. But now I'm pretty intrigued and I'm wondering if I need to spend some time not only at the reception for the Maine Jewish Film Festival, but also watching some of the films. Today we have two people who are quite involved in the Maine Jewish film

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

festival here to speak with us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We have Louise Rosen, who is the executive director and artistic director for the Maine Jewish Film Festival, and Richard Kane of Kane Lewis Productions, who has created a wonderful film on John Imber, which will be shown at the Maine Jewish Film Festival coming up in not too long. Louise is the executive and artistic director of the Maine Jewish film festival.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

She has over 25 years of experience

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

in international television and film and in that time has worked on projects that have been Oscar, Emmy, Sundance, Pre Italia and international Emmy woman winning films. And I'm loving that. Richard, you're over there giving Louise a big hug for this because I know that this is a lot of work and it's quite something. Richard is a filmmaker with 30 years experience working on documentaries for National Geographic Discovery, CBS and the Natural Resources Council of Maine, to name a few. His most recent project is Maine Masters, which is a New England Emmy nominated series about some of Maine's most distinguished artists. So we're setting the bar pretty high today. Coming in to have this conversation. I really appreciate your both coming in and having it with me.

Louise Rosen:

Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It is great work that you're doing with the Maine Jewish Film Festival. And I'll start with you, Louise. This is something that has been a passion of yours.

Louise Rosen:

Well, film has been my focus for really almost my entire professional life. So in one way or another, it's been sort of at the heart of all the work that I do. I've been working for the festival. This will be my second festival. I started in November of 2012. So I'm early in my Maine Jewish film festival experience. But Dick and I know one another from the filmmaking environment in Maine and he invited me to serve on the board of the Maine Film and Video association, which he's the chair of. And that's how we got to know one another and I got to know his work and he mine. So it was natural at the point that he had a film in progress about a main artist who was also Jewish and influenced in his work by his Judaism that we would talk about it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Neither of you are originally from Maine, but you call Maine home now.

Richard Kane:

Absolutely.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So tell me a little bit about that transition for you, Richard?

Richard Kane:

Well, I say that I'm going to die here. And maybe that's in part what this film about. John Ember is about each of our own mortality. When my friends came to visit me in my new Maine Home, they said, you got to heaven a little bit too soon. And I really feel that way. It's deeply my. My home now. I wouldn't consider living anyplace else.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I've met John Imber and Jill Hoy, and we have an article coming out in Maine Magazine about the two of them and their time as artists and also his journey through als. You're working on a film right now. I've seen the beginnings of this film, but it's in process. And that must be very interesting to be kind of going through this process with him.

Richard Kane:

It really is very difficult process to be going through with John. First of all, I have to say that I'm very grateful to the Maine Jewish Film Festival to have the confidence that this film will be worthy of being in this festival and premiered there. Louise saw a 18 minute trailer about the film and she was taken by it. But this is the first time that I've ever been committed to a festival where the film is not yet completed. But I think it was important to get the film out as soon as possible so that John would be there to see it. We're not certain at this point whether John and Jill could be there because of John's condition and his ALS has progressed rapidly. And I was just there with him yesterday and witnessed him continuing to paint. He had a feeding tube put in a week ago, and he's had a setback as a result of that surgery. But he got up and with the help of two wonderful young men who are also artists, they raised him up out of his wheelchair. His arms have no strength, but they put a pen, a paintbrush in his left hand and with a hook attached to his right hand that holds the paintbrush, he's still painting. And I witnessed him laughing in spite of the fact that he's deteriorating rapidly. So it's a very difficult film for me to witness because I feel so close to him. I feel like his brother. I don't often kiss my subjects, but I kiss John. He was born in the same town that I grew up in. We're the same age, the same cultural heritage. He has an older sister, I have an older sister. There's just so many. His parents went to Florida in the winters. Mine went to Florida in the winters. His father taught him how to play golf. My father taught me how to play golf. So we have all these similarities that I really feel that he's a member of my family. So it's very. I can't imagine actually being a member of his family, being his sister and being his wife and son, and actually seeing how als, being such a cruel disease, just takes all of his, you know, how he deteriorates so rapidly. So it is difficult.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And this is something that I think that the Maine Jewish film festival is putting out. There are these stories in a very visual and compelling way.

Louise Rosen:

Well, I know Richard's work, and I had a very strong sense when I looked at that sample material and from having spoken to him about Imber, I knew that he was going to make a really fine film. His personal and emotional engagement in the subject, putting that to one side, Dick's also a great filmmaker. So I knew that what we would get would be selfishly, an opportunity for the festival to have a world premiere of a film about a really important artist, a man whose stylistic interests and influences cover both abstract impressionism and portraiture, and that there's just this sheer force of will that comes across. So for us now that this year we are also screening films at the Portland Museum of Art, my thought was, you know, what could be better than to use one of those precious slots that we've got for screening there than to premiere this film

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

here on the

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It is interesting that at the same time you're celebrating diversity, you're also celebrating connection, so that people will see films that are put out as Maine Jewish film festival films, and yet there's a universality about them. And I know, Richard, this is something that you are very aware of because you've done work not only on artists, but you did work with. One of your pieces was called in these Times, and another was called Turning Clothing Into Food. Those were two short documentaries on hunger, which is something that impacts all of us in one way or another.

Richard Kane:

Right. I'm. I guess I'm very interested in community and in issues that impact people. And it's hard to realize that when you're living in an affluent place that there are people who are falling through the cracks. And we were very interested in. And my partner, Melody Lewis Kane, was very interested in the local food pantry and how can we help? And so we collaborated with them to create a film that is about hunger and about how food pantries can be of great help in helping those people who do fall through the cracks. I mean, people with two jobs working minimum wage, you know, can't make it with a couple of children, so they need something like a food pantry to be of to supplement their diet. And now the films have been showing in many of the places around many of the theaters around Maine. We had the great fortune of having Noel Paul Stookey contribute the music and the title in these Times to the film. And he's a great member of the community that I live in in Blue Hill. So that film, as well as the film that we made for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, I'm very interested in our environment, and I think the NRCM does an amazing job to really protect the nature of Maine. So I became involved in that project. But I'm also doing commercials and politicals as well as commercials on different products. I just like to be involved in a visual medium like film, which is what perhaps attracted me to making films about art in Maine. I mean, that really has become my life's work. And for that, I'm very grateful to have that opportunity. And many of the artists happen to be Jewish. And when I started this project on John Ember, it wasn't about a Jewish artist. And it's knowing that the film is part of the Jewish Film Festival, the Maine Jewish film festival, has made me begun to think about my own Judaism. John's wife, Jill Hoy, who's a really accomplished artist herself and has had a long history of being in Maine, she talked about how John's Judaism was really deeply rooted in who he is. So in the film, when they're looking through old family photos, they come across a photograph of John, nine years old, at a family Passover, where there's Uncle Isaac and Uncle Herman and his grandmother, Michael Abbey. And John is like a peacock in a way. He's hamming it up. He's stretching out his neck to be photographed. And hamming it up is who John is, in part. So Jill describes John as his Judaism being deeply rooted in who he is. And let me just quote what she says. John asks, how so? And she says, well, your delivery, your being, your responsibility, your search, your quest for the integrity of what you do. I think there's a very deep root there. And it made me think about, you know, well, who am I as a Jewish or. You know, both of us, John and myself, we always thought about ourselves as being secular Jews. Maybe we were both bar mitzvahed, but it was almost more of a social event than it was a religious event. And so it's something that the film begins to deal with. John actually has some very long history of having a very significant ancestor by the name of Naftali Hertz Imber, who was the author of the Israeli national anthem. He wrote a poem, hatikvah, which means hope, and it became the words to the Israeli national anthem.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I do think that this is something that I find very interesting and something I think you and I talked about on the phone, Louise. And it's this idea of documenting, of really making sure that things are not forgotten. And this is a big piece of what you're doing as you're bringing some of these films, like the John Imber film, to Maine for the Maine Jewish Film Festival. Tell me about some of your favorite films.

Louise Rosen:

Well, I think it's important to bear in mind that all of these films come from what I would refer to as independent sources. In other words, these are not being made by a studio system. So they represent a kind of independent spirit. And from a huge range of countries, you know, we've got certainly Israeli films, France, Germany, these countries are represented. We're, you know, we're really curating a collection that reflects an international sensibility. In terms of favorites, it's a tough question. I mean, we've certainly got edgy films. A film called the Gatekeepers, which was nominated for an Oscar last year, which is a very, very tough look. Israeli approach to dealing with terrorism. It features the heads of the Israeli intelligence agency called Shin Bet, and they talk about their careers as the head of that agency and reflecting back on whether their approaches ultimately made sense in terms of peace in the world, peace for Israel. And it's a tough film and very similar in style to Fog of War in as much as it uses interviews combined with archive material. So in relation to what you were just saying, yes, that's a document. I mean, we have cultural documents. A very indie and very fun film that touches on music called Awake Zion that makes the connection between reggae and Jewish music and explores the new reggae movement that exists in Israel, where there's a very vibrant reggae scene, but also connects with Crown Heights and of course, a period of time when the Caribbean community and Crown Heights and the Orthodox community clashed. But then looking at the fact that there's now this kind of inspired fertilization between the two communities, musically speaking. And great film. We've got a German film called An Apartment in Berlin that looks at the emigration of young Israelis to Germany, which for a lot of the older generation is really a bit of a taboo idea. And yet Israelis are drawn, these 20 somethings, 30 somethings, are drawn to a place like Berlin for all the reasons anyone would be. It's a cosmopolitan city. It's got wonderful quality of life, very lively, active place. And dealing with Berlin as having been the center for the extermination programs during the Holocaust. There's a big push pull there. So it's exciting to learn about what are these young people thinking and what are their experiences being there and how are their families responding to them. We've got a Latina Jewish comedy written and directed by a young woman named Nicole Gomez Fisher, who's also an actress and a writer and a director and stars Gina Rodriguez, who was, you know, one of the it girls of Sundance about a year and a half ago. And it's a. It's a comedy story about a young woman coming of age and dealing with Pressure from her family about, you know, so when are you going to get married again? And what's, you know, where's your life going? And, you know, those universal themes. I think Jewish mothers exist in almost every culture, so. So here we see one that part of the time is muttering under her breath in Spanish about her daughter.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And in both of your cases, the image I'm getting is of someone who is curating, is someone who is creating some sort of story. I mean, in your case, Richard, you're obviously creating a story. You and I were talking about how the Imber film is going to begin and end, and it's still playing itself out. I think in your mind, Louise, you're talking about sort of creating a story around the Maine Jewish film festival. And it's a very. It must be an interesting process to try to determine what do you bring in? What do you leave out? How do you place things?

Richard Kane:

I want to emphasize about the Imbra film that it's not simply a tragedy, a depressing story about a great artist with this terminal disease, but it's a. I look at it as a black comedy. John's humor is. Jill calls it a borscht belt humor, but it's darkly funny. He's painting a scene plein air out in Stonington, and he asks. And Jill is helping him. And he asks Jill for a little a cloth with turpentine. And she says, oh, that turp is deadly. And John says, oh, I don't mind deadly. You know, I'll do it. So all throughout the film is sprinkled with all this black humor that is just. It's totally touching. And it talks a lot about John's humanity and compassion. And I think that's what the film is more about then simply his als.

Louise Rosen:

You know, this whole idea that you suggest of sort of curating experiences, I think that's very much what a good film festival is about. And when the public, when your audience develops that confidence that I'm going to go along for this ride, these aren't films that have had big marketing budgets behind them. They may not necessarily have. You know, not all of them can be promoted as having been Oscar nominees, but when they develop that sense that the journey that you're going to take them on is going to be one that's worthwhile wherever it goes, and they trust you. They go along with you. And I love that experience of sort of sharing my enthusiasm for something with the public, with the audience, helping them to. Bringing them to what I saw in that film or in that opportunity of observation, to share that with them and then see what happens afterwards. Because we have. I mean, we're lucky that we've got dick right here in Maine, but we're doing everything to bring as many filmmakers to the festival as possible so that they can participate in Q and A's after the films are running. Because this is, let's face it, you know, you can sit at home and watch films on Netflix or, you know, on cable or whatever, but coming to a theater and sharing that experience of sitting in the dark and having both a great visual and emotional and auditory experience, this is why we go to cinemas and then to have the filmmaker afterwards, or someone connected with the film or the subject of the film in some ways afterwards, to be able to share. Share what your reaction is. This is what people really savor. And we're offering as many of those kinds of experiences as we can. We've got filmmakers coming from Sweden, from Germany, New York, Miami, from Miami. It kind of goes to the story that I told you on the phone. When I relayed to a friend of mine in LA that I had joined the Maine Jewish Film Festival, he took a long pause and he said, there are Jews in Maine in March. And I said, yeah, not everybody's a snowbird, you know. So, yes, we've got a filmmaker coming from Miami.

Richard Kane:

I just want to add that there's another reason to come to the Maine Jewish Film festival, other than the films and the talks afterwards. But it's got the greatest food at any festival I've ever been to. It was unbelievable last year, the spread that they put out. I don't know where they get that from.

Louise Rosen:

Well, the Jews and food, you gotta have good food. I mean, it goes with the whole profile.

Richard Kane:

A little scene in the film about John Ember. He's got a bagel and lox, and he just devours that thing in his hamming it up kind of way. I'd like to find out where that term hamming it up comes from, since

Louise Rosen:

ham is definitely not kosher.

Richard Kane:

Not kosher. But John, he devours this bagel and lox with such relish. So food is a very important thing. And now it's become very sad that John can't eat anymore because he's on a feeding tube. So he related that to me. So it's, you know, tragic comedy. And as the festival, I'm sure is, it's got all the emotions.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And that is something that strikes me, Louise, as you're talking about bringing together people who have watched the Film and who have been emotionally impacted, we hope, by a specific film. And then people who have created the film, like Richard, you know, so that you can actually have a back and forth about that. I do believe that this is one of the, one of the interesting things about Netflix just say, you know, that we are so insular in our viewing a very emotionally challenging things at times. And wouldn't it be great to actually have the chance to have a conversation with somebody right after this has sort of opened up our hearts in a way.

Louise Rosen:

Well, when you mentioned documenting experience earlier, the festival is also working with the Holocaust and Human Rights center at umaine Augusta, the Michael Klar center, which is a beautiful facility if people haven't been to it. It's a. It's a gorgeous contemporarily designed building and a wonderful exhibit space and activity space. And we're working with the folks at the HHRC to set up a conference on Arxiv. Because Richard is using archive in his film. It's the personal archive, the family photo album, the scrapbook. So many films use archive material. We rely on archive in ways that it can be so subtle that we're not even aware of it. So we have a Swedish film coming to the festival that uses some very unique archive. And it got me thinking in knowing these filmmakers and the kind of work that they're doing in Malmo, in the south of Sweden, I thought to myself, you know, there's something about archive and our sense of identity and where that comes from. There's some links to be made here. So with the filmmaker's work as part of it, we're bringing the co founder of Northeast Historic Film Maine has here an actual world class archive facility, Northeast Historic Film in Bucksport, who have done amazing work conserving and restoring archive footage from all around northern New England. We have the national center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University in Waltham, which is again a world class institution that is dedicated to preserving Jewish film. We've got a representative, the woman who's the executive co founder and the executive director, Sharon Revo, is coming from national center for Jewish Film. We have the filmmakers. And then I think it looks pretty likely that we will also have a representative from the U.S. holocaust Museum and Memorial in Washington whose focus is on. She's considered the chief of the research section for the International Tracing Service, which is essentially an enormous database of German Arxiv. So our theme running through this conference will be the role of Arxiv in restoring and conserving identity. And that can be on the small, very personal, individual basis, having the photo of your, you know, your Uncle Ira and being able to share that with your children and your grandchildren and tell a story around it. Or it can be for an entire culture for the state of Maine and the archive that we have about Maine's history.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I know that we could keep talking about this for quite a long time. There are so many different strands that I'd like to kind of tug on a little bit and find out a little bit more about since we're limited by time. Richard how can people find out more about Kane Lewis Productions and the work that you've done on Main Masters and with the National Source Council of Maine and.

Richard Kane:

Well, the Maine Masters series is sponsored by the Union of Maine Visual Artists and the website for Maine Masters is mainmasters.com and you can see on the front homepage there's a story about John Ember and there are clips from every one of the films. There are 15 films now. John's film will be the first 15th in the series and there are five or six more that are in various stages of production and fundraising and distribution. So and then Kane Lewis Productions is my company that distributes the main Masters documentaries and under that company name we produce other films, some about the arts and some about the environment and commercials and so and that website is cainelewis.com

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Louise when is the Maine Jewish film festival? When does it start and how can people find out more?

Louise Rosen:

Opening night is March 22nd. Our opening night film is the Jewish Cardinal. Talk about crossover potential between the Catholic and the Jewish communities and the French speaking communities of Maine. I think we've got some special guests coming. Tumont seniors from the Catholic Church who will come to speak with Larry Rubenstein, who I know you've spoken with after the film. Our schedule goes live on our website on Friday on Valentine's Day. And the website is mjff.org Tickets are on sale through brown paper tickets, but also for the screenings that are taking place in Waterville at Railroad Square, in Brunswick, at the Frontier, in the Rockland area, at the Strand and up in Bangor at the Bangor Opera House. Each of those organizations websites will have their tickets available.

Richard Kane:

And may I say that the film on John Ember will be on March 23, Sunday at 3pm at the Portland Museum of Art.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I suspect I will see you at

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

the Maine Jewish film festival. Each of you, I hope people who are listening will also have take the time to watch some of the films and interact with the two of you the Maine Jewish Film Festival. We've been speaking with Louise Rosen, who is the executive and artistic director at the Maine Jewish Film Festival, and Richard Kane from Kane Lewis Productions, and a filmmaker and producer of a film at the Maine Jewish Film Festival. I appreciate all the work that you're doing to bring this media to Maine. It's wonderful.

Louise Rosen:

Thanks very much.

Richard Kane:

Thank you, Lisa. Appreciate it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

each year Maine is privileged to have a number of people show up and sponsor the Maine Jewish Film Festival and also not just sponsor the Maine Jewish Film Festival, but really take part and put it out there as a cultural event that deserves recognition. Today with us we have Rabbi Larry Rubinstein. He is actually a retired rabbi, but very much a supporter of the Maine Jewish Film Festival and actually someone who knows one of the characters in the film that's going to be featured at the Maine Jewish Film Festival. So thanks for coming in.

Larry Rubenstein:

You're welcome. Nice to be here.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I shouldn't exactly say character, because the person we're talking about is the Jewish cardinal, is a real person that really existed and somebody that you knew.

Larry Rubenstein:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So tell me about that.

Larry Rubenstein:

Well, as a little bit of a history, I stopped being a congregational rabbi, a pastor, in 1978, and went to work for an organization called the United Jewish Appeal. United Jewish Appeal was the umbrella organization for fundraising for all of the major Jewish communities in the United States. The local Jewish community here in Maine was part of that umbrella. And at that time, I was living in Philadelphia and I went to work in New York. I commuted from Philadelphia. I went to work in New York for part of that group called the Young Leadership Cabinet, which was the 300 men under the age of 40. In those days, men and women didn't mix together. And I developed a reputation for being a really good programmer. And so I was there for four years. And at the end of four years, he stopped being young. So I had to go do something else. And I ended up going back to Philadelphia and becoming the director of the Jewish Federation of Philadelphia, which was the third largest federation in the United States. And because of my programming skills, the United Jewish Appeal sort of consulted with me on things every year. One of the ways in which the United Jewish Appeal raised money was it used to take missions, which is, groups of people that had cognate interests to various locations that had Jewish themes to them, and then on to Israel. And I would always be the one that would come up with the ideas about what to do. And one of the things that I got an idea about was the role of the French Jewish. The French Jewish community and the French community during the Second World War to save Jews from the Nazis. Although France gets a very bad reputation for being allies of the Nazis, once they fell, the Vichy government, there were large pockets of people who didn't go along with that. And one of the areas where that was true was in the Bordeaux region, the great. One of the great French wine growing districts. And wine is a major interest of mine. I taught wine courses and everything else. But there was a period of time when the people of the Bordeaux region during the Second World War did everything they could to hide Jews and to protect them from the Nazis, because they also didn't like the Nazis very much. The Nazis understood that if they could somehow take the wine industry away from France, they would break the back the soul of the French. And the French knew that if they had the wine industry taken from them, their soul would also be broken. So they did everything they could to keep the wine industry out of the hands of the Germans. And they also, as a result, wanted to protect the Jews who lived in the Bordeaux region, who were very active in the wine industry, including a very famous family, the Rothschild family, that owned Mouton Rothschild, which was one of the great vineyards in all of France. And Edmund de Rothschild, who at that time was the senior person, worked with the local community. And probably they saved 5 to 10,000 Jews by hiding them in their chateau cellars, making believe they were working in the vineyards even though they weren't, and this kind of thing, and making believe they weren't Jewish, so the Germans wouldn't be able to finger them. So what I wanted to do is I wanted to take one of these missions, these UJA missions to the Bordeaux region of France to see, study what happened there and to work with the Rothschild family, all of whom had survived. And at that time, Philippe de Rothschild was the latest in the senior people of the Rothschild family. And we got in touch with him and we told him what we wanted to do. And he said, that's a great idea. And I said, we'll go to Israel afterwards together. And by the way, this mission was called the President's Mission. And the President's Mission was the highest givers to the United Jewish Appeal. These were people who give on the average of 100,000 or more a year on an annual basis. And so it was a pretty high level mission. And it was my job to program for this mission. I was from Philadelphia, but I was doing it. We always had a few people from Philadelphia who participated as well. And Rothschild, Philippe de Rothschild said, you know, I have an idea, why don't we go up to Paris afterwards and meet with Aaron Lusterge? So who's Aaron Lusterge? Who's the cardinal? So we know him as Jean Marie Lusterge. He said, no, well, you know, I knew him when he was a kid. So he's Aaron Lustig and why don't we meet with him? Because he was born a Jew and he's still got loyalties to the Jewish community, but he's a cardinal and we'll go up there and we'll have a meeting with him and maybe we'll invite him to go with us to Israel. And that's what we did. And Lustige said, yes. Now all of this took place probably six months to a year before the film. The incidents in the film were recorded. And we took Lusterge to Israel. And he was a survivor of the Holocaust. He was a young man, I think he was 13 years old when the Nazis came to France. And he, he never lost his loyalty to the Jewish people. He felt that he was born a Jew. He had had a revelation about Catholicism when he was a young man. His father witnessed his conversion to Catholicism. Never was happy with it, but still there was family loyalty that took place. And we talked to Lucid J about going to Israel and he said absolutely, that was the first time he went. And when we were there, we took him to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial. And he had a million questions about what was going on. And it was like he had discovered what really happened during the Holocaust. He had personally been through it. He had not really, he didn't really know all of the information. And Yad Vashem, he picked up a lot of the information. Now this precedes by about less than a year after he became cardinal, the desire on the part of a small group of nuns in Poland to establish a convent at Auschwitz, the great concentration camp, the biggest concentration camp, which of course roused the ire of the Jewish community. This was sort of an unholy Jewish place, but it was a very important Jewish place. And they didn't think that. And I don't think that a convent belonged on that turf. And the question was, how did not have that happen. And Lustige apparently was a friend of Jean Paul II and he went to speak to him. We don't know exactly what the conversation was, but what we do know, the movie sort of makes out that there was a conversation, but it was a made up conversation. That what he basically did is he said, look, you have to get the Polish Catholic Church to get rid of this. I won't do it. And so the question was how to do that. And you had. Lustige had to go to his counterpart in Poland, the cardinal of Poland, and get him to withdraw this thing. And the cardinal of Poland really wasn't convinced, as a lot of people weren't, that there really had been a Holocaust the way it had taken place. And so there was an arrangement made where the two cardinals were going to meet. Interestingly enough, in the film they identify where that meeting takes place. I don't know if you remember that, but it took place in Geneva, Switzerland, at the Rothschild estate in Geneva. Now the question is, of course, how did they get to the Rothschild estate? Well, Lustis was friends with the Rothschilds and that's how it happened. So what happened was the cardinal of Poland, who was reluctant to be there. As a matter of fact, they show that in the film where he's late coming and his aides tell him he has to be there. And what ends up happening is Lustu J Says, you don't know what really happened to the Jewish people. You have to go to Yad Vashem. You have to see what I saw. And he finally gets the cardinal to go. And the cardinal comes back and says, I had no idea. And that was the end of the convent in Auschwitz. And that's what the story's about. And my part in it is that I was there with him prior to his having convinced the Polish cardinal that he should go. And we had a number of conversations. He was interested in Jewish history. He was interested in what the psyche of the Jewish people were after the Holocaust. He was interested in in what the importance of the state of Israel was to the Jewish people. And I had those conversations with him, and I found him to be extremely well informed, very, very smart, and very committed to both his Jewish roots and to his Catholic religion.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And that's an interesting duality to be able to have, especially when you're that high up in the Catholic Church.

Larry Rubenstein:

Yeah, it is. And of course, it caused great consternation for his parents, for his father. His mother died in Auschwitz, but his sister accepted it and understood it, but his father didn't, never really did. And he was conflicted about it himself because there were Jewish ritual prayers when his father died that he could not say because he was a Catholic. And he always felt, apparently now, according to the movie, I don't know, I never talked to him about this, but he apparently felt very badly about it. His father died after I knew him, so this was something that happened after his trip to Israel. But he had some conflict about it in terms of the two religions butting up against each other. But his Jewish roots and his loyalty to the concept of the people of Israel was there.

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Dr. Lisa Belisle:

what you're describing sort of on this side of Your life and actually your life as a whole is in such stark contrast to what happened during the Holocaust, where lives were effectively erased. People went in with a very rich cultural heritage and personal histories, and many were never heard from again. So is that part of what's happening with the Maine Jewish film festival? Is this attempt, and maybe in your life as well, is this attempt to almost live more fully, almost sort of reconstitute and have the stories be told?

Larry Rubenstein:

Well, that's certainly a motivation, certainly a motivation for me to do what I do. Although I will tell you that I am more motivated in doing the kinds of work that I do and being involved as a volunteer in the not for profit world. I'm more motivated by the ethic and ideology of the United States, which I think is unique. We're a unique country. One of the most important books, I think, ever written about the United States is Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, where he describes the importance of the volunteer sector in the United States and making it unique and the involvement of volunteers and volunteerism in fundraising and in support of not for profit institutions that improve the community in which they exist, which doesn't exist in Europe the same way. Europe is much more government controlled, and as a result, nothing works right in Europe. Here things work much better. And it's very important for us as Americans to be volunteers and to support volunteer institutions that function for the public good. And that's a major motivation for me, and that's what I tell people all the time. Actually, tomorrow, Thursday, I'm doing a training session for 10 arts programs under the auspices of the Maine Arts Commission to help them do better fundraising so that we can have stronger arts institutions in the state. And I think that the Maine Jewish Film Festival is going to that as well. So I'm very committed to this concept of. This American concept of volunteerism.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I do agree that volunteerism is very important. But I think equally compelling are the stories that bring people to volunteer. So this is why I love the fact that you can come in and you can tell the story about the Jewish cardinal and you can. Actually, you mentioned to me when we were talking before that there's a Jewish film festival relationship with the Kachmar organ.

Larry Rubenstein:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So these stories, I think, are just as important, your ability to tell them other people's ability to go and watch a film at the film festival, because I think that that really does draw people in.

Larry Rubenstein:

I think you're right. I think you're right. And there is a. I'm Very proud of what the Maine Jewish film festival does because it brings to the entire community, not just the Jewish community, a good piece of the Jewish cultural life. If you see any of the films there, it's not a religious. It's not a religious festival. It has all kinds of attachments to the Jewish community. It could be through the state of Israel, it could be Jewish producers, it could be Jewish directors, it could be Jewish subject matter. And I mean, I've had an absolutely fascinating time being involved with this. I can think of one particular young woman I met who was a director of a film that was produced about. She made it about herself. She was a film student at NYU in New York, but her family was from Israel. Her father, very famous man, Amos alone, who was a major political figure in Israel. And she was his only daughter. And he and his wife did not have time to raise her, so he hired a male nanny to take care of her. And he was a Palestinian because there are Palestinian Arabs that live in Israel as citizens. And that's what he was. And she grew up really more with this Palestinian Arab as a father than her own father. And he had children and she identified with them as brothers and sisters. And then what she did is, after many, many years, came to the United States and tried to find all of those people, many of whom had come to the United States, including the father, the Erzatz father that she had. And she made a film about finding these people. And Robin and I, my wife and I went to dinner with her and talked to her about it. And it was just unbelievable to hear her story, personal, aside from the film that we saw. Then it turned out, and we thought for sure her husband and her little baby were with her. And we were sure her husband, she had married an Arab. We were sure of that. This guy was dark skinned. And we just thought he was. She had met him in Israel, he was an Israeli Arab. It turned out that he was from Morocco and his father was the Chief Rabbi of Paris. So, you know, and we meet all these incredibly interesting people as a result of this film festival. We met a guy who was the director of a film called the Hasidic Actors Guild. And it was about a. He made up. It was a fiction. He made this whole thing up. It was a comedy. Most people didn't realize it was a comedy. They thought he was making a documentary about this Hasidic Actors Guild which didn't exist. And he was a riot. This guy was the funniest guy we've ever met. And again, we got to meet him because of the Maine Jewish film festival. So we end up meeting all these unbelievably funny people, good people, smart people, creative people, because of the film festival. And that's what the film festival brings to the state of Maine. And as I said, it's not just Jewish stuff. It's all kinds of stuff that Jews may be related to. So it could be a regular story. It could be a story. It was an incredible story. A movie we saw about a guy whose father died and kept calling him from heaven on the phone. He kept getting these phone calls, had nothing to do with Judaism. It was a. But apparently it was a French film and it was directed by a Jew. So that's the reason that the film festival showed it. And it was one of these very funny stories where every time this guy got involved with a girl, his father would call him and say, no, this is not the right girl for you. That kind of thing. So anyway, we find it to be an illuminating part of the cultural life of poor Lintus to go to these films. We don't go to all of them. We go to some of them. My wife goes to all of them. I go to some of the.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, it's been quite a privilege to have you in talking to us today about a broad variety of subjects, not the least of which is the Maine Jewish Film Festival. But we appreciate your coming relocating to Maine and becoming a part of the fabric of the culture and doing the work that you're doing. We'll be speaking with other people who are also involved in the Maine Jewish Film Festival. But if anybody would like to Google the Friends of the Kotchmar organ, the Portland Museum of Art, Bicycle Coalition of Maine, and any of these things, get more information about the things you're passionate about. I would really, I would encourage it. We've been speaking with Rabbi Larry Rubenstein, who is a retired rabbi and does so many things. Thank you so much for coming in.

Larry Rubenstein:

It's a pleasure to be here. Thanks for giving me the chance to talk about these things.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You have been listening to the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour and podcast show number 131 Maine Jewish film Festival. Our guests have included Louise Rosen, Richard Kean and Larry Rubenstein. For more information on our guests and extended interviews, visit drlisabelisle.com the Dr. Lisa Radio Arm Podcast is downloadable for free on itunes. For a preview of each week's show, sign up for our E Newsletter and like our Dr. Lisa Facebook page. Follow me as bountiful1 on Instagram and read my take on health and well being on the Bountiful Blog. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us to bring the Dr. Lisa Radio Hour to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed our Maine Jewish Film Festival show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.