Itamar Borochov And Innov Gnawa To Open Ny Sephardic Jewish Film Festival at Center For Jewish History

The 21st anniversary edition of the NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival features compelling stories and evocative documentaries about Iraqi, Syrian, Mexican, Egyptian, Israeli, French, Tunisian, Ethiopian, and Greek communities

The American Sephardi Federation’s NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival showcases contemporary voices steeped in the history, traditions, and rich mosaic culture of Greater Sephardic communities. The ten-day Festival features premiere film screenings, intriguing stories, evocative documentaries, Q&As with filmmakers, as well as special honorees and guests. The Pomegranate Awards Ceremony on Opening Night celebrates Sephardi excellence in the arts. Past recipients include Senior Counselor to the King of Morocco André Azoulay, French-Algerian recording legend Enrico Macias, Kuwaiti star and human rights activist Ema Shah, and Morocco-Israeli poet Erez Bitton....

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The 21st anniversary edition of the NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival features compelling stories and evocative documentaries about Iraqi, Syrian, Mexican, Egyptian, Israeli, French, Tunisian, Ethiopian, and Greek communities

The American Sephardi Federation’s NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival showcases contemporary voices steeped in the history, traditions, and rich mosaic culture of Greater Sephardic communities. The ten-day Festival features premiere film screenings, intriguing stories, evocative documentaries, Q&As with filmmakers, as well as special honorees and guests. The Pomegranate Awards Ceremony on Opening Night celebrates Sephardi excellence in the arts. Past recipients include Senior Counselor to the King of Morocco André Azoulay, French-Algerian recording legend Enrico Macias, Kuwaiti star and human rights activist Ema Shah, and Morocco-Israeli poet Erez Bitton.
 
Each night of the Festival is a different themed program honoring the rich and diverse communities ASF represents.
 
“For the NYSJFF 21st Edition, we are proud to present poignant and powerful programs, including a number of New York premieres,” said Sara Nodjoumi, Artistic Director of the New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival.
“From Stars, Konrad Wolf’s classic, cinematic gem on the Greek Holocaust experience, to Cecile Peck’s Brave Miss World about a Moroccan-Israeli beauty contestant’s struggle against sexual violence, these are universal stories that speak to the issues of our time (discrimination, persecution, immigration, resistance) and all time,” Nodjoumi said.
 
NYSJFF Artistic Director Sara Nodjoumi produced The Iran Job, and is a programming alumna of the Tribeca Film Festival, where her latest film, When God Sleeps, premiered earlier this year. 
 
David Serero, the producer of the NYSJFF's star-studded 20th edition, returns to produce this year's Festival. A Moroccan-French opera singer and actor with many credits to his name, Serero previously created and starred in ASF's successful theatrical season (Merchant of Venice, Othello, and Nabucco), and will star in April and June 2018 as Cyrano de Bergerac and Don Giovanni at the ASF.
 
All films and events are taking place at the Center for Jewish History located at 15 West 16th Street. The complete list of selected NYSJFF films with dates, times, as well as pass and ticket information can be found at www.nysephardifilmfestival.org 
 
Moroccan Opening Night, Monday, March 5th at 7pm.
On March 5th 2018 at 7pm, the Annual Pomegranate Awards Ceremony will feature a special performance of Sebt Gnawa, the revival of the seldom summoned Moroccan-Jewish spirits, by Grammy-nominated Innov Gnawa with Sephardi Jazz trumpeter Itamar Borochov.

The 21st NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival will commence with an exclusive cultural experience: the summoning of seldom heard Jewish spirits from the Gnawa repertoire.

Gnawa, the traditional, ritual healing music of black communities formed of former soldiers and slaves, who originated in Northern Mali and Mauritanian before being brought to Morocco, has "raw, hypnotic power [that has] fascinated outsiders as diverse as writer/composer Paul Bowles, jazz giant Randy Weston and rock god Jimi Hendrix." Sometimes called "the Moroccan Blues," Gnawa features unique instrumentation "from the lute-like sintir that the Maâlem uses to call the tune, to the metal qarqaba (castinets) with which the kouyos (chorus) keep time and pound out clattering, hypnotic rhythms."

Composed of Moroccan expatriates in America, the Grammy-nominated Innov Gnawa is working with Jaffa-born, Brooklyn-based Bukaharian Jazz trumpeter and composer Itamar Borochov to save the Sebt (in Moroccan Darija) or Shabbat spirits from oblivion. "Music is at the heart of the shared Judeo-Muslim Moroccan heritage. To have Itamar, whose played Jazz at Lincoln Center and whose latest album is a Downbeat Editor's Pick, come together with Innov to preserve and revive Sebt Gnawa is a most meaningful tribute to this legacy, and a wonderful way with which to celebrate the Moroccan culture of coexistence at the NY Sephardic Jewish Film Festival," says Jason Guberman, Executive Director of the American Sephardi Federation.

The evening will feature a reception of traditional kosher Moroccan cuisine and presentation of the Pomegranate Awards, designed by Baghdad-born artist and ASF Board Member Oded Halahmy.

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