We are very excited to share the opening night festivities to the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival with you! This grand event took place Wednesday, January 30th, 2013 at the Cobb Energy Centre. The opening night gala kicked off with a red carpet VIP reception that led to a luscious array of dining options for the evening. A total of 11 restaurants and their respective chefs were represented that evening providing their own specialty dish to serve patrons for the evening. To name a few: Chef Marlyn Dobbs of Aja, Chef Chad Clevenger of Alma Cocina, Chef Gary Donlick of Bistrok Niko, and Cobb Energy’s own Chef MG Farris were all in attendance preparing everything for Devil’s Tail Redfish to Spinach and Lamb Roulade!
Whilst savoring every bit of these culinary masterpieces we continued into the lobby where the silent auction was held. Auction items included a Ritz-Carlton Buckhead Deluxe Weekend Stay for 2, TCM Classic Film Festival passes in Hollywood, an 8 day stay at Ted Turner’s West Virginia home for 8 people, Davio’s dinner for 6 w/wine pairings, and 2 tickets to the 2013 Primetime Emmy Awards with Airfare and Hotel! There were some serious items up for auction that night!
After a few hours of mixed drinks, mingling, and PLENTY of food we moved into the auditorium for a special screening of the film “Hava Nagila”, directed by Roberta Grossman.
“Hava Nagila” traces the cultural impact of the Hebrew folk song that transcended its origins to become one of the most recognizable songs in the world. The film features appearances by familiar faces Leonard Nimoy and Harry Belafonte and travels deep into Eastern Europe and around the globe to discover the true beginnings of this memorable tune. “Hava Nagila” meaning “let us rejoice,” was an entertaining film that digs deep in both cultural and musical history. It’s the type of film where you can leave feeling more informed and empowered than before you arrived. Because of this film I know the relevance of the song and dance in Jewish culture as well as why the song means so much to its people.
Atlanta, please be advised…. We have an amazing opportunity at our very fingertips the entire month of February. The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival goes from January 30th to February 20th! Make sure you check their website http://www.ajff.org to choose a movie that fits your liking. There are a lot of movies to choose from so just to kick things off we’ll tell you what we’re going to see and you can decide if it fits your interest. As of right now we’re set to see “Blinky and Me” (A documentary on the life of Yorum Gross and his animation) and “Koch” (A documentary on former NY Mayor Ed Koch). “Koch” will definitely carry more meaning with it as the announcement of his passing came just this morning.
As of 5pm Wednesday evening, the AJFF committee confirmed they had sold more than 30,000 tickets to the 2013 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival! What an accomplishment and congratulations to the AJFF for a great opening night and all the hard work that went into pre-sales and planning. Again, you can check movies and screening venues HERE
To close we’ll leave you with a quote from 4-time AJFF attendee Anan Stillman:
“Regardless of your background, ethnicity, or heritage, anyone who loves cinema would appreciate and enjoy the offering that they have because of the diversity. The reality is you’ll find some great movies, you’ll find some movies you may not enjoy, but regardless they’ll be thought-provoking and cultural and something that Atlanta needs.”
We couldn’t agree more! We’ll have the entire festival wrap-up featured in the next edition of The Peach Review®!
-TPR
