CULTURE
-
Autumn reads — Jewish Renaissance
My Name is Stramerby Mikołaj Łoziński, trans. Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Pushkin Press, £18.99) In his third novel, the Polish writer and photographer Mikołaj Łoziński explores the everyday lives of a Jewish family in the lead up to World War II. The story is set in the Polish town of Tarnów, where we meet Nathan and Rywka Stramer, along with their six…
Read More » -
Disaster is My Muse ★★★ — Jewish Renaissance
Maus took 13 years – “a long-term disease”, as Spiegelman puts it – and inevitably exacted a huge emotional toll. Mouly describes how he was still wrestling with horribly dark material while she was captivated by the early stages of motherhood. His daughter Nadja, herself a cartoonist, generously suggests that her parents “absorbed the horrors so we didn’t have to”.…
Read More » -
Memory, loss and resilience in the 80th year since the liberation of Bergen-Belsen — Jewish Renaissance
Sunday’s commemoration brought together survivors and their descendants, including those born in the Bergen-Belsen DP camp, alongside international dignitaries. Their testimonies, rich with memory, pain and quiet strength, served as a powerful reminder not only of what was endured, but of what was rebuilt. A tribute to resilience and to the lives that carry its legacy forward. The weather remained…
Read More » -
My Name is Rachel Corrie ★★★★ — Jewish Renaissance
Now, two decades later, My Name… has been revived by an (almost) all-Jewish team willing to brave the potential backlash, comprising British-German actor Sascha Shinder, British-South African producer Gabriel Speechly and Scottish director Susan Worsfold. And it couldn’t have come at a more pertinent time, with tensions relating to the Israel-Palestine conflict only heightening following the 7 October attacks in…
Read More » -
NIUSIA ★★★★★ — Jewish Renaissance
As the scenes shift, Beth takes on the role of her grandmother at various points in her life, seamlessly morphing into character to give the stories vibrancy. “I said my Nanna was a bitch and I stand by that,” she says. “I didn’t get her vivaciousness … I got the bitter [side].” She starts throwing the books and boxes around…
Read More » -
Inappropriate ★★★★ — Jewish Renaissance
A well-orchestrated hour of gut-clenching comedy You don’t expect to find a front row full of children at a comedy show, yet the seats seemed to be lined with them. The irony that his show is called Inappropriate is not lost on Michael Shafar. Somewhat confused, he discovers that they are on a trip from the US with some “neglegent…
Read More » -
Once Upon a Time in Algeria ★★★ — Jewish Renaissance
This romanticised vision is forgivable as it is, after all, a child’s perspective. The film itself acknowledges this, framing the story through two interweaving timelines. The first is set during the protagonist’s youth; the second decades later when he returns to Algiers as a man. He is now an internationally renowned film director and has returned to the country to…
Read More » -
The Daughter of Time ★★★★ — Jewish Renaissance
Marta Hallard, friend (and more) to Grant, is the glamorous actor playing Elizabeth of York. Not only was Elizabeth wife and Queen to Henry VII, she was the mother of the two boys – heirs to the throne – who disappeared following the death of their father, in a mystery known as the Princes in the Tower. Rachel Pickup’s carefully…
Read More » -
The Safekeep ★★★★★ — Jewish Renaissance
It is apparent is that Isabel has a very intense, even strange, relationship with the home she grew up in. This feels somehow bound up with her extreme isolation. She is not simply single, she is almost defined by her solitude. Even more mysterious is what happened to the siblings’ parents, although we are aware that their mother is dead.…
Read More » -
Jewish comedians have their shows pulled from the Edinburgh Fringe — Jewish Renaissance
Creeger said they were made to feel they “were no longer welcome” when informed on Friday 12 July they could no longer perform – just two weeks before the Fringe begins on 1 August. This is despite the fact the issue was apparently raised in May, as Luke Meredith, CEO of the PBH Free Fringe – host of Creeger and…
Read More »