JxJ Puts Hank Greenberg Back on the Big Screen:
Washington Jewish Film Festival Celebrates 40 Years of Ciesla Films
Aviva Kempner and a scene from The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg. Photo credit Bruce Guthrie.
“I believe that I have been put on this earth to make films to counter negative stereotypes and give credit to Jewish heroes.”
Aviva Kempner
To celebrate Aviva Kemper’s storied filmmaking career, the Washington Jewish Film Festival presents
40 YEARS OF FILMMAKING: AN AVIVA KEMPNER RETROSPECTIVE.
Beginning on Friday, November 15 and running through Saturday, November 23,
Washington JFF will host screenings of all of Kempner’s films,
along with Q&A sessions with the filmmaker.
A child of Holocaust survivor Helen Ciesla and Harold Kempner, a US Army officer,
Kempner was born in Berlin, Germany after World War II.
Educated at the University of Michigan and The Antioch School of Law, she lives in
Washington, DC where she plays a prominent role in the artist and film community.
She is also an activist for voting rights for the District of Columbia and
a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
All are invited and encouraged to attend.
Kempner calls the Retrospective,
“one of the great honors of my career, and an amazing opportunity to talk about films with my audience.”
The films Partisans of Vilna, Rosenwald, Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, and
The Spy Behind Home Plate will be screened at Cafritz Hall, in the DC Jewish Community Center on 16th St. NW.
For more information on the Retrospective, visit the Washington Jewish Film Festival website.
The Celebration for Aviva Kempner and Ciesla Continues at the 2019 Moment Gala!
Be there when Moment honors independent journalism with an evening of conversation hosted by Robert Siegel and music by the Yiddish production of Fiddler on the Roof at the National Press Club on Sunday, November 24, 2019 at
6:00 PM EST.
Tickets available here.
National Press Club
529 14th St NW
Washington DC, 20045
Meet Your Neighbors update:
Celebrating 40 years of documentary filmmaking
Aviva Kempner and Ciesla’s 40 anniversary are featured in this week’s edition Forest Hills Connection,
a local online magazine in Washington, DC. Read the article
Spy at the Central Florida Jewish Film Festival and the Rutgers Jewish Film Festival
November 10
11:00 AM
The Enzian Theater
The Central Florida Jewish Film Festival will be screening The Spy Behind Home Plate at Maitland’s The Enzian Theater this Sunday morning.
November 10
12:30 PM
AMC Loews New Brunswick A
November 11
7:00 PM
Princeton Garden Theater
Moe Berg returns to New Jersey this weekend for two showings as part of the Rutgers Jewish Film Festival! Aviva will be attending both screenings as a guest speaker.
For more upcoming screenings and ticket information, click here.