Take a traditional Jewish funeral whose rituals no one can quite recall. Add a Yiddishkeit community in Paris, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and top it off with an ensemble cast of dysfunctional siblings and spouses. What you get in the assured hands of director Idit Cébula is the charmingly poignant French film Rue Mandar. For elder brother Charles, sister Rosemonde, and youngest sibling Emma, their widowed mother’s funeral marks the end of an era. Brought together after years of separation, they are soon squabbling about religious tradition, each other, and what to do with their parents’ apartment at 13 Rue Mandar. Rue Mandar reminds us that the messy, sometimes humorous, and often bittersweet business of death can lead to new beginnings.
Preceded by:
Reverence
Reverence dissects the meaning and context behind branded kippahs (scull caps or, in Yiddish, yarmulkes) and the concept of faith in a modern world while exploring the societal and religious norms that these garments may challenge, focusing on the notion of "fitting in" and "standing out" within the Reform and Conservative Jewish communities.
Filmmaker Collin Kornfeind is scheduled to join us for a Q&A after the film.