Culture News

Everything written about art, music and the celebration of holidays in Israel is published in culture news. Innovative artists, chefs and musicians from around the world that are inspired by the Judaism and the holy land are also featured in culture news. This is the best source on the web to read about Jewish creativity.

Martin Scorsese looks inside filmmaking with Tel Aviv U. students

Scorsese's interviewers told him he would always be welcome at TAU.

Amid COVID-19, Beit Avi Chai celebrates Hanukkah on YouTube in style

The family-tailored event will be broadcast on the Jerusalem institution’s YouTube channel on December 10, starting at 6:30 p.m.

08/12/2020
Heartbeat Association gives food baskets to culture workers

It was held as an act of protest against the fact that the government is ignoring the plight of people who work in the culture and events industry.

Bob Dylan performs during the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware, U.S. June 17, 2017.
Changin' times: Bob Dylan's entire music catalog bought by Universal

UMG declined to say how much the deal was worth but it was likely to have swelled the coffers of the man who once wrote "money doesn't talk, it swears" by many millions of dollars.

By REUTERS
07/12/2020
Nick Cave
Nick Cave 2021 show in Tel Aviv canceled

Tel Aviv was one of 60 stops on the planned tour.

Jerusalem Botanical Garden to light up for Winter Lights festival

The garden is a center for entertainment, tourism and cultural events as well as for education, training and research.

MTV crowns Israeli Wonder Woman Gal Gadot best-ever 'she-ro'

"It's been one of the greatest joys in my life to play this character," said Gadot.

Jerusalem Baroque Orchestra to perform for Beethoven's 250th birthday

Conductor Andrew Parrott will accompany the musicians as they prepare for the concert and will conduct via zoom from his home in Oxford.

Israel to showcase top musical talent at International Showcase Festival

This year’s roster features a broad sweep of bands and artists

06/12/2020
Short film shows Birthright through the eyes of Russian Jews

For Horesh, the issues raised in the film speak to innate inequalities inherent in the Chief Rabbinate's laws.

By STEPHEN SILVER/JTA
04/12/2020
Meet the WestEnd girls behind ‘Valley of Tears’

The two women launched their London-based production, financing and international sales company for feature films and television 12 years ago.

The Warner Bros logo is seen during the annual MIPCOM television programme market in Cannes, France,
Warner Bros to stream next year's movies while they are in theaters

Upcoming movies affected include "The Suicide Squad," a new version of "Dune" and a "Matrix" sequel.

By REUTERS
03/12/2020
Jerusalem Film Festival to light up the Hanukkah season

The 37th Jerusalem Film Festival will run December 10-20 online.

Children’s hope of a better future

A new film looks at Palestinian youngsters and how their lives are impacted by the continuing Israeli occupation of their living and breathing space.

02/12/2020
Getting away with the Israeli Land Rover Club

After months of lockdown in the city, an invitation for a drive on the slopes of the Golan Heights was exactly what the doctor ordered.

By AMI YACHIN
02/12/2020
Tel Aviv Museum of Art reopens

After two and a half months in which it was closed to the general public following the spread of the coronavirus in Israel, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art reopened last Tuesday.

The Jerusalem Film Festival will light up the Hanukkah season

There is still a possibility that filmmakers will participate in in-person screenings with very small audiences, but nothing definite has been announced yet.

Uri Geller allows Pokemon to release Kadabra trading cards

This effectively brings an end to a 20-year legal battle.

29/11/2020
Yadin Gellman and Joy Rieger shooting a scene from Avi Nesher’s ‘Portrait of Victory.’
Celebrating a ‘Portrait of Victory’ for Israeli cinema

“It’s the 21st century, it’s no longer about good and bad guys. We’ve gone past that point. It’s about two conflicting narratives, each of which is searching for its own portrait of victory.”

Actors playing Alice, Jack, David and Peter in Come Away
Peter Pan-Alice mashup is lovely – but not fully grown

Directed by Brenda Chapman (Brave), Come Away is very good at conveying the magic of a child’s world

By MOIRA MACDONALD
26/11/2020
Richard Paley plays on a modern bassoon
Bassoon - love at first sound

Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra's principal bassoonist celebrates birthday

By BASIA MONKA
26/11/2020
New art exhibit shows the world within dolls

The Doll – The World Within runs from Friday, November 27- Saturday, December 5, at Arena Mall, 2 Ha-Shunit St., Herzliya Pituah.

By MAXIM REIDER
25/11/2020
Tel Aviv's Joseph Bau House Museum struggles to stay open

The Tel Aviv landmark contains the story and works of a remarkable life

25/11/2020
Avishai Cohen’s fans choose their favorite songs

This is the first time the music of Avishai Cohen has been remastered and presented in such an exclusive way

By GUNDULA MADELEINE TEGTMEYER
24/11/2020
Jerusalem will light up in purple for people with disabilities

This will be done to raise awareness for incorporating children with disabilities into society.

By OMRI RON
24/11/2020
Ethiopian arts festival Sigdiada endures online

Sigdiada started in 2012, and this year it marks its ninth edition.

Israeli-Polish conductor Gabriel Chmura dies at 74

His life was a deeply moving artistic journey that had the merit of rejoining cultures and hearts.

Winners announced for 2020 Landau awards despite coronavirus pandemic

The awards will be given to nine scientists and artists, each receiving a grant of about NIS 150,000.

By OMRI RON
23/11/2020
Finding English books in Israel gets easier every day

Anglos seeking English-language content can now enjoy a rich variety.

By Rivkah Lambert Adler
23/11/2020
Isra-Drama promotes international cooperation through Israeli theater

The annual festival introduces some 200 viewers from across the globe to the new theatrical works in Israel.

21/11/2020
Bette Midler and Hans Zimmer to appear with Israel Philharmonic

The event will be broadcast globally on December 6 at 9 p.m. Israel time, and will be free for the public.

By NERIA BARR
19/11/2020
Appreciating art from home

The “Mundane Heights” exhibition, which opened virtually a couple of weeks ago, is an aptly and oxymoronically named venture.

19/11/2020
Bringing Ladino music back to life

Hadas Pal-Yarden performs songs in Ladino time at the Oud Festival

19/11/2020
The Jerusalem Jazz Globus Festival returns

The 16th Jazz Globus Festival takes place on November 22-26; although, like almost every cultural event these days, events will be streamed online.

19/11/2020
Oh La La French Comedy fest begins November 22

It will feature the best of recent French comedies, as well as some classics from years gone by.

John Benjamin Hickey (right) and Niv Nissim are set to star in the Tel Aviv-based film Sublet from I
‘Asia,’ ‘Here We Are’ among films to compete at Jerusalem Film Festival

There will be prizes totaling NIS 500,000 that will be given to award winners.

People are silhouetted as they pose with mobile devices in front of Youtube logo
Coronavirus brings the Jazz Globus Festival to YouTube

Jazz Globus normally takes place at the downtown Harmony hall, but this time the shows will be broadcast via YouTube.

17/11/2020
Salman Schocken documentary premiers on Wednesday

The film paints a portrait of a secular man who was drawn to Judaism and Jewish subjects and a businessman who lived an intensely intellectual life.

Ladino music heads online in this year's Oud Festival

The Internet-facilitated audience on Sunday may recognize some of the numbers, including songs made famous by the likes of Yehoram Gaon.

17/11/2020
Larry Frisch
Larry Frisch: A man who lived life to the full, dead at 91

Veteran filmmaker kept working till he was past his mid-eighties

A map to a world that no longer exists

How should we look for the language of this story about genocide, about the Volhynia Massacre, and how can one make it universal and comprehensible?

By NERIA BARR
15/11/2020
National Library's Docu.Text film festival goes online

This year’s international festival highlights some of the best Israeli documentary films from recent years.

Israeli Opera chorus fights back against proposed layoffs

Members of the chorus make about NIS 50,000-60,000 per year, depending on how much they work, which is on the borderline of the minimum wage.

Italian Zodiac clock
Horoscopes for Hodesh Kislev 5781/2020 - November 17-December 15

Two eclipses and a short, sharp shock

By LORELAI KUDE
14/11/2020
Jesse Eisenberg to 'Post': New film is a story of salvation, not revenge

American-Jewish star talks about playing Marcel Marceau in Jerusalem film fest’s ‘Resistance’

Third age women dance in Suzanne Dellal Center to bring back culture

The women wore t-shirts on which it was written both their name and their age on the front, and the slogan "Give us back the culture!" on the back.

HBO adapts Tony Award-winning play about peace accords, into new film

The film, which will air next year, stars Andrew Scott (of “Fleabag” and “Black Mirror”) and Ruth Wilson (“The Affair,” “Mrs. Wilson”)

By CURT SCHLEIER/JTA
13/11/2020
Virtual Photo Is:Rael Festival explore objective reality in photography

Guest of honor Martin Parr's work goes beyond Parr for the visual course

12/11/2020
Ophir Awards to be given out on Friday

This is an unusual year for the Israeli film industry, to put it mildly, because the coronavirus has forced theaters to stay shut since March.

21st Jerusalem International Oud Festival - 21 years ago today

Twenty years after it took its first tentative steps into the world of cultural enterprise, the festival has come of age, and is clearly rising to the occasion this time round.

12/11/2020
The Journey Through Music History: Celebrating music in Jerusalem

The Magazine spoke to the Ohalecha management husband-and-wife team of Meir-Simchah and Devora Panzer, as well as the center’s musical director, David Frankel, about the upcoming event.

By BEN BRESKY
12/11/2020
‘Glamour Boys’: When an LGBT group of British MPs foresaw Hitler’s threat

At a time when gay sex was still illegal in Britain, their decision to break ranks with then prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasing Hitler in the 1930s was all the more courageous.

By HUGO GREENHALGH
12/11/2020
Facebook and Anne Frank: New take paints famous diary with 2020 vision

This book has many valuable lessons for children, particularly during this time of political unrest and increasing intolerance and antisemitism.

By AYELET RAYMOND
12/11/2020
ISResilience: Resilience as an inherent element of the Israeli psyche

“By any rational analysis,” write the authors, “Israel should not exist at all, let alone be a thriving powerhouse of a country.

Memories: Some things are worth more than money

“Get rid of the clutter,” we’re told. Not me. I’ll go on collecting mementos and memories until I die.

‘Face it’ handbag, designed by Kobi Levy.
Kobi Levi pivots creativity to coronavirus-themed handbag collection

His newest collection includes a 'Face It' handbag, shaped like a mask.

By SARAH BEN-NUN
12/11/2020
Open Skies - Tel Aviv exhibition aims to reimagine the perception of art

It takes in a motley array of exhibits spread around downtown Tel Aviv feeding off more than 30 projects created by local and non-Israeli artists.

12/11/2020
Ophir Awards to be given out Friday

This is an unusual year for the Israeli film industry, to put it mildly, because the coronavirus has forced theaters to stay shut since March.

John Benjamin Hickey (right) and Niv Nissim are set to star in the Tel Aviv-based film Sublet from I
Eytan Fox’s ‘Sublet’ to open 37th Jerusalem Film Festival

'Sublet' stars Tony Award-winning actor John Benjamin Hickey as a New York Times travel writer grieving a loss who comes to Tel Aviv to research an article.

Japanese Ambassador Koichi Aiboshi (left), President Reuven Rivlin, and Haifa Mayor Einat Kalisch Ro
Japan, Japan

60 years ago, the only museum devoted to Japanese art in the Middle East opened. President Reuven Rivlin met with the Japanese Ambassador for the occasion.

Alex Trebek, host of the game show ‘Jeopardy!,’ poses with his Emmy Award at the 33rd annual Daytime
Alex Trebek: Trivia celebrant

It was not a show about Trebek; the trivia spoke for itself.

By SHELDON FREEDMAN
09/11/2020
A scene from the film ‘A Call to Spy.’
Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival to light up screens with great movies

As always, it will feature the best of recent movies of Jewish interest — including feature films, documentaries, short films and animated films, from Israel and around the world.

Israel Museum goes remote for exhibit at Ticho House

Somehow, the “impersonal” digital presentation fit the bill to a tee, in more than one sense.

05/11/2020
War stories told in coronavirus shadow captivate captive Israeli audience

Suddenly, as the coronavirus pandemic casts a long shadow over Israeli life, it seems Israelis want to look back at the country’s two most devastating wars in terms of loss of life.

Coronavirus moves Jerusalem Jewish Film Fest online

There will be online panels and events with actors and filmmakers, including with Jesse Eisenberg, who stars in one of the festival films, Resistance.

Arava film fest offers drive-in movie screenings

The opening-night screening of the drive-in part of the festival will be the latest film by acclaimed Danish director, Thomas Vinterberg, called Another Round.

38 Olim land in Israel as part of a Nefesh B’Nefesh Group Aliyah Flight
Nominations open for 2021 Sylvan Adams Nefesh B’Nefesh Bonei Zion Prize

Eligible candidates for the prize must have made Aliyah from an English-speaking country, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, UK, and the US.

Nir Bergman film wins Audience Award at French film fest

Here We Are is nominated for 10 Ophir Awards including the best picture, director, screenplay and acting awards.

Iran to send gamers to Israel for international e-sports competition

Other countries without ties with Israel such as Indonesia and Malaysia have also expressed interest in coming, should they qualify in the upcoming tournament for their region.

03/11/2020
Sean Connery as James Bond in the 1960s.
Sean Connery – cool, sexy and unflappable

Watching Connery – who was handsome but also projected qualities that made him so much more than just a pretty face – on the big screen was one of the purest joys of moviegoing.

Pasta and cheese pizza quiche
Italian food week in Israel moves online during coronavirus pandemic

The week will also include a classic-car road trip from Tel Aviv to the north of Israel organized by ENIT and Alfa Romeo.

The movie poster for ‘Kiss Me Kosher.’
TLVFest, Israel’s LGBT film festival, goes online

The closing movie, Kiss Me Kosher, is a German/Israeli romantic comedy that tells the story of two generations of Israeli women who fall for a German woman and a Palestinian man.

shlomi shabat disk 88 298
Shlomi Shabat, Israeli singer, reflects on battle with COVID-19

In a virtual press conference, Shabat told of his continuous struggle with COVID-19, even after his release. "But," he insisted, "I could still pick up my guitar and sing."

By SARAH BEN-NUN
01/11/2020
War, women and Borat: What's new to watch during the coronavirus pandemic

A number of new offerings have been made available on TV, VOD and streaming services.

Yitzhak Rabin visits with Stephen M. Flatow.
Rabin family opens private archive for TV series

The proposed series will be six parts and will be titled The Leader

Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem
An artifact exodus in the Museum of Islamic Art

One of the museum’s neighbors has been closely following the reluctant disposal of tapestries, utensils and watches.

The 'Momentum' installation by Nardeen Srouji takes a 3D staccato look at timekeeping
Time is in the limelight at Museum for Islamic Art exhibition

THE MUSEUM describes Time as “an interactive exhibition for the whole family” and invites members of the public of all ages to try their hand at “controlling time”.

29/10/2020
Meir Shalev
Esau, An Israeli film based on a biblical sibling rivalry - Watch

“Esau,” a drama based on the novel by the same name by Israeli author Meir Shalev, stars Shira Haas, Harvey Keitel and Lior Ashkenazi.

By GABE FRIEDMAN/JTA
29/10/2020
Award-winning documentary ‘The Last Sermon’ set for digital release

Movie follows survivors of Tel Aviv suicide bombing as they travel across Europe in bid to understand religious extremism.

By THE MEDIA LINE
29/10/2020
Israeli children in second grade (7 - 8 years old) using computers in a class room during a lesson a
BIGI streaming platform for kids launches in Israel

BIGI features programs from Israel and around the world, including such shows as Arthur, the kids’ version of Ninja Israel, Galis and many more.

 Abu Ghosh
Live from Abu Ghosh, it’s the orchestra

The performance, which will be broadcast via YouTube, Facebook and on the ICO web site, takes place this evening (Thursday) at 8 p.m.

28/10/2020
Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem
A last-minute reprieve for Islamic Museum auction

Until a day or so ago, over 200 works stored and exhibited at the museum were due to be offered for auction at Sotheby’s in London.

28/10/2020
Byzantine church discovered in Banyas nature reserve

According to scholars, the church, which used pagan architecture, was founded on the site when Christianity became the official religion in Israel in the fourth century CE.

19-year-old pop singer blamed for sustaining rape culture by MK

Others have claimed that the video, provocative as it may be, doesn't do anything that wasn't done countless times before.

1,700-year-old Greek inscription in Golan bears same name as village today

The Nafah army base was recently in the news as the setting for the acclaimed Israeli television series on the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Valley of Tears on Channel Kan 11.

Local disciples honor Carlebach on his 26th yahrzeit

“Reb Shlomo is more alive than ever. There are so many people studying his teachings, sharing his teachings and uncovering new songs.”

26/10/2020
Israelis and Sudanese promote solidarity and peace through game of chess

"It is the first time I think for Israeli players and Sudanese players to interact socially in sports," said one of the participants.

Ganit Goldstein’s 3D design, made of 100% recycled materials, presented at the exhibition
Israeli designer launches 3D-printed virtual reality fashion exhibition

Ganit Goldstein launched a virtual reality exhibition space to present one of the first fashion collections with cutting edge 3D printing.

Documentation of the working process including: a screenshot of a photo by Dan Robert Lahiani, a fil
Jerusalem's Manofim Festival takes to Zoom for 2020

This year’s online program runs October 27 to 29.

24/10/2020
PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu, Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky (second from right) and Knesse
Never Alone: Prison, Politics, and My People

Natan Sharansky's memoir explores his struggles within the USSR, and during his Israeli political career.

By GLENN C. ALTSCHULER
23/10/2020
Inside Ticho House, 2015
Examining the work and legacy of Anna Ticho

The writer, a nephew of the Tichos, delivered these comments at the opening of the Anna Ticho “Lifescape” exhibit, on October 25, 2018.

By CHARLES TICHO
22/10/2020
Vocal tasters and testers: 23 Israeli Music Festival to go online

This year’s significantly pared-down edition will take place at 1 p.m. on October 30 and goes by the title of “From the Drawer to Song – Choir Lab.”

22/10/2020
history
Reprisal of Simon Wiesenthal play streams online

In keeping with the times, the play, economically titled “Wiesenthal,” is digitally available anywhere in the world until Oct. 28.

By TOM TUGEND/JTA
22/10/2020
You could be in Israeli star Hanan Ben-Ari's new music video

Ben-Ari added that the videos should be videos and not pictures. If the videos catch three generations of family members together, then that's "magic," he said.

Gal Gadot replaces Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in clip

Gadot has a slight resemblance to Taylor that has gone unremarked upon until now.

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