November 8: Arts in Brief

Baxter Dury coming for Tel Aviv show; ‘Blood Brothers’ at Beit Lessin; Women’s film fest starts up in Rehovot; Lady Gaga sweeps MTV Awards.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Baxter Dury 311 (photo credit: Courtesy of Carmit Hadida/PR)
Baxter Dury 311
(photo credit: Courtesy of Carmit Hadida/PR)
Baxter Dury coming for Tel Aviv show
Baxter Dury, a British folk-rock singer/songwriter and the son of punk-era personality Ian Dury, will be appearing on January 4 at the Zappa Club in Tel Aviv.
The 39-year-old indie favorite, who appeared as a five-year-old on the cover of his father’s iconic album New Boots and Panties!!, has released three albums. He described his latest effort, this year’s Happy Soup, as “seaside psychedelia.” Dury and his four-piece band have been opening shows for Pulp recently in Europe and he’s collaborated during his career with that band’s Richard Hawley as well as members of Portishead.
I
t may not be the sex, drugs and rock & roll of his father, who died of cancer in 2000, but Dury’s own personal style is worth checking out.
• David Brinn
‘Blood Brothers’ at Beit Lessin
There’s another musical in town, Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers that opens for 50 performances at Bet Lessin on November 17. Gilad Kimchi is the director and Doron Tavori the narrator.
Too poor to raise both, Mrs. Johnstone (Maya Dagan) allows her employer, the wealthy but childless Mrs. Lyons, to adopt one of her twins. In childhood, ignorant of their relationship, the boys meet and become “blood brothers.”
As they grow, Eddie Lyons (Ido Rosenberg), wealthy, assured, is destined for success while Mickey Johnstone’s (Nadav Netz) life spirals downward into crime and imprisonment.
Their final meeting 20 years on ends in tragedy.
Blood Brothers premiered in London in 1983, winning the Olivier Award for best new musical. The 1988 revival is still running.
• Jerusalem Post Staff
Women’s film fest starts up in Rehovot
The 8th International Women’s Film Festival in Israel gets underway today in Rehovot and runs until November 13.
This year’s festival features a special program of films devoted to the subject of violence against women, especially sexual violence, as well as another program on women and revolution.
The festival features 60 films, 35 of which are by Israeli filmmakers. It opens with a gala screening of the new American film, The Whistleblower, which stars Rachel Weisz as a police officer from the US who works with the UN peacekeeping force in Bosnia and begins to investigate the trafficking of women. This event will be held at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The closing night film will be Leila, a love story about the relationship between a wealthy Parisian young man and a young Arab law student.
The festival will feature an open-air screening of Thelma & Louise, as well as a party to celebrate the 20th anniversary of that film. There will also be a tribute to Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, whose latest film, We Need to Talk About Kevin, will be screened at the festival.
There will be workshops and panels on various issues, including a tribute to women graduates of the film department of Tel Aviv University, meetings with directors, and several discussions of the portrayal of sexual violence against women on film.
Among the Israeli films on this theme is Michal Aviad’s Invisible, which just won the top prize and Best Actress Award at the Haifa International Film Festival. It stars Evgenia Dodina and Ronit Elkabetz as two women brought together by a trauma in their past.
Among the festival guests will be Audrey Estrougo, who directed Leila, the closing-night film; Leslee Udwin, the producer of the film, West is West; Dutch director Paula van der Oest, whose latest film, Black Butterflies, is about a South African poet who opposed Apartheid; and Brigitte Bertele, a German director and actress whose latest film, Fire, will have its premiere at the festival.
For more information and to order tickets: www.iwff.net or (08) 936-2868.
• Hannah Brown
Lady Gaga sweeps MTV Awards BELFAST (Reuters) – Lady Gaga stole the show at the MTV Europe Music Awards in Belfast on Sunday, scooping four prizes and going one better than 2010 when she also led the field with three.
The flamboyant 25-year-old New Yorker won best female, best song and video for her hit single “Born This Way” as well as the biggest fans’ award.
Canadian teen sensation Justin Bieber was among the other multiple winners, picking up best pop act and top male singer.
Los Angeles rockers Thirty Seconds to Mars won two awards – best alternative act and best world stage – as did Bruno Mars, honored as the best new act and “push” artist who was promoted by MTV as an up-and-coming talent.
Katy Perry was voted best live act, Eminem won best hip-hop artist, repeating his 2010 success, and Linkin Park scooped best rock. More than 150 million MTV viewers voted and decided most of the categories.