April 19, 2015 Film Screenings Celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month

The Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division and the Hebrew Language Table will present two films in May in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month. The film screenings, which are free and open to the public, will be held in the Mary Pickford Theater, located on the third floor of the Library’s James Madison Building at 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C.

On Tuesday, May 5 at 12:30 p.m., Canadian filmmaker Joe Balass will show and discuss his film “Baghdad Twist” (33 minutes). Told through his own family’s history, the film documents the disappearance of Iraq’s Jewish community in the aftermath of the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967. Balass takes viewers on a poetic journey through the fragmented memories of an Arab-Jewish exile. The filmmaker will answer questions following the screening. The Library will present this event in cooperation with the Washington Jewish Film Festival and Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

“Hava Nagila (The Movie)” (55-minute version), directed and produced by Roberta Grossman, will be shown at noon on Tuesday, May 12. Featuring interviews with Harry Belafonte, Leonard Nimoy, Connie Francis, Glen Campbell and others, the film follows the history of the popular Jewish party song on its fascinating journey from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to Israel and the cul-de-sacs of America.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution. The Library seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, publications, programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov.