Animation film fest showing Israeli doc

“Waltz With Bashir,” a politically charged, 88-minute animated film about an Israeli soldier’s plunge into darkness, is coming to the third San Francisco International Animation Festival this month in advance of its widespread release in January.

Touted as the first feature-length animated documentary, “Waltz With Bashir” explores director Ari Folman’s nightmares and trauma-induced memories of being part of the Israeli incursion into West Beirut in 1982. The incursion led to the Sabra and Shatila Massacre, in which the Israel Defense Forces allegedly stood by and let the Lebanese Christian Phalangist militia kill off hundreds of Palestinians in refugee camps.

Produced in France and Israel, the film was a standout in the main competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The version being shown in San Francisco is in Hebrew with English subtitles.

It will screen at 7:15 p.m. Nov. 15 and then close the four-day festival 3:30 p.m. Nov. 16. Both showings are at the Embarcadero Center Cinema in San Francisco. Tickets are $10 to $12.50. For more information, call (925) 866-9559 or visit www.sffs.org.

Danny Maseng to sing in Oakland

Singer-composer Danny Maseng will perform a concert for [email protected] at Oakland’s Temple Sinai on Nov. 15. Co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation and Foundation of the Greater East Bay, the event is a fundraiser benefiting Israel’s Ethiopian Jewish community in the synagogue’s sister city, Kiryat Malachi.

Born in Israel, Maseng has performed around the world, worked with the National Endowment for the Arts and the World Union for Progressive Judaism, and served as artistic director of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute. He currently serves as the cantor for Temple Israel in Los Angeles.

The upcoming concert takes place 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at Temple Sinai, 2808 Summit St., Oakland. Tickets: $5-$10. For more information, call (510) 389-2900 ext. 256.

Concert features local composer

The music of Bay Area Jewish composer Aaron Blumenfeld will be performed in an upcoming concert. The program includes “Song of Songs” (based on the biblical book of the same name), as well as two instrumental chamber pieces and selections from Blumenfeld’s Yiddish opera “Pagiel and Bathsheva.”

Presented by Berkeley’s Trinity Chamber Music series, the concert takes place 8 p.m. Nov. 15 at Trinity Chapel, 2320 Dana St. Tickets: $8-$12. For information, call (510) 549-3864.

‘Arab Labor’ on TV

Link TV has launched the U.S premiere of the hit Israeli comedy series “Arab Labor.” Created by 32-year-old Israeli-born Arab Sayed Kashua, the series focuses on an Arab Israeli journalist who goes to great lengths to blend in to Israeli Jewish society.

Link TV is available on DirectTV, Dish network and select cable systems (check local listings for air times). For further information, visit www.LinkTV.org.