Going to Cannes
Come May 11, Sonoma State student Alex Bretow will be hobnobbing with movie machers at the Cannes Film Festival — yes, the one in France — with his collaborator and partner Mary-Madison Baldo. “Rampage” and “Snake Eyes,” two short-action thrillers they made, will be shown at the festival. Bretow, whose parents, Steve Bretow and Ann Honigman, are members of Piedmont’s Kehilla Community Synagogue, was elated when he learned the films were accepted. But he and Baldo calculated it would cost about $11,000 for airfare, lodging and other expenses. Being modern young adults, they launched a crowdfunding campaign, which yielded 128 donations and $12,080 — more than enough for trip. Bretow told KTVU-TV that moviemaking is “my passion. I’ve been doing this literally since I was 8 years old, running around with a camera, making films.” “Rampage” and “Snake Eyes” can be seen on YouTube and the crowdfunding solicitation at www.gofundme.com/cannesfest2015.
Celebrating an academic star
Mazel tov to Robert Alter, emeritus professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at U.C. Berkeley, who has been awarded honorary doctorates (“doctor philosophiae honoris causa”) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Haifa for his work as “a leading scholar in the field of comparative literature.” The degrees will be presented in Jerusalem and Haifa at ceremonies later this spring. Alter is also being celebrated in the Bay Area for his many accomplishments, including his translation of the Hebrew Bible, at a public lecture at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 5. Co-sponsors are Berkeley’s Congregation Netivot Shalom, where the event will be held, and U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Jewish Studies, where Alter is a founding director. P.S. Maybe a birthday song will be included in the festivities. Alter recently turned 80.
These pups have chutzpaws!
Alphie, Bosco and Benji — a toy poodle and two Havanese — are among the pups on the Chutzpaws team at Carmel’s Congregation Beth Israel. They’ll be walking with their people — Bee Epstein-Shepherd, Joyce Kapp and Susan Schwartz (who’s borrowing one of Kapp’s dogs for the day while her Bernese Mountain dog is otherwise occupied) on May 2 at SPCA’s Wag n’ Walk, a two-mile route along Shoreline Park in Monterey.
Short shorts
Wilderness Torah’s Passover in the Desert, held outside Death Valley National Park, was covered on NPR by KALW Radio reporter Judy Silber. In the piece, executive director Zelig Golden explains, “The Passover experience for us is not just about telling the story, it’s about taking that story and turning it into a meaningful, personal experience.” … George Breslauer has been named the faculty director of the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life … Steven Klappholz is the new Western regional director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is based in Los Angeles … Antony Ritch, Dan Safier and Roselyne “Cissie” Swig are co-chairs of Jewish Vocational Service’s annual Strictly Business awards luncheon, slated for May 7 at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco. Visit www.jvs.org for info … Rabbi Susan Leider of Tiburon Congregation Kol Shofar is a featured speaker at the Marin Interfaith Council’s annual interfaith prayer breakfast on May 6. She’ll share the podium with Zahra Billoo of the San Francisco Bay Area Council on American-Islamic Relations, and Johnathan Logan Sr. of Cornerstone Community Church. Visit www.marinifc.org for details … Speaking of Kol Shofar, the synagogue’s annual gala on April 26 had the cute and timely name “MadMensch,” which must have pleased fans of TV’s “Mad Men.”
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