Etgar Keret awarded 2016 Bronfman Prize
Israeli author Etgar Keret is the recipient of this year’s Charles Bronfman Prize for his work “conveying Jewish values across cultures and imparting a humanitarian vision throughout the world.”
The annual prize, which carries a $100,000 award, goes to a Jewish humanitarian under age 50 whose work is informed and fueled by Jewish values and has broad, global impact that can potentially change lives.
Keret, 48, best known for his short stories, graphic novels, film and television projects, has been one of Israel’s most popular writers since his first collection of short stories was published in 1992. Hailed as the voice of young Israel, Keret is one of the most successful Israeli writers worldwide. His work has been published in 46 countries and translated into 41 languages, including Farsi, and has been featured in The New Yorker, New York Times, Le Monde, Paris Review and National Public Radio. His most recent book is the 2015 memoir “The Seven Good Years.”
“We recognize that humanitarian work is increasingly taking new forms and this marks the first time the Charles Bronfman Prize has been awarded to an individual who uses storytelling as a medium through which he challenges and inspires the way people think about themselves and the world,” said Stephen Bronfman, Charles Bronfman’s son, on behalf of the prize founders and international panel of judges. “Etgar Keret is an important international voice who speaks of the Jewish condition in contemporary terms and demonstrates that writers can play an influential and critical role within society.”
Charles Bronfman said he was “delighted” by the selection of Keret.“In a dangerous world, Etgar Keret portrays people who have the capacity to empathize with the other, to hear the other, and to find compassion for the other,” he said. “He counters dehumanization and inspires his readers with warmth and humor and original thinking. He encourages others to make the world a better place and translates the lessons of the Holocaust to a new generation.”
Previous recipients include Jay Feinberg, the founder and executive director of the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation; Eric Rosenthal, founder and executive director of Disability Rights International, and Rebecca Heller, co-founder and director of the International Refugee Assistance Project. — jta
Good news for ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ fans
Larry David’s HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm” will return for a ninth season, ending a five-year wait by fans.
The network made the announcement June 14, but did not set a date for the start of the new season. The show went on hiatus in September 2011.
David hailed his comeback in a tone typical of his comedic shtick.
“In the immortal words of Julius Caesar, ‘I left, I did nothing, I returned,’ ” the “Seinfeld” co-creator said in the HBO statement.
“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which debuted in 1999, has become the network’s longest-running show with 80 episodes over eight seasons. David, who writes and stars in the comedy, plays an exaggerated alter-ego version of himself.
David, who grew up in a Jewish family in Brooklyn, has had his fair share of Jewish moments on the show, from pretending to be Orthodox to deciding between Israeli and Palestinian food.
“We’re thrilled that Larry has decided to do a new season of ‘Curb’ and can’t wait to see what he has planned,” HBO’s new programming director, Casey Bloys, said in the statement.
Despite David’s misquote of Caesar, he’s actually been quite busy. During his “Curb” sabbatical, he wrote and starred in the Broadway play “Fish in the Dark” and made several appearances on “Saturday Night Live” imitating Jewish presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders. In one sketch, David and Sanders appeared together as Jewish immigrants on a ship to the United States. — jta
‘Passion of the Christ’ part 2 may be coming
Actor-director Mel Gibson and screenwriter Randall Wallace reportedly are working on a sequel to the controversial film “The Passion of the Christ.”
Wallace told the Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the sequel, that the second film will focus on the resurrection of Christ. It would come out more than a decade after the original film.
Wallace wrote the screenplay to Gibson’s Academy Award-winning movie “Braveheart.”
A Gibson spokesperson declined to comment to the Hollywood Reporter on the nature of Gibson’s involvement in the film.
“The Passion,” released independently in 2004, tells the story of Jesus’ persecution and crucifixion. Jewish groups alleged it would spark anti-Semitism and was not historically accurate.
Gibson asserted the movie was not anti-Semitic and did not blame Jews for the crucifixion of Christ.
In 2006, during an arrest for driving while intoxicated in Southern California, Gibson spewed an anti-Semitic rant against the Jewish sheriff’s deputy who arrested him. He later apologized profusely. — jta
Beyoncé set to give her first Israel concert?
Beyoncé will perform in Israel in October, Ynetnews reported June 15.
After years of speculation, rumors and unproductive negotiations, according to Ynet, the American pop star has agreed to give her first-ever concert in the Jewish state on Oct. 26 at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv.
Ynet reported that its sister publication, Yediot Ahronoth, learned that Beyoncé’s agents confirmed that she is booked for one performance. Israeli producers reportedly are undertaking efforts to get her to add a second concert the following day.
Officials in the music industry confirmed on June 12 that Hayarkon Park is reserved for concerts on Oct. 26 and 27.
Beyoncé is expected to come to Israel with her husband, Jay Z, and daughter, Blue Ivy, and bring several planeloads of equipment, Ynet reported.
Adam Levine offers to pay for slain singer’s funeral
Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine, who coached Christina Grimmie on the sixth season of “The Voice” — offered to pay for her funeral after she was shot and killed on June 10.
Grimmie’s brother, Marcus, announced June 13 in a post on his Facebook page that Levine had offered to pay for the cost of the funeral and flying her body home from Orlando, Florida, where she was killed while signing autographs following a concert.
A GoFundMe page set up to help defray the costs of the burial had reached $160,000 as of June 13.
“I found out this morning that Adam Levine personally called my mother and said he will pay for the funeral and her plane flight, and I was blown away,” Marcus Grimmie wrote. “Now a friend just told me to look at the gofundme page and I see it is at 100k. Words cannot express … literally I have no words.”
In a Twitter post June 11, Levine, who is Jewish, said he and his wife were “absolutely devastated and heartbroken” at the news of Grimmie’s death.
Grimmie, 22, who lived in the southern New Jersey town of Marlton, finished in third place on “The Voice,” the NBC reality singing competition. She had released two albums and remained popular with fans. — jta
S.F. theater company to explore Middle East issues
Golden Thread Productions — said to be the first U.S. theater company devoted entirely to plays from and about Middle Eastern peoples and cultures — will present four staged readings of new plays at San Francisco’s Brava Theater Center this summer.
All four readings will include an opportunity to speak with the performers afterward. There is no admission charge, but reservations are recommended.
Golden Thread Productions was founded in San Francisco in 1996 to give voice to Middle East playwrights and themes. But its aim goes beyond that, as the company also works to provide a supportive environment in which different Middle Eastern communities may interact.
This summer’s lineup includes Ken Kaissar’s play “The Victims, or What Do You Want Me to Do About It,” on July 19. The piece tells two stories, one about a Jewish-American writer who travels to Israel to better understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Kaissar is an Israeli American writer whose play “Ceasefire,” about the Israel-Lebanon conflict, was part of the company’s ReOrient Festival in San Francisco last fall.
The other plays to be presented as readings are Algerian American Tariq Hamami’s “The One, Percy Ent” (July 12), Iranian American Novid Parsi’s “Those Ills We Have” (July 26), and “Scenes from 68 Years” by Palestinian Irish playwright Hannah Khalil on Aug. 1.
All of the readings will begin at 7 p.m. at the Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th Street, S.F. For more details, visit www.goldenthread.org.