Hundreds of people are expected to attend Lisbon’s first-ever Jewish film festival this week. The three-day festival, entitled “Judaica: 1st Exhibition of Cinema and Culture,” is scheduled to open on May 22 at Lisbon’s main art cinema, Cinema Sao Jorge, and will include 15 Jewish and Israeli documentary and feature productions, according to a report by the Jornal Digital news site. The Jewish community of Lisbon said on its official Facebook page that the event is the Portuguese …More

OH NO. Do you hear that noise, readers? That click-click-clacking that seems to signal the end of the world as we know it, or at least the end of relatable characters and realistic storytelling? Yes, if you have suddenly been seized by fear you have proper survival instincts, because Sarah Jessica Parker may have just teased the possibility of another “Sex and the City” movie. THE HORROR. OH, THE HORROR. “Sex and the City” was a great show… for it’s time. Pop culture needed …More

The chilling story of Richard Kuklinski, a contract killer notorious for freezing his victims to confuse time of death, is brought vividly to life in writer-director Ariel Vromen’s new film “The Iceman,” now in theaters. Between 1948 and 1986, Kuklinski killed between 100 and 250 people, while maintaining a suburbanite existence with his wife and two daughters. This dual life, and the peculiar moral compass he employs to maintain it, is ultimately his downfall. Jspace caught up with Vromen, an …More

A “Seeking Kin” column in April 2012 excited Gal Adam Spinrad – and now the Cincinnati woman has reason to be happy anew. Adam Spinrad has long been fascinated by the legend of her relative, Jacques Faitlovitch, who more than a century ago left his native Lodz, Poland, bound for Ethiopia. He devoted much of his life to the Jews living there, becoming one of the first European Jews to vouch for them as co-religionists and bring them into the fold. As a UCLA student in 1992, Adam Spinrad wrote a …More

Mortars were fired from Gaza on Eshkol this evening. [Times of Israel] Meanwhile, shots were fired on an Israeli car in the West Bank. [Times of Israel] A UK politician is suspended after giving a Nazi salute. [Arutz Sheva] Swastika graffiti is found on a New York sidewalk. [Arutz Sheva] The lyrics to an unreleased Bob Dylan song are up for sale. [Tablet] Turns out Martha Stewart just returned from a wedding in Israel. [Forward] Check out "Pizza Bagels," the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival's short …More

A filmmaker from Israel is slamming the BBC for pulling his documentary on the Jewish exodus from Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Ilan Ziv said in a blog post on April 27 that the BBC exhibited "a mixture of incompetence, political naivete, conscious or subconscious political pressure and ultimately, I believe, a lack of courage of broadcasters when they are faced with the complexity of the Middle East issue and the intense emotions, fears and aggression it generates." At issue is the documentary “Exile: A Myth …More

Some of the touchstones of Woody Allen's celebrated and enduring film career have been his leading ladies. Beautiful, intelligent and flawed women are the trademarks of his movies, and he's worked with some amazing actresses over the years. Diane Keaton was the flighty and perplexing namesake of “Annie Hall.” Scarlett Johansson officially became Allen's muse in “Match Point.” Mia Farrow... well, she and Allen's relationship is better known for the scandal that erupted out of it than for …More

Gwyneth Paltrow makes everyone uncomfortable and girlishly giggles like it’s adorable. What else is new? It’s more of the same with Gwyn. She has shown incredible comfort with sharing her personal thoughts and health-obsessed beliefs in her blog, goop.com, but may have crossed the line in her recent divulgence on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” this week. Having landed the number one rank on Star magazine’s 2013 “Most Hated Celebrities” poll and been named People …More

Dustin Hoffman may not have been raised in the most religious household, but with bar mitzvahs in the fam, a Yiddish-speaking Grandma, and an overall Jewishness to him, American Jews have pretty much claimed him as their own. Until now. Hoffman recently agreed to appear at the Muslim Public Affairs Council 22nd Annual Media Awards and present an award to an anti-Israel film being honored there. Incidentally, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) is a radical group whose leader, Salam al-Marayati, has …More

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But that won't stop the interviewees of "Herblock: The Black and The White," playing at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York this weekend, from waxing rapturous on political comic Herbert Block. The Washington Post cartoonist, who signed all his work with the moniker Herblock on the suggestion of his father, enjoyed a career spanning 13 presidents and earning three Pulitzer Prizes and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His cartoons skewered Joe McCarthy long before …More

The Cohen’s are as typical a Jewish family as their name except for one catch—they own a strip club. Shawney Cohen turns immigrant-does-good tale on its head with his examination of the effect of the business on his nice Jewish family. “The Manor,” screening at Canada’s Hot Docs film festival this week, is so painfully honest that the strippers aren’t the only one’s getting naked. Jspace caught up with the director to find out more about the intersection of Jewishness, …More

Seth Rogen and James Franco have been doing a fantastic job of promoting their upcoming apocalyptic comedy, “This is the End.” First they faked out the Internet with a “Pineapple Express 2” trailer, then there was the first real trailer for the film, featuring an extremely badass Emma Watson. This weekend they decided to celebrate April 20th, the unofficial global holiday celebrating all things marijuana, with a new clip and a special offer for fans: if they bought their tickets for …More