Spielberg
WANTED TO BUY
Continued from page 21
Consul General of Israel to the Midwest Yinam
Cohen attended the Glenview viewing and said
that the documentary is probably the most realistic
portrayal of a terrorist attack he has ever seen. “You
sense the fear and panic and trauma that comes
during the aftermath,” he said.

Spielberg said that telling Jewish stories on film is
particularly important amid rising antisemitism and
anti-Israel hatred in the United States and through-
out the world.

“It is important for us as Americans to understand
what it is like for Israelis, who are survivors of these
kinds of terrorist attacks,” she said.

Spielberg admires what she describes as the
Israeli spirit that savors life and makes the most of
it, knowing full well that one faces danger on a daily
basis. In fact, she thinks, Israelis are so good at carry-
ing on in trying times that non-Jews might mistake
that spirit of resilience and overlook the trauma that
Israelis and U.S. Jews regularly face.

“We, as American Jews, need to be recognized as
a minority. We do our best to move forward, making
it seem like we don’t need help, but in reality, we do,”
she said. “When it comes to rising antisemitism, we
must raise awareness.”
‘A very creative time’
Courtesy of the Consul General’s Office via JNS.org
In that vein, Spielberg’s latest film is an epony-
mous 2023 documentary about Jewish photogra-
pher Roman Vishniac. From 1935 to 1938, Vishniac
documented and raised funds for poor Eastern
European Jewish communities, which he photo-
graphed on assignment for the American Joint
Distribution Committee. His photographs testify
about communities that would be wiped out several
years later.

Spielberg, the executive producer of the documen-
tary, expects that it will soon be shown as part
of the Tel Aviv International Documentary Film
Festival. “Vishniac” premiered at the Santa Barbara
International Film Festival.

In other industry news, she said that the pandemic
was a mixed bag for the film industry. “The pandemic
itself was very good for writers. It came to be a very
creative time. But at the same time, it made filmmak-
ing impossible,” Spielberg said.

She found it difficult to film the Vishnian documen-
tary under such circumstances and said that her
brother, 76, experienced the same with his coming-
of-age drama “The Fabelmans,” loosely based on his
adolescence and early years as a filmmaker.

Spielberg added that the rise in the use of stream-
ing services prompted by the pandemic is not an
adequate substitute for the magic of seeing movies
in a theater.

“Thankfully, it looks like people are relaxing now,”
she said. “We have to get people back into the
theater. Watching a film in an actual theater with
other people is an experience that just does not
happen when streaming.” ■
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Consul General of Israel to the Midwest Yinam Cohen with Cindy Stern, executive director of
Chicago Festival of Israeli Cinema, in Glenview, Illinois, on May 4
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 37