Spring Jewish Film Series also helps close out the Cinema 320 season

By Charlene Arsenault

Largely composed of boomers, empty nesters and older adults, the Worcester Jewish Community Center looks for films that will resonate with this audience when choosing its lineup for the Spring Jewish Film Series. “The goal is to enrich the cultural life of our community by presenting films that have universal appeal,” says Nancy Greenburg, cultural arts director of the Worcester JCC.

This year, they are featuring Steal a Pencil for Me, Three Mothers, Beaufort and The First Basket.

Steal a Pencil for Me (7:30 p.m. May 6, 8, 10 and 1 and 2:50 p.m. May 11 at Cinema 320) is a documentary that shows how love and humankind can overcome unimaginable suffering. Set around Jack and Ina's love affair, which begins in pre-war Netherlands, it continues through two concentration camps and liberation. Three Mothers (7 p.m. May 12 at Assumption) focuses on the Hakim triplets, who were born into a wealthy Egyptian Jewish family in 1942. Sixty years pass (as do husbands, careers, children and more) and the sisters move in together in Israel.

Beaufort (7 p.m. May 14 at Assumption) was the Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007. It captures the dilemmas young commander Beaufort Castle faces in South Lebanon during the Israeli Army's 2000 withdrawal. And The First Basket (7 p.m. on May 18, as Assumption), explores the life of Ossie Schectman, a Jewish kid from Queens who scored the NBA's first basket.

“I evaluate films that have been audience favorites at other recent festivals,” says Greenburg, “with input from JCC's Cultural Arts Committee. We look for films that we think will resonate with our audience. The goal is to enrich the cultural life of our community by presenting films that have universal appeal. Because the films are among the best of their genre, they appeal to a broad range of audiences, consisting of both Jewish and non-Jewish filmgoers.” o