Tufts alumna Bonni Cohen's highly acclaimed documentary, "The Rape of Europa," will be this year's closing night film at the Boston Jewish Film Festival. Receiving the final slot at this festival is considered to be a mark of serious distinction.
"I'm very excited," Cohen (LA '87) said. "It's the best Jewish film festival in the country. It's got a huge reputation, and we're really honored to be there."
The festival, regarded by many as the most prestigious Jewish film festival in the country, will show "Europa" on Sunday night at 6:30 p.m. This will be the world premiere of Cohen's film, which is based on a book of the same title.
"The film and book are about the Nazi theft of art across Europe during World War II, and then the destruction of cultural property that went on," Cohen said. "Then the last third of the film deals with the Monuments Men who were sent by the U.S. Army to help retrieve the art and return it to its country or its owner."
Cohen is pleased to be able to premiere "Europa" at the Boston Jewish Film Festival. "We were really excited because this is the first year that they've programmed a documentary in that [closing night] slot, versus a feature film," Cohen said. "It says a lot about how the population feels about documentaries these days. There's a lot more interest in people telling real stories."
Cohen was the executive producer and executive director of "Europa," and was aided by co-directors Richard Berge and Nicole Newnham. "There were challenges because we divvied up the stories by countries," she said. "For example, Nicole and I took on France and Poland, while Richard Berge went to Russia and Italy. By virtue of the fact that this film was shot in seven countries across Europe, we had to break it up. And we work very well together."
The Boston Jewish Film Festival was founded by independent filmmaker Michal Goldman in 1989. The 18th annual festival is currently underway, showing films at different venues across Boston. Executive Director Sara Rubin remarked that what makes this film festival noteworthy is its independence.
"A lot of Jewish film festivals are run out of communities or federations, which are like the United Ways of the Jewish community," Rubin said. "But we have an artistic director who chooses all the films, and ultimately the decision is hers what to program. We're not dependent on another organization to raise funds or to pay our rent."
Various Tufts organizations combined to contribute over $1,500 to the festival this year. The School of Arts and Sciences, Tufts Hillel, Programs in Judaic Studies and International Letters and Visual Studies are sponsoring the screening of two short films, "Beautiful Music and True to Life - Stories by Ramla Youths." These films will screen together on a dual ticket Friday at 2 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts.
"I think [the festival] is a program of immense cultural and educational value to the Boston area in general, and the Tufts community," Judaic Studies Associate Professor Joel Rosenberg said. "It often gives me ideas of what to use in my film course, and I'm often exposed to things I haven't seen before. I co-direct the Judaic Studies Program and the program in International Letters and Visual Studies, and I typically steer my students to go [to the festival]."
Rubin said the festival has recently been trying to attract college students. "In the past few years we've been trying to incorporate a younger field," she said. "We have a pass called the Reel Pass; it's flexible so that younger people can sample the festival. Also, we have two films that you can connect to online. We even had a midnight screening last Saturday where people could come free if they wore their pajamas."
Cohen's show is already sold out, although tickets may become available 15 minutes before the show starts if some people who hold passes for the entire festival do not come to "Europa."
Cohen, who majored in International Relations at Tufts, reminisced fondly on her days as an undergrad. "It was the last time I had any time," she joked. "I had an absolutely spectacular time. I was an IR major, but I took everything that there was to take in terms of film classes. My IR major has really come back to help me because a lot of the films that we've made were international documentaries."
Cohen and her husband, Jon Shenk, founded their own production company, Actual Films, in 1998. The company has since produced nine documentaries, including "The Lost Boys of Sudan" (2003) and "Kofi Annan: Eye of the Storm" (1998).
In terms of "Europa," Cohen has high hopes. "We already have about 12 other film festival appearances lined up. We're hoping there's some theatrical interest because we'd like to bring the material to the theater. And we have a national broadcast commitment from PBS. They'll be broadcasting the film as a special in the first quarter of 2007. It'll have a national broadcast on PBS which is very exciting because it's when the film gets seen by the most people."
Cohen has already sold away the rights to the film. "We partnered with an investor, and in exchange for him paying for production we sold off the distribution rights to him," she said. "It was well worth it, but it's not for the money. We made this for pure love."
