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From Shtetl to Zion: 30 Years of Krakow's Jewish Culture Festival
- Edited by Karolina Golemo, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Marta Kupis, Jagiellonian University, Krakow
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- Book:
- Spaces of Diversity?
- Published by:
- Jagiellonian University Press
- Published online:
- 01 March 2024
- Print publication:
- 23 January 2023, pp 147-170
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Summary
The first edition of the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow was inaugurated in 1988. From a small, local event, it has grown to an international phenomenon. Now it is one of the most important events of this kind in the world, presenting contemporary Jewish culture created both by Jews in Israel and the entire Jewish Diaspora. Currently, it is probably the only Jewish festival in the world founded and run by non-Jews. It is also one that is largely attended by non-Jews. Even more striking is the fact that it is held in a country virtually bereft of Jews. The aim of this chapter is to examine the evolving and expanding character of the festival and its main purposes and themes. The main goal of the festival is to educate participants about Jewish culture, history and faith (Judaism), which flourished in Poland before the Holocaust, as well to make them familiar with modern Jewish culture (music, cuisine, dance, calligraphy and other aspects).
Keywords: Jewish Culture Festival, Kazimierz district in Krakow, klezmer, Ashkenazy, boutique multiculturalism
The Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow, inaugurated in 1988, has grown from a small, local event to an international phenomenon, gathering numerous Jewish musicians, singers, artists, writers and scholars not only from Israel but also from diasporas in different countries, and thousands of largely non-Jewish participants. The aim of this chapter is to describe the evolution of the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow. I will argue that an event previously focused on the heritage of Ashkenazy Jews and practically limited to klezmer music has evolved over time into a wide range of diverse Jewish worlds, namely that of Ashkenazy, Mizrahi (Lewin-Epstein, Cohen 2018) and, finally, Israeli culture. I also will examine whether the Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow is an authentic celebration of Jewish life or a result of boutique multiculturalism, meaning a superficial fascination with the Other. In order to answer this question, it is necessary to focus on the festival's declared mission and the character of the events offered to its participants.
In order to describe the characteristics of the festival and to investigate the above-mentioned question, I will analyse existing qualitative and quantitative data.
Where is Anna? What Happened to Elly? – Asghar Farhadi Rewrites and Re-Veils Michaelangelo Antonioni
- from Arts
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- By Elżbieta Wiącek, Jagiellonian University
- Edited by Anna Krasnowolska, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Renata Rusek-Kowalska, Jagiellonian University, Krakow
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- Book:
- Studies on the Iranian World
- Published by:
- Jagiellonian University Press
- Published online:
- 12 January 2018
- Print publication:
- 01 January 2015, pp 277-288
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Summary
SUMMARY
The description of the plot of Asghar Farhadi's About Elly might give the impression that Farhadi is gunning for the position of ‘the Iranian Antonioni’. At a closer view, it turns out not to really be the case. Despite lifting its storyline straight from the art cinema classic L'Avventura by Antonioni, unlike the Italian film director, Farhadi uses the situation of a missing woman to make sharp observations about his society, particularly the position of women and marital relationships. The aim of this paper is to use the notion of intertextuality to examine the relations between these two films. Analysing About Elly along the vertical axis, which connects the text/film to other texts/films I would like to compare the similarities and differences in the narrative structure and in the comment on the social world.
About Elly (Darbāre-ye Elly, 2009) is the fourth film directed by Asghar Farhadi. 1 He started his career by making short 8mm and 16mm films in the Isfahan branch of the Iranian Young Cinema Society before moving on to writing plays and screenplays for the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).2 He also directed such TV series as A Tale of a City and co-wrote some screenplays. Dancing in the Dust (Raqs dar ghobār, 2003) was his feature film debut, which was followed by A Beautiful City (Shahr-e zibā, 2004) and Fireworks Wednesday (Chahārshanbe-suri, 2006).
As it was in his previous movie, the topic of About Elly is the relationship among some middle class families in contemporary Iran. A group of friends from Tehran go on a three-day vacation near the Caspian Sea. They are former classmates from the Faculty of Law at the university. The three couples include Sepide (Golshifte Farahani) and her husband Amir who have a little daughter. Shohre and her husband Peyman have two children including their little son Arash. Nazi and her husband Manuchehr are the third family. The trip is planned by Sepide, who brings along her daughter's kindergarten teacher Elly (Tarane Alidusti). Sepide's hidden agenda in bringing Elly on this trip is to set her up with Ahmad (Shahab Hosseini), a divorcee who has come back from Germany and is looking for a new wife.