Janet Cole Movies
B.Z. Goldberg, an American filmmaker who was raised in Jerusalem and is fluent in both Hebrew and Arabic, returned to the Middle East to help make this documentary, which chronicles his encounters with seven children between the ages of 11 and 13, some Israeli and some Palestinian, who discuss their political views, their thoughts about the ongoing violence in their homelands and the possibility of a lasting peace, and the impact the aggression has had upon them. Encompassing extremists and moderates on both sides of the fence, the seven youngsters are interviewed individually and then brought together, where their common interests become clear -- as well as the fact that it's quite possible they'll never live together in peace. Co-directed by Goldberg with Justine Shapiro and Carlos Bolado, Promises won the Audience Award at the 2001 Rotterdam Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Academy-award winning documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman direct this harrowing, lyrical look at the persecution of homosexuals during the Third Reich. German historian and member of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Klaus Muller interviews the dozen or so surviving victims, now frail and wizened, who recount their experiences. Jewish resistance fighter Gad Beck recalls how he posed as a Hitler Youth in an ultimately vain attempt at saving his lover. One man was freed from a sentence at Dachau only to be interned again a Buchenwald. Another recalls hearing, in the distance, a "singing forest" -- the sound of gays bound and tortured by Nazis in a local grove. Epstein and Friedman fashion a layered narrative consisting not only of interviews but also archival footage depicting background life in Weimar Germany. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rupert Everett
A documentary that premiered in competition at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Regret to Inform analyzes the Vietnam War from the point of view of the women who lost the men they loved. Interweaving interviews with American and Vietnamese women, the film also centers on the documentary filmmaker Barbara Sonneborn, who learned on her 24th birthday that her husband (and sweetheart of ten years) died in the war. Twenty years later, Barbara takes her camera to Vietnam to retrace the final steps of her husband, hoping to finally set aside her unanswered questions. Through Sonneborn and the women she meets, viewers are reminded of the horrors of war and see that a single bullet has an effect far beyond the body it hits. ~ Arthur Borman, All Movie Guide
This upbeat documentary is an exploration of how those living with an HIV-positive diagnosis manage in the face of what is widely considered to be a death sentence. The stories of these twelve diverse individuals, who range from gay men to blood-transfusion recipients and heterosexual couples, are told in a direct fashion largely through interviews. The interviews are occasionally amplified with narration provided by the director, himself living with being diagnosed HIV-positive. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
