The Summer Institute Film Series at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven is underway. Six more films, ranging from the lighthearted to the serious, will play in collaboration with the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center.
The series will offer something new this year: classic films. “We try to have a series with fiction films and some documentaries,” Shelly Eckman said in an interview with The Times last week. She is a Ph.D. researcher in consumer behavior who chairs the film series committee and spends summers in Aquinnah. Ms. Eckman said, “I’ve always loved film and the process of selecting film.” The film series committee culls its choices from a variety of Jewish film events and other sources.
Playing Sunday, July 17, “Dough” is a charming comedy about a baker who hires a Muslim assistant, Ayyash (Jerome Holder). The declining kosher business gets a big boost when Ayyash adds marijuana to the challah recipe. Jonathan Pryce (“Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Game of Thrones”) stars, along with Pauline Collins (“Shirley Valentine”).
A painfully powerful and celebrated film, “Son of Saul,” screens on Sunday, July 24. It won the Grand Prix at the 2015 Cannes Festival and this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Géza Rhörig plays an Auschwitz prisoner forced to work removing bodies from the gas chamber. After retrieving the body of a young boy, he searches for a rabbi who can help him give the child a proper burial.
The documentary “Very Semi-Serious” describes the intriguing selection process for New Yorker cartoonists. Regulars Roz Chast and Mort Gerberg appear in their studios and submit their work, while aspiring ingénues hope to break into the publication. Cartoon editor Bob Mankoff demonstrates how he picks what’s published.
Classic Cinema Night on Sunday, August 14, features Woody Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” One of the director’s few serious films, it is a tour de force of narrative and acting. Martin Landau stars as a troubled optometrist, Anjelica Huston as his mistress, and Mia Farrow as Allen’s would-be lover.
In a private screening for Summer Institute sponsors, “In Search of Israeli Cuisine” provides a portrait of the nation’s people through their food. Not only does the PBS documentary highlight awardwinning chef Andrew Solomonov, but it includes home cooks, vintners, cheesemakers, and farmers.
The Film Series will collaborate with the Summer Institute’s Speaker Series to screen an additional film, “Colliding Dreams,” on Thursday, August 18. This documentary traces the history of Zionism, and a discussion will follow.
For showtimes and more information, visit mvsummerinstitute.com or mvfilmsociety.com.
