Sunday, October 26 through Sunday, November 9, 2008

Jewish

The Arts have always been a vibrant component of Jewish culture. As stated in the Talmud, “Three things restore a person’s good spirits: beautiful sounds, sights and smells”. This festival embraces the sights of beautiful artwork, thought-provokingmovies and books as well as the sounds of talented musicians. And what would a Jewish festival be without food to entice your sense of smell (and taste)? As 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, our inaugural year of JAAMM Fest will highlight Israeli artists, movies, books and musicians. We believe that the energy of the MACC’s longstanding and successful Jewish festivals such as the BNY Mellon Wealth Management Denver Jewish Film Festival and the Leah Cohen Festival of Jewish Books and Authors will launch our new JAAMM Fest.

Arts

During JAAMM Fest, the Singer Gallery will feature an exhibition of paintings by Yigal Ozeri entitled Anima. This exhibition, which runs from Sept. 11—Nov. 9, will explore Ozeri’s multi-faceted engagement with the figure of “the woman” in his works from the 1990’s to the present. Born in Israel in 1958, Ozeri has achieved international recognition for his visionary, metaphysically resonant paintings. Anima, at the Singer Gallery will be Ozeri's first major exhibition outside of New York, Israel and Europe. Concurrently, there will be an exhibit of photography by Avraham Hay entitled: Face to Face. It is a collection of 44 black-and-white photographs that depict the lives and work of Hay's fellow Israeli artists. It was previously displayed at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in 2005.

Authors

The author portion of JAAMM Fest is our annual Leah Cohen Festival of Jewish Books and Authors, the launch point upon which this expanded festival in based. The book festival opens on October 26 with our 2-week book sale held in the JCC main lobby. The second component is a series of author lectures scheduled throughout the festival.

Movies

JAAMM Fest incorporates a series of films for adults & children during the 2-week celebration. The films will be selected to complement and expand upon themes explored in featured books, music and art. One of these is the original 1937 Yiddish (with subtitles) film version on the Dybbuk story, that compliments our opera presentation.

Music

The musical centerpiece of this festival is an opera version of the Dybbuk story entitled, The Dybbuk: Between Two Worlds – a chamber opera by Ofer Ben-Amots. Based on the classic Jewish play by S. Ansky, this new opera features renowned international artists, and combines music, drama, dance, real-time video projections and more. Other exciting musical acts include Israeli Jazz percussionist Assaf Roth with his duo Biting Sheep, the Eli Degibri Jazz Trio direct from Israel, a chamber cello concert featuring Israeli cellist, Inbal Megiddo and a children’s interactive performance with Rabbi Joe Black.

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