Author name: Orit

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Orit is a journalist, multi-media producer, and author currently based in Berlin. Prior to living in Berlin, where she covers German-Jewish-Israel affairs, she covered Israeli politics, society, lifestyle and culture for a variety of publications.

‘Bashir’s’ Folman Reacts to Oscar Loss

“Waltz With Bashir” is a movie that expresses filmmaker Ari Folman’s hatred for war. But the run up to the Academy’s announcement for best foreign-language film felt like a war zone of the spirit, with Israeli Oscar dreams crushed by the Japanese. “I was really hyped and tense. Then it was a drop of adrenaline immediately after the announcement of ‘Departures,’” Folman told The Circuit at the post-Oscar bash at the Beverly Hilton. He described the exact mood at the Hilton’s International Ballroom, where the Israeli production team — not lucky enough to attend the actual ceremony at the Kodak Theater — watched the Oscars at a viewing banquet held by Jewish philanthropist Daphne Ziman’s Children Uniting Nations and co-sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and 93.5 FM The Beat. READ MORE IN THE JEWISH JOURNAL

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Songwriter Sheppard Solomon Working for a Song

Songwriter Sheppard Solomon won’t be watching the eighth season of American Idol, which is now in full swing – even though the singing contest has gotten him a lot of work. His latest single, “Feels Like Tonight,” performed by American Idol‘s fifth season finalist Chris Daughtry, reached the top of the charts last year, helping American Idol‘s most successful rockster clinch the best band award at the American Music Awards. Solomon has written album tracks for other American Idol winners and finalists: Kelly Clarkson, David Cook and David Archuleta, not to mention artists who made it the “old-fashioned” way, like Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Enrique Iglesias and Paris Hilton. The singing contest bores the Jewish 39-year-old bachelor, and it reflects his growing disillusionment with the mainstream music business. “It’s become more about the wrong things,” he says during an interview at his home in the Hollywood Hills. “That’s why people don’t buy records. They don’t feel attached. It’s not real. It’s more plastic. People like Elton John, Bob Dylan, Sting, Jim Morrison – they were real artists with points of view.” READ MORE IN THE JERUSALEM POST

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Israeli and Palestinian shed their armor in ‘Desert Sunrise’

The play opens in the south Hebron hills in the West Bank with Tsahi, an off-duty Israel Defense Forces soldier (Oren Dayan), pointing his gun at Ismail, a Palestinian shepherd (Dominic Rains). Having just broken up with his settler girlfriend, Tsahi is lost and seeking a way back to the main road. Ismail, waiting for his Muslim Palestinian girlfriend, Layla (Miriam Isa), is the only one who can help Tsahi find his way.

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