Arts & Entertainment

Interview with Lead Singer of Terry Poison

The Israeli electro-rock-pop band Terry Poison doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Zionism. They belong more in the European electronic music underground. They sing in English and French about boys and partying. Their wardrobe consists of glittery, metallic bodysuits that outlandish pop sensation Lady Gaga would envy. They don’t consider Diaspora Jews who love Israel as their natural market. (Check out the Journal’s upcoming feature on the band.) But the band’s lead singer and founder, Louise Kahn, left her homeland of Norway to become a part of the Jewish experiment in the Holy Land and to contribute her own sense of fashion, musical creativity, and partying to the Jewish state. Now her dreams are coming true, with a sound that is rocking Israel’s radio waves, regular gigs in Europe, and a bid at the best new Israeli act at the MTV Europe Music Awards being held in Berlin this November. READ MORE IN THE JEWISH JOURNAL

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Documentaries Explore Mysteries of Fate

Two documentaries, two mysteries: the life and death of a family of Holocaust survivors attempting to rebuild their lives in an Israel ravaged by war; the other reveals the life and death of a Greek musician attempting to build his career as a pop star in Israel, seeking normalcy through music. Together, these films showing at the Israel Film Festival highlight starkly contrasting realities in the development of the State of Israel. “The Green Dumpster Mystery,” which aired last year on Israel’s documentary channel, is a straightforward chronicle of director Tal Yoffe’s quest to figure out the story behind a stack of family portraits mysteriously trashed in a dumpster in south Tel Aviv. “The Mystery of Aris San,” which aired to high ratings this year on Israel’s major television network, is executed like an episode of VH1’s “Behind the Music,” telling the story of a Greek musician who rose to Israeli stardom. Whereas “Aris San” takes us to nightclubs, homes of celebrities and through the streets of New York, “Green Dumpster” visits gravesites, homes of Holocaust survivors and the streets of Tel Aviv. READ MORE IN THE JEWISH JOURNAL

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‘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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