I was recently (and by recently I mean several months ago!) contacted by a young man from AVODAarts asking me if I would take a look at one of the films they produced.   Intrigued by the information on their website, I agreed.

Avoda Arts is a non-profit educational organization that uses arts and culture as entry points into Jewish learning.  But more than that, they simultaneously encourage and inspire filmmakers and viewers.  Partnerships are made with young filmmakers to create Jewish films (some money is given up front for production and then the artist receives a portion of all copies of the films sold).  The films are then used to teach children not only about Jewish history and culture but about film as an art and as a vehicle of communication.

A DVD of the short film Pigeon with accompaning educator's resource guide soon arrived in the mail.  "I know", I thought, "I'll show the film to the kids and use the teacher's guide to kind of test their system."  But before I gathered my guinea pigs (I mean children) I watched the film by myself.

What a powerful 11 minutes it was.  I was moved by Anthony Green's deceivingly simple film.  Paging through the accompaning literature allowed me to peel away the layers.  I was used to this kind of study of literature, but had never considered film in this way.

A gentle email from Etan (from Avoda Arts) reminded me that I had promised months ago to post something.  So, on the first day of summer break, I turned off SpongeBob and turned on Pigeon.

My children (aged 9 and 11) are not used to movies like this.  I remember having watched the powerful Holocaust mini-series on tv when I was a child not much older than they.  But, they haven't seen anything yet.  Their first reaction was negative--it was too sad, they said.  And, I can't blame them--they've been raised on the happy, happy sugar of Disney and Nickelodeon.

We began to talk.

Prompted by the educator's guide, I asked about the Jewish man's clothes--was he rich or poor?  "Rich", they answered.  This was the first visual of a German Jew they had seen that was not an immaciated resident of the camps or ghettos.  This was an image of a Jew who looked like any of the Germans on the luxurious train car.

Was the woman who helped him German or Jewish?  "German" they correctly answered.  "How do you know?"

"Because she had real papers."

"What did the pigeon represent?"

"The Jews, because they were helpless and innocent and the German boys were trying to kill it."

"The story is real, but the pigeon was not part of the true story.  Why did the filmmaker put that in?"

"Because the Jewish man tried to save the pigeon, just like the German woman saved the Jewish man."

"So, was the film really sad or was it also happy?"

"Kinda happy because the man escaped."

"But how did the film end?"

"With a shot of the dead pigeon."

We spoke about more than the plot.  We talked about the film and how Green used music and tone and weather (it was snowing) to tell his story.  We talked about the subtle portrayal of the Jewish man by actor Michael Lerner--how he was able to tell us how he was feeling without really saying anything.  We talked about the importance of this kind of film and this kind of story--unlike any they had heard before.

I didn't push them much beyond that (it was, after all, the first day of summer vacation).  But, I can imagine the powerful contribution this film (and other AVODAarts productions) would have in a classroom.  The material included history and questions about the narrative, but also extension activities and lessons in media literacy and symbolism.  The education program was as layered as the film--there is truly something to interest any student--those who are drawn to the history and the story and those who are drawn to the study of film.

This innovative organization seems to have found the perfect educational tool for our media savvy children.   If you are an educator or a parent, I encourage you to click over to their website www.AvodaArts.org and learn how you can help them encourage young filmmakers and how you can encourage your schools to bring their films to your children.

 

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