THE JEWISH CONNECTION WITH THE BRAZILIAN CINEMATHEQUE

Ann Helen Wainer

DESCRIPTION: The objective of this series is to demonstrate the peculiar aspects of the Luso-Brazilian connection to Judaism in the film industry. To that end, we will view 4 films dealing with the following topics: Jewish immigration to Portugal; Jewish immigration to Brazil and to NYC; Ladino and Sephardic Songs; Stefan Zweig’s last days in Brazil. The films follow a chronological order starting from the Jewish immigration to Portugal, moving along to the 15th­ century Portugal colonization of Brazil, including how the Dutch-Brazilian Jews immigrated to NYC from the northeast of Brazil and formed one of the most influential Jewish communities in the world. Following these documentary films, there will be an opportunity to learn that Brazil was a country that received not only Sephardic Jews, but also Ashkenazi Jews, like Stefan Zweig.

FOUR LECTURES:

1. Caminhos da Memória: A Trajetória dos Judeus em Portugal - Paths of Memory: The Trajectory of the Jews in Portugal (2002)
   
   
2. A Estrela Oculta do Sertão – The Hidden Star of Brazil (2005)
   
   
3. They Came For Good (2001)
   
   
4. Lost Zweig: Stefan Zweig’s last days in Brazil (2003)

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Ann Helen Wainer is an attorney in Brazil where she earned a Master’s in Corporate Law. She also holds an MA in Religious Studies from Florida International University (FIU). Published books include: Civil Liability of the Developer; Brazilian Environmental Legislation, A Jewish Perspective on Ecology, and Jewish and Brazilian Connections to New York, India, and Ecology: A Collection of Essays. She has participated in seminars on global climate change and was an ARIL/Cross Currents Coolidge Fellow in NYC. Ann also has lectured extensively about the Holocaust and has written Family Portrait, her family history, published in the U.S. Her lectures in the U.S. and Brazil include the Brazilian Connection to Jewish Life in America. A native Brazilian film expert, she specializes in Brazilian Jewish Cinematheque, and is considered a pioneer in this field of study.