Hartford Jewish Film Festival Double Feature

 

Jerry Lewis: The Man behind the Clown

English with some French and subtitles, USA, 2016

Documentary, 60 minutes

Director: Gregory Munro

 

Who is the man behind the clown? For more than 50 years, critics and audiences have asked themselves this question. Revered in Europe but rejected in America, is Jerry Lewis a cultural genius or merely an overgrown buffoon? Known onscreen for his visual gags and slapstick humor, behind the camera Jerry Lewis was a meticulous, groundbreaking filmmaker who was a driving force in Hollywood. This documentary reflects on his life and his work through archival footage and interviews with friends and colleagues (including Martin Scorsese and Sean Hayes) as well as with Lewis himself.

 

The Last Blintz

English, USA, 2016

Documentary, 30 minutes

Director: Dori Berinstein

 

The closing of The Cafe Edison (aka The Polish Tea Room), the Broadway diner immortalized in Neil Simon's 45 Seconds from Broadway, is not just a story about another famous show business haunt shutting its doors, it is the fading away of a piece of an America past.

 

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