Shabbat Service and Cultural Program
Join us Friday, October 21st, for a special screening of the socially relevant and controversial short film Anne. This film, written by screenwriter Adi Eshman and directed by Desirée Abeyta, has been circulating the North American Film Festival circuit and is the recent recipient of two prizes at the LA Diversity Film Fest, as well as being featured in an article in the Forward.
This powerful production will bring to the surface the ever-present questions of representation in casting: what do we consider a universal role, how does modern casting rectify the injustices in years past, and how do casting directors decide who is best for a role?
The most important questions to tackle are often the most uncomfortable. This program will encourage you to question not only how society perceives race, but how you yourself perceive race.
Following the viewing of the film, we’ll have an interview with the writer and director, then a moderated Q&A.
Synopsis:
Two actresses, a White actress and a Black actress, have made it to the final callbacks for the role of a lifetime: to play Anne Frank in an upcoming staged production. But as the topic of color-blind casting makes its way into the audition room, the controversial question emerges: who is best suited to tell her story?
Adi Eshman is a playwright, screenwriter and producer. He is in the third year at USC’s MFA in Dramatic Writing. His works have been read or performed at NYU, Columbia University, The Tank, Jewish Women’s Theatre, Bowery Poetry Club and Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. In 2018, his play King Lesbian was a finalist for the Jewish Plays Contest. He also worked as a writer’s assistant on Steven Soderbergh’s experimental HBO drama, MOSAIC. BA: NYU Gallatin. adieshman.net
Desirée Abeyta is a multifaceted Hispanic Creative born and raised in Las Vegas, NV. She is the proud Executive Producer of the Telly Award-Winning (2020) comedic web series “FabUless“, which was also nominated for eight Indie Series Awards, including Best Comedic Series and Best Comedic Actress. Her first venture into filmmaking as a writer/director, “An Invitation to Tea” (for which Desiree was one of 5 recipients of the inaugural Inwood Art Works Filmmakers Grant), won the Audience Choice Award when it premiered at the 2020 Charlotte Film Festival and also at the 2021 Blackbird Film Festival. Her second film “Anne” explores the racial tensions of color-blind casting and questions the true importance of storytelling when a white Jewish actress and a Black actress compete for the role of Anne Frank.
Join us on Zoom or
watch live on our youtube channel.
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