It was a warm Spring evening in the East Village as we approached the legendary nightclub Webster Hall. It brought me back to 1996 when Webster Hall was the cool club (weekdays). After many years of transformations and re-openings, Webster Hall seems to have re-established itself as a live music institution. On this night, we’ve come to hear some local NYC talent, and we did not leave disappointed.

Upon arriving, Mannequin Pussy was deep in their set of indie, psychedelia rock which caught our attention. They’ve recently become a three piece band, but you wouldn’t know it. Their sound was full and strong for the few songs we heard to close their set. Up next, the headline act and NYC based, Sunflower Bean.

We were eager to hear Sunflower Bean and their quite diverse catalog of music including songs from their recently released album, “Headful of Sugar,” which has received high praise from critics. The band opened the show with the powerful title track from the album which gave the room a lift with its driving yet rhythmic pumping beat. It definitely set the tone for the show. The second song, “In Flight” was a bit more pop leaning with somewhat of a 90’s vibe. I heard some Sheryl Crow and Wallflowers similarities. The band was not afraid to show their diversity early in the set which I could appreciate. There’s nothing worse than a flat set of music that all sounds the same! The next song, “twentytwo,” which lead singer Julia Cumming explained is a very special song. It started out like a ballad with a deep focus on her vocal talents. She poured her energy into it and clearly “twentytwo” has a special personal meaning to Julia. She shared how growing up down the street from Webster Hall and headlining the show was a dream come true for her.

At this point, the fans were fully engaged and responding to Julia’s high energy and encouragement. She had them right where she wanted them. Next up, was “Otherside,” with a lush sound and warm vocals it built up nicely with the drums and guitar kicking in to take it home. If you were unsure if the band was rock n’ roll or not, you found out when they played “Roll the Dice.” The track beckons back to 90’s rock with heavy bass and drums through the chest. With that said, they quickly pivoted with “Baby Don’t Cry,” a REAL crowd pleaser. You can’t help but think of No Doubt and Gwen Stefani, but make no mistake this song has serious popular potential.

Some other highlights include “Who Put You Up To This” with its catchy lyrics and grooves and “Beat the Odds.” Overall, it was an enjoyable show, and it was impressive to see a band work their way through a diverse set of songs with such success. That’s not easy to do. If you have a chance to see the band live, make sure you check them out.

Ahed’s Knee, the latest feature from Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, is a visually inventive, emotionally engaging work about an artist’s rage against censorship and a citizen’s frustration over his country’s direction. Told over the course of one day, the film depicts Y (a moodily charismatic Avshalom Pollak), a filmmaker who travels to a remote desert village to promote one of his films. The title refers to Ahed Tamimi, a real-life Palestinian activist who was detained by Israeli authorities after slapping a soldier. The controversial Tamimi is the subject of a video project Y has begun casting; we see some audition clips, including one actor’s rendition of “Welcome to the Jungle.” (Music plays a huge part in Lapid’s film.) Throughout, the camera moves restlessly, swooping, circling and swinging side to side, sometimes mirroring a character’s point of view, sometimes just creating a state of frenetic energy.

The host of the screening in the Arava is an employee from the Ministry of Culture (Nur Fibak), an attractive, flirtatious young woman who is a huge fan of Y’s work.  They become friendly and she casually mentions a form he must sign in order to get paid for the appearance. The form, which limits the topics he can discuss, becomes a symbol of everything Y detests about his country.

Though the story is about Y’s despair over what he believes is the crumbling state of Israel, Lapid’s film is a tour de force of visual and aural style, a series of road-trippy vignettes that are often beautiful and sometimes powerful. Especially striking are scenes set in the desert, its moonscape-like stillness a great backdrop for Y’s wanderings. He periodically sends video messages to his mother, with whom he collaborates on his films; her recent cancer diagnosis has compounded his emotional turmoil. In one scene, he walks and dances (as does the camera) through the desert, the bright soul-pop on his headphones creating an odd juxtaposition. At another point, he happens upon a rock duo performing in a shed-like building, and he’s clearly moved by the music. Throughout the film, music is used very effectively, as when a middle-age driver tells Y of his marriage to a young woman. A fantasy scene ensues, featuring the man dancing to Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day.” Often played almost in their entirety, songs are more than mere snippets, emphasizing their importance.

Toward the end of Ahed’s Knee, Y describes his military service to Yahalom, and we see him as a young soldier in several flashbacks, a couple of which are music video-like scenes of soldiers moshing to hardcore punk and female soldiers dancing with machine guns. Eventually, Y tells her of a traumatic incident that occurred during that time.

As the film builds to Y’s incendiary appearance at the screening and its aftermath, Ahed’s Knee becomes tense and very dramatic as we wonder if Y has gone too far. Visually delightful and profound in parts, Ahed’s Knee is a wild trip that is worth taking.

Ahed’s Knee is available on all major PVOD platforms.

—Marina Zogbi

Gagarine, a fresh and poignant feature debut by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh (co-written with Benjamin Charbit), is about the beauty and strength of community, embodied here by the residents of the Cité Gagarine housing project on the outskirts of Paris.

Filmed just prior to the demolition of Gagarine in 2019 and with the participation of its residents, the movie follows one young tenant, Youri (Alséni Bathily, making his screen debut) – named for the complex’s namesake, Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin – as he fights to preserve his home and community. The filmmakers combine stark realism with dreamy fantasy to portray the world of Gagarine and the imagination of Youri, a serious, science-minded teen who dreams of being an astronaut. His apartment is full of hi-tech devices fashioned from scavenged materials, including a tricked-out telescope through which he scans the heavens.

Along with his intrepid, enterprising friends Houssam (Jamil McCraven) and fellow gearhead Diana (the luminous Lyna Khoudri), Youri rummages for electrical parts to fix the building’s wiring prior to an inspection. He hopes to forestall Gagarine’s imminent destruction and the relocation of residents, who come from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. A valued member of the community, Youri creates a special canopy through which his neighbors come together to watch a solar eclipse; it’s a particularly lovely scene underscored by eerie music. Some residents, however (including Houssam’s father), are happy to abandon Gagarine and work to hasten its demise.

Moody, dark and graceful, with an eclectic soundtrack, Gagarine features vignettes of daily life along with actual footage of the site. Included are real scenes of Gagarine’s groundbreaking (attended by Gagarin himself) and its much-celebrated opening in 1963, which was was met with much hope and optimism for a new way of life.

Despite Youri’s efforts, the complex is scheduled for demolition and residents begin moving out, including Fari (Farida Rahouadj), a Turkish woman who knew his parents when they first moved in and serves as a sort of surrogate mom (Youri’s own mother has virtually abandoned  him). Diana, with whom Youri has enjoyed a budding romance, eventually moves on with her Roma family, as well. Soon he’s the only one left in the massive building, aside from a hyper young drug dealer who pops in occasionally until he’s accosted by the site’s demolition workers.

Youri, who knows the building inside and out, manages to elude workers and authorities. He gains access to abandoned apartments, and rigs a kind of earthbound space station full of elaborate contraptions built from salvaged circuitry and other parts. His environment and the movie itself become progressively more surreal.

Eventually and sadly, the inevitable finally occurs and Youri himself transitions to a different place. The film’s conclusion, which involves a kind of reunion among former residents, is moving and remarkably beautiful.

Off-kilter, raw and imaginative, Gagarine is a truly unique portrayal of how a community can bring and hold people together, even — or maybe especially — in less-than-ideal circumstances. It’s a lyrical and powerful meditation on our shared humanity.

Gagarine opens on Friday, April 1, at the Quad Cinema in New York.

—Marina Zogbi

An inspiring and visually delightful film, Beth Elise Hawk’s Breaking Bread features the founder of Israel’s annual A-Sham food Festival, as well as several participants, along with myriad mouth-watering depictions of Mediterranean cuisine. Founded in Haifa in 2015 by Dr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel, the first Israeli Arab to win Israel’s MasterChef, the festival brings together Arab and Jewish chefs to collaborate on new iterations of Arabic dishes. Foremost a food documentary with some light social commentary, Breaking Bread begins with a quote from Anthony Bourdain: “Food may not be the answer to world peace, but it’s a start.” By the end of this feel-good film, even the most cynical among us may feel optimistic about that claim.

Presiding over the festival is the ever upbeat Atamna-Ismaeel, who declares that being an Israeli Arab is difficult—not completely accepted by either side—but “Stuck in the middle is the best thing because you get to enjoy both worlds.” Her belief that there’s no room for politics in the kitchen is echoed by others throughout the film. The sentiment rings true here, as it does with other creative collaborations, be it music, dance or art.

Hawk introduces us to several chefs who have participated in A-Sham, including the loquacious Shlomi, who took over the Polish-inspired restaurant his grandfather founded; and his festival cooking partner, Ali, manager of a restaurant in his picturesque village on the Israel/Lebanon border. Of Syrian descent, Ali too is upbeat, happy with his life in Israel, as is youthful Osama, from the seaside village of Akko, who talks about the traditional mix of cultures in his town: “I’ve never felt like an outsider.” It’s tempting at first to write off this contentment as an anomaly, given headlines about the region that dominate western media, but in many areas of Israel, life and culture are clearly a lot more complicated and nuanced than what we’re used to hearing about troubled areas like Gaza/West Bank. Breaking Bread often contradicts simplistic ideas that many westerners may have about Arabs living in Israel, many of whom are not Palestinian.

Osama’s partner, Ilan, is another interesting character, a long-haired half-Catholic idealist who is disdainful about politics. The final pair we get to know, Tomer and Saleh, are also male, which leads us to wonder if Atamna-Ismaeel, the daughter of a doctor and herself a microbiologist, is something of an aberration. Along with several of the other Arabic chefs, she expresses happiness about sharing their food with Israeli society, a form of representation and legitimization. She believes that people have been brainwashed by negative media headlines about tensions between Arabs and Jews, and that A-sham never has never gotten the media coverage it deserved because it was a positive story.

The festival is very much a product of Haifa, a multicultural city whose mayor boasts about celebrating Ramadan, Christmas and Hanukkah. Some sensitivities are touched upon, including the fact that much Israeli food is based on traditional Arabic dishes, which, according to Atamna-Ismaeel, can be a tricky issue. “It’s funny, sad, and complicated,” she admits of the casual appropriation.

The festival itself is finally shown, albeit quickly, but the film is really about the meeting of chefs from different sides of the “fence” and the melding of Arab/Muslim and Israeli/Jewish cuisines and traditions. The chefs depicted here seem to enjoy each others’ company, bonding over their love for cooking and its importance in their lives.

Breaking Bread is not a film that delves deeply into politics or conflicts of the area, but focuses on the joys of sharing food and the colorful, inventive cuisine of the area formerly known as the Levant. As Tomer notes, “If you cook for somebody and he eats your food, that’s where politics ends.” It’s hard to argue with that. And it’s nearly impossible to leave this film without intense cravings for the beautiful food shown so lovingly prepared and appreciated.

Breaking Bread opens on Friday, February 4, in New York (Quad Cinema & JCC Manhattan).

— Marina Zogbi

Virtual Education and the Arts

Higher education has significantly trailed behind other industries in moving forward into digitally focused learning. One factor contributing to this could be that pre-pandemic, colleges were assigning less than 5% of their budgets to IT spending. We have been somewhat pushed to reimagine learning methods in response to the temporary closure of schools over potions of the past two years, however, with distance learning being the only option available in many cases. And now there is increasingly widespread belief that remote learning could endure; just this past April, The New York Times discussed how the remote programs developed to manage the crisis are now poised to remain.

While remote programs have been successful in certain respects though, how does the idea of ongoing virtual learning stand to affect the arts?

Performing arts programs in particular rely heavily upon physical presence and contact, which has prompted many schools and students to find innovative ways to avoid disruption. While transition in other areas is easy enough, with teachers conducting lectures over Zoom and similar programs, the practical learning aspects of performing arts present more challenges. But because it does seem probable that some digital and remote learning practices will remain in place, we’ve examined the advantages and disadvantages of online learning within the film and performing arts sector.

Pros

One appealing aspect of online education is the flexibility it offers to students. In enables them to have full control and accountability for their learning. With the requirement to attend scheduled classes eliminated, students can –– to a greater extent at least –– allocate time for studies around their own commitments and periods that are most convenient to them. This can result in improved retention of information and ultimately better results.

Online learning also presents the opportunity to innovate on the fly. With regard to performing arts specifically, being unable to physically perform in theaters or studios has forced students and teachers to improvise and create different ways to manage. On this subject, Forbes interviewed performing arts pupils and professors to find out how they’ve tackled issues surrounding the imposed restrictions. The piece sought to highlight how when circumstances prompt change, new and innovative ideas emerge –– and while it was still clear that circumstances for the involved students were far from ideal, there is something to be said for new tactics yielding real progress. Finding ways to practice dance in limited space, for instance, may only make a performer more comfortable when he or she has a stage again.

There is also some potential (though largely untapped as yet) that more digital education might make for more dynamic and data-supported methods could be designed. Writing specifically about various efforts that are underway to improve general classroom education, New Globe notes that a tech-driven approach can yield data that helps instructors to develop and adapt. The idea is that when we bring technology into education it becomes easier to identify and act on trends, whether they have to do with academic performance, student feedback, or anything similar. While this concept is again being discussed with regard to general education, it can be applied in any classroom environment to some extent. But with virtual learning already occurring in an online environment, one can imagine that there are more opportunities for feedback, assessment, review etc. In the best of cases, all of this can lead to more dynamic and effective instruction –– including in the arts.

Cons

First and foremost, there’s the group dynamic to consider. Remote learning removes the opportunity to perform with partners and teams, which is a core part of the performing arts. While there are ways to improvise, there is no true substitute for the communal aspect of it all. With the inability to attend theater groups and music ensembles in person, students lose out on valuable learning experiences.

Similarly, the inability to simulate the act of performing for others face-to-face curtails the value of arts instruction. The experience of a live audience and the feelings and emotions associated with performance simply cannot be emulated successfully in virtual education (even if virtual reality is employed, as may occur more in the coming years). In disciplines in which interaction and contact are so heavily relied upon, this is a significant disadvantage.

There is also the raw fact of students lacking space to consider. While we noted above that this has led to some innovation that may yield benefits in certain cases, the lack of stages, studios, and classrooms to practice in is ultimately more likely to stunt routines and progress. Most students studying remotely will be working from limited bedroom and/or dorm space, and other available areas may come with risk of interruption, or may just not be conducive to the work at hand. This will absolutely have a detrimental effect on their studies, and moreover on their wellbeing as performing arts students.

We hope this has been an informative piece as we look ahead to a future of hybrid education models, potentially even in the arts. And please visit Art For Progress again soon for the latest news and updates from the scene!