Richard Z. Chesnoff: It's Kool to Be Kosher in Poland: the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival

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Poland's parliament recently voted to uphold a controversial ban on ritual Jewish butchering -- an otherwise lucrative international enterprise for the export hungry nation.

That not withstanding, everything else Jewish seems to have become decidedly kosher in the Polish Republic. Seven decades after more than 90 percent of Poland's Jewish population of 3.6 million was slaughtered by the Nazis (with an occasional assist from a few local anti-Semites) everything from Jewish history to Jewish food to Jewish music to Jewish art has suddenly become Poland's in-thing.

The capital city of Warsaw itself recently feted the opening of an amazingly lavish Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Located at the edge of where the infamous Warsaw Ghetto once stood, it tells the rich tale of more than a thousand years of Polish-Jewish life -- a subject generally and pointedly ignored in the post-war years, both by Communists and non-Communists. .

These days Polish restaurants from Gdansk to Lodz offer their customers Jewish style dishes from "Yiddish fish"" (AKA gefilte fish" to "Sabbath Stew" (AKA cholent). Theaters and clubs headline concerts of klezmer music, art galleries feature exhibits by pre-war Jewish painters and young Poles who've discovered they had a grandfather or an aunt with a touch of Jewish ancestry don't hide the facts as they used to, they rush to forge their own ties with renewing Jewish communities.

Credit: cracowonline

Still nowhere is Poland's new Jewish chic as high-spirited and accomplished as it is in the great southern Polish city of Krakow -- home of an annual Jewish Culture Festival just completing its 23rd successful year .

All but a handful of Krakow's important Jewish community died in nearby Auschwitz (remember "Schindler's List"?) or was simply murdered on its doorsteps by German troops. But miraculously Kazimierz, the city's centuries old Jewish quarter, like most of Krakow, physically survived.

And it is there, along its intertwined, cobble-stoned streets that musicians, dancers, actors and artists from around the world gather each summer to celebrate the richness of global Jewish culture.

This year's festivities included everything from an opening night Melaveh Malka -- a joyful farewell to the Sabbath in one of Krakow's beautifully restored synagogues featuring golden voiced cantors from three continents. The same Tempel was also the setting for an audience packed concert of the Krakow Academy of Music's Big Band led by New York's Frank London, the trumpeter wizard of what London himself calls "the new Jewish music, a fascinating fusion of contemporary klezmer and modern jazz". It also featured another New York Jewish jazz whiz: guitarist Yoshie Fruchter.

Jewish jazzist Frank London Credit: Pawel Mazur, www.jewishfestival.com

There were dozens of daily workshops on arts and crafts, symposiums on Yiddish song and dance, lectures on Krakow history, and tens of concerts including one by Diwan Saz, a unique Jewish-Muslim group from Israel. There was even a hyper active session by Australian Rabbi Dovid Tsap who personally illustrated his specialized Ollies, Kickflips and other talents as a "spiritual skateboarder."

But as always, the festival's highlight was on one of its final nights when a crowd of thousands -- most seemingly Polish and non-Jewish -- gathered in Szeroka Square before the Old Synagogue. There they fervently listened and clapped as Klezmer music played, there they held hands and danced together in joy.

P.S. Krakow's Jewish Culture Festival also affords visitors an opportunity to taste some excellent cuisine -- not all of it strictly Kosher. Try Szara, where Chef Maciej Dziura offers an incredible oven baked leg of goose glazed with honey and lime. For simpler but no less delicious fare, try the OmOm a recently opened Polish sausage grill on Dajwor Street, just across from the Galicia Jewish Museum.

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Fine Marshall: live from the international Karlovy Vary Film Festival: Sunday, June 30

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From time to time people ask me how to choose the films I see in a film festival. There is a long answer, complicated, but we are going with one short: sometimes the films pick me.

That took place on Sunday in the international Karlovy Vary Film Festival. It is how I got to see a German film strangely attractive (and poorly titled), fillets of love.

While it looked intriguing in its catalogue writing, fillets of love did not seem as cosy as a film of the India wanted to see, Dabba, whose press screening began half an hour before for threads of love. Dabba was at 3: 30, fillets of love in 4 - and as fillets of love lost the draw.

Dabba, I think it was in Hindi, then began and there were no English subtitles. I've been to festivals 30 years - and this is only the second time I remember that occurs in a projection was on. By the time thought that this was not a momentary mistake but an insoluble problem for the day, I stayed long enough to walk to the side of seeing love steaks.

Written and directed by Jakob Lass, fillets of love is an intriguing blend of romance, comedy and drama about a recently hired masseuse (Franz Rogowski) at a luxury seaside hotel. He gets involved with one of the chefs in the kitchen of the hotel (Lana Cooper), whose sense of Audacity draws him a lifetime of shyness. But he recognizes that she has a drinking problem and tries to save her, leading to friction. Rogowsky seems a young Vincent Gallo and plays the timidity of the character with great ingenuity. Cooper had an anything goes brightness in his eyes that was fun and attractive - and then fear.

Dabba was actually the second film of the day with inadequate English subtitles. The first was a public screening of another German movie, nothing bad can happen. Their Czech subtitles had the audience laughing - but it looked like a single line in six had been translated into English. I felt that the joke - or jokes - was missing and rescued after 10 minutes.

On the other hand, had the opportunity to get to a projection of press of concussion, a movie he had seen and loved in Sundance this year was so fun and touching the second time, and admired yet again, particularly the work of Robin Weigert, Johnathan Tchaikovsky and Maggie Siff in central roles.

My day began with 11.6, a convincing French film that has managed to be a thriller and a study of the character, by Philippe Godeau

This comment continues on my Web site.

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Marshall Fine: Live from the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival: Friday, June 28

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Primer día de un festival de cine--particularmente cuando es su primer día de un festival que nunca ha asistido a antes--es siempre un proceso de descubrimiento (aunque, por supuesto, el descubrimiento es es lo que va a festivales de cine).

Así sucedió ayer, llegué en Karlovy Vary en la esquina noroeste de la República Checa para el 48 º Festival Internacional de cine de Karlovy Vary.

La ciudad en sí es un balneario famoso, conocido por sus aguas termales geotérmica. Como Park City, Utah, Inicio del Festival de cine de Sundance, es un pueblo de montaña, excepto que se llena con la impresionante arquitectura de hace dos o tres siglos. Los turistas vienen literalmente por las aguas, comprando pequeñas tazas de cerámica que llevan alrededor para llenar de las diversas fuentes surgente de agua mineral de la ciudad. (Mayoría tazas son formados para que el mango también sirve como una paja--y la mayoría de grifos están marcados con signos decirle cuán caliente el agua es).

Nos fuimos a Nueva York la tarde del jueves, al llegar a media mañana Praga el viernes (después del cambio de aviones en Milán, Italia). Desde allí, es una unidad de aproximadamente 90 minutos en las montañas y abajo en el valle que alberga Karlovy Vary.

Yo me limita a dos películas el primer día (y omiten la lujosa alfombra roja inauguración, en la que John Travolta fue dado un career achievement award), porque estaba seguro físicamente podría permanecer despierto para más. Pero, como van estas cosas, KVIFF tiene la mecánica de tratar con la prensa por frío (como corresponde a un festival que ha estado ocurriendo durante casi medio siglo).

Fui a una proyección pública de un nuevo documental, Harry Dean Stanton de Sophie Huber: en parte ficción, un retrato esporádica del actor veterano personaje. Ahora 86, Stanton es elocuente, filosófico, gnómico, y parece algo impermeable. Él abandona poco de sí mismo, aunque sus amigos que aparecen en cámara (David Lynch, Kris Kristoffersen, Sam Shepard) todas las delicias en contar historias de sus maneras rascally y amante de la diversión.

Pero Huber va terriblemente luz en clips de película (siempre una proposición costosa para un documentalista), teniendo en cuenta que se trata de una carrera que se extiende hacia 1956 y abarca, por cuenta de Stanton, más de 200 películas. Huber gasta una cantidad excesiva de tiempo en enormemente sobrevalorada película 1984 Wim Wenders, Paris Texas, uno de los pocos en que Stanton jugó un plomo.

Casualmente, ese mismo año, protagonizó hilarantemente transgresora Repo Man de Alex Cox, que garantiza que sólo un único clip (en que Stanton dice la deslumbrante línea "puto ciudadanos--no me gusta em"). Demasiada cantidad de película de Huber se dedica a imágenes en blanco y negro sorprendentemente alta definición de Stanton cantando canciones country-western para cámara de Huber y tratando de sonsacarle información fuera el Stanton chistoso reticente y críptico.

La otra película que vi fue Omar, acreditado como de Palestina, por el escritor y director de Hany Abu-Assad. (La proyección de prensa que asistí inicialmente no tiene subtítulos en inglés, un hecho que fue corregida rápidamente). Tenso, emocionante y difícil, Omar era un retrato fascinante de un combatiente de la resistencia que vive en el lado opuesto de la pared de la Ribera Occidental de la mujer que ama. Omar (Adam Bakri) cortes Nadia (Leem Lubany) cuando puede, shinnying por una cuerda que le permite subir sobre pared de tres pisos.

Nadia, sin embargo, no sabe que Omar participa con su hermano Tarek y otro amigo como combatientes de la resistencia. Y Tarek no da su permiso para Tarek para casarse con su hermana fácilmente. Luego planean una acción--disparos de un soldado israelí se esconda en un sniper punto una noche oscura, que termina con la policía israelí persiguiendo y capturando a Omar al día siguiente.

Desde allí, Abu-Assad (director de la película de 2005 que afecta, Paradise Now) convierte la película en un fascinante thriller psicológico de gato y el ratón, Omar se enfrentó contra un controlador israelí, que intenta convertirlo en un agente doble a Tarek. Pero Omar espera convertir el plan de Israel contra él, sin saber que hay un informante dentro de las filas. Los giros son repentinos y aturdido, con una película entera construcción alrededor de la moderación, la ira y la humanidad en ojos de Bakri.

Día dos del festival está amaneciendo y tengo un conjunto de horario tentativo que podría incluir seis películas. Estad atentos.

Encontrar más comentarios, entrevistas y comentarios en mi sitio Web.

Marshall fino de seguir en Twitter: www.twitter.com/Marshall bellas

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Madeleine Albright At Aspen Ideas Festival Talks Being A Woman In A Man's World (VIDEO)

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She's the former Secretary of State, chair of the global strategy firm the Albright Stonebridge Group, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a mother of three.

Madeleine Albright spoke with Arianna Huffington at the Ideas Festival in Aspen Friday, and we can think of no pair more qualified to answer the question: Can women have it all?

Albright talked about being "the only woman in the room" during much of her political career and said the key to women's professional success is often the support of other women. She observed a changing workplace with a much stronger feminine foothold, and said it's more important than ever for girls to be kind to each other.

"The most famous thing I ever said was 'There's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other.'"

Albright also talks Syria, Iraq and the meaning behind her brooches in the full video above.

This video is part of a series of interviews with speakers, attendees and panelists at The Aspen Ideas Festival, produced by The Huffington Post in conjunction with The Aspen Institute. For more videos from the series, click here. For more information about The Aspen Institute, click here.

Check out real-time tweets from the Aspen Ideas Festival here:
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Opening of the Festival of Ideas from Aspen and welcome (LIVESTREAM)

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Wednesday, 26 June, the Aspen Ideas Festival opens to a welcome from Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson and Middle Atlantic owner David Bradley. The session will give way to some of the most dynamic Festival speakers since they offer their great Idea to transform the world.

For more information and a schedule of events to the 2013 Aspen Ideas Festival, click here. For tweets in real time from the festival, see below:

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Smithsonian Folklife Festival vuelve a sus raíces

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WASHINGTON -- African-American style and identity, endangered languages and Hungarian culture get the spotlight treatment at this year's Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which starts Wednesday on the National Mall.

This year's festival includes an app to help visitors navigate the dozens of daily discussions, hands-on activities, cooking demonstrations and concerts.

Criticized in recent years for focusing too much on American culture -- in particular, U.S. government agencies (including the Smithsonian itself) -- the 2013 festival includes a blend of domestic and international issues.

"Hungarian Heritage" spotlights the "vitality" of Hungarian culture, from cooking and dancing to folk art and music.

"The Will to Adorn" answers the question, "What is African-American about African-American dress and body art and why does it matter?" Among its exhibitions are a runway show of church hats and demonstrations by artisans.

Perhaps most intriguing, "One World, Many Voices" explores the stories behind the thousands of languages expected to disappear in this century.

The highlight of the project, according to curator K. David Harrison:

The Kalmyks, a Mongolian people who reside in European Russia on the Caspian Sea, will show their music, dance, and epic story-telling skills. They will perform against a backdrop of two beautiful yurts provided by the Kalmyk diaspora community of New Jersey, which has managed to keep the language and Buddhist traditions alive in this country.

Festival food fare includes the Budapest Bistro, chicken and waffles, Indian street food and a Latino food truck.

The 47th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival runs June 26 to 30 and July 3 to 7.

Loading Slideshow

The Dalai Lama speaks July 2, 2000 during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington. Approximately 40,000 people came to listen to the Nobel Peace Prize winner speak near the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Alex Wong/Newsmakers)

Dancers who are part of UNUKUPUKUPU, a community dance group out of Hawai?i Community College, perform at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, Friday, July 6, 2012. In the midst of an all-consuming Civil War, Congress was able to pass legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln that would transform public education in the United States. The Morrill Act in 1862 established the nation?s network of public land-grant universities so that working class people could study agriculture, military tactics, mechanics and classical studies to obtain a liberal and practical college education. Today these 217 schools across the country enroll more than 3.5 million undergraduates and 1.1 million graduate students. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

People visit the AIDS Memorial Quilt on display as part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, Thursday, July 5, 2012. An AIDS-free generation: It seems an audacious goal, considering how the HIV epidemic still is raging around the world. Yet more than 20,000 international HIV researchers and activists will gather in the nation's capital later this month with a sense of optimism not seen in many years _ hope that it finally may be possible to stem the spread of the AIDS virus. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

People visit the Campus and Community section of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, Friday, July 6, 2012. In the midst of an all-consuming Civil War, Congress was able to pass legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln that would transform public education in the United States. The Morrill Act in 1862 established the nation?s network of public land-grant universities so that working class people could study agriculture, military tactics, mechanics and classical studies to obtain a liberal and practical college education. Today these 217 schools across the country enroll more than 3.5 million undergraduates and 1.1 million graduate students. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Cory Arcak, with Texas A&M University, right, works on a water filtration mold of clay and sawdust at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, Friday, July 6, 2012. In the midst of an all-consuming Civil War, Congress was able to pass legislation signed by President Abraham Lincoln that would transform public education in the United States. The Morrill Act in 1862 established the nation?s network of public land-grant universities so that working class people could study agriculture, military tactics, mechanics and classical studies to obtain a liberal and practical college education. Today these 217 schools across the country enroll more than 3.5 million undergraduates and 1.1 million graduate students. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Bhutanese monks play instruments in a temple built for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on July 3, 2008 at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Situated in the eastern Himalayas and bordered by China and India, Bhutan rises in just a few hundred miles from steamy jungles to some of the world's highest peaks.The Festival will celebrate Bhutan's special approach towards life in the 21st century. AFP PHOTO / TIM SLOAN (Photo credit should read TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)

A Bhutanese archer cheers after shooting a near bulls eye during an archery demonstration at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on July 3, 2008 at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Situated in the eastern Himalayas and bordered by China and India, Bhutan rises in just a few hundred miles from steamy jungles to some of the world's highest peaks.The Festival will celebrate Bhutan's special approach towards life in the 21st century, which, as national policy, is described as the pursuit of 'Gross National Happiness.' AFP PHOTO / TIM SLOAN (Photo credit should read TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON - JULY 2: A cyclist looks at a collection of photos during the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall July 2, 2006 in Washington, DC. The yearly event, which started in 1967, presents contemporary culture and encourages visitors to learn through participation in song, dance, conversation and eating. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON - JULY 2: Zacki Ghuo, a graphic designer, works on painting in a mural by Gamaliel Ramirez during the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall July 2, 2006 in Washington, DC. The yearly event, which started in 1967, presents contemporary culture and encourages visitors to learn through participation in song, dance, conversation and eating. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON - JULY 2: A dancer performs Latino dance during a performance at the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall July 2, 2006 in Washington, DC. The yearly event, which started in 1967, presents contemporary culture and encourages visitors to learn through participation in song, dance, conversation and eating. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON - JULY 2: Children practice uncovering fossils at an exhibit on paleontology during the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall July 2, 2006 in Washington, DC. The yearly event, which started in 1967, presents contemporary culture and encourages visitors to learn through participation in song, dance, conversation and eating. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

Washington, UNITED STATES: A camel walks through the Mall near the US Capitol building during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washignton, DC, 30 June 2005. The festival is a special annual event sponsored each June-July by the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage celebrating cultural traditions around the world. The festival includes daily and evening music and dance performances, crafts and cooking demonstrations, storytelling and discussions of cultural issues. AFP PHOTO/Jim WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON - JUNE 26: Different kinds of spices are displayed during the 39th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival at the National Mall June 26, 2005 in Washington, DC. This year's folklife festival features a total of four programs -- 'Oman: Desert, Oasis and Sea,' 'Forest Service, Culture and Community,' 'Nuestra Musica,' and 'Food Culture USA.' (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, : Workers and tourists brave heat and humidity 25 June 2002 as final touches are put on the exhibits at the 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall in Washington, DC. Exhibits feature life on the Silk Road. AFP PHOTO/ Shawn THEW (Photo credit should read SHAWN THEW/AFP/Getty Images)

Washington, UNITED STATES: People watch an Omani coppersmith at work at an exhibition on Oman at the 39th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall in Washington 26 June 2005. Some 110 Omanis arrived in Washington to showcase the country's music, dance, textiles, perfumes, metalwork and pottery, all under Folklife's mission of presenting the aesthetics of people around the world. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo credit should read NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

Three teenagers play a street game called 'Ace, King, Queen,' also known as Chinese Handball, July 5, 2001 during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival at the National Mall in Washington, DC. The Smithsonian Institution held its annual Folklife Festival with New York City lifestyles as one of the themes of the Festival. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Paul Noone of Washington, DC observes the interior of a Checker Cab July 5, 2001 during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival at the National Mall in Washington, DC. The Smithsonian Institution held its annual Folklife Festival with the New York City lifestyle as one of the themes. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Richard Z. Chesnoff: It's Kool to Be Kosher in Poland: the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival

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Poland's parliament recently voted to uphold a controversial ban on ritual Jewish butchering -- an otherwise lucrative international enterprise for the export hungry nation.

That not withstanding, everything else Jewish seems to have become decidedly kosher in the Polish Republic. Seven decades after more than 90 percent of Poland's Jewish population of 3.6 million was slaughtered by the Nazis (with an occasional assist from a few local anti-Semites) everything from Jewish history to Jewish food to Jewish music to Jewish art has suddenly become Poland's in-thing.

The capital city of Warsaw itself recently feted the opening of an amazingly lavish Museum of the History of Polish Jews. Located at the edge of where the infamous Warsaw Ghetto once stood, it tells the rich tale of more than a thousand years of Polish-Jewish life -- a subject generally and pointedly ignored in the post-war years, both by Communists and non-Communists. .

These days Polish restaurants from Gdansk to Lodz offer their customers Jewish style dishes from "Yiddish fish"" (AKA gefilte fish" to "Sabbath Stew" (AKA cholent). Theaters and clubs headline concerts of klezmer music, art galleries feature exhibits by pre-war Jewish painters and young Poles who've discovered they had a grandfather or an aunt with a touch of Jewish ancestry don't hide the facts as they used to, they rush to forge their own ties with renewing Jewish communities.

Credit: cracowonline

Still nowhere is Poland's new Jewish chic as high-spirited and accomplished as it is in the great southern Polish city of Krakow -- home of an annual Jewish Culture Festival just completing its 23rd successful year .

All but a handful of Krakow's important Jewish community died in nearby Auschwitz (remember "Schindler's List"?) or was simply murdered on its doorsteps by German troops. But miraculously Kazimierz, the city's centuries old Jewish quarter, like most of Krakow, physically survived.

And it is there, along its intertwined, cobble-stoned streets that musicians, dancers, actors and artists from around the world gather each summer to celebrate the richness of global Jewish culture.

This year's festivities included everything from an opening night Melaveh Malka -- a joyful farewell to the Sabbath in one of Krakow's beautifully restored synagogues featuring golden voiced cantors from three continents. The same Tempel was also the setting for an audience packed concert of the Krakow Academy of Music's Big Band led by New York's Frank London, the trumpeter wizard of what London himself calls "the new Jewish music, a fascinating fusion of contemporary klezmer and modern jazz". It also featured another New York Jewish jazz whiz: guitarist Yoshie Fruchter.

Jewish jazzist Frank London Credit: Pawel Mazur, www.jewishfestival.com

There were dozens of daily workshops on arts and crafts, symposiums on Yiddish song and dance, lectures on Krakow history, and tens of concerts including one by Diwan Saz, a unique Jewish-Muslim group from Israel. There was even a hyper active session by Australian Rabbi Dovid Tsap who personally illustrated his specialized Ollies, Kickflips and other talents as a "spiritual skateboarder."

But as always, the festival's highlight was on one of its final nights when a crowd of thousands -- most seemingly Polish and non-Jewish -- gathered in Szeroka Square before the Old Synagogue. There they fervently listened and clapped as Klezmer music played, there they held hands and danced together in joy.

P.S. Krakow's Jewish Culture Festival also affords visitors an opportunity to taste some excellent cuisine -- not all of it strictly Kosher. Try Szara, where Chef Maciej Dziura offers an incredible oven baked leg of goose glazed with honey and lime. For simpler but no less delicious fare, try the OmOm a recently opened Polish sausage grill on Dajwor Street, just across from the Galicia Jewish Museum.

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