Arts & Entertainment Comedy in conflict A weekly guide to music, theater, art, movies and more, edited by Rebecca Wallace
by Maytal Mark
“Hava Nagila (The Movie)� explores the traditional melody that is commonly played at Jewish weddings.
Norman Issa in “Arab Labor.�
The film “Life in Stills� follows a family who owns a Tel Aviv photo studio. t might seem impossible to find humor in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but at least one comedy being shown in this year’s San Francisco Jewish Film Festival challenges that notion. Along with a slew of powerful dramas, several comedies screening this summer in Palo Alto, San Francisco and other cities will tackle a range of issues with a tongue-in-cheek approach, including the conflict, Jewish identity and family dynamics. All have “strains of something we recognize as a Jewish sensibility, of a people who love to laugh and make others laugh with them,� according to a festival press release. The Israeli sitcom “Arab Labor� faces Israeli and Palestinian stereotypes headon. A festival screening in Palo Alto on July 30 will feature episodes from the third season, written by Sayeed Kashua and directed by Shai Capon. Billed as the first Israeli show to center on a PalestinianIsraeli family, “Arab Labor� follows protagonist Amjad (Norman Issa), an ArabIsraeli journalist, and is shown in Arabic and Hebrew with English subtitles. In one of the episodes, Amjad joins the cast of the (fictional) Israeli version of the reality TV show “Big Brother� in an at-
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SAN FRANCISCO JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL EXPLORES THE HUMOR IN TOUGH TOPICS
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