Pazit Varda Lichtman
Pazit Varda Lichtman graduated from the Ma'aleh Film School in 2007 after directing her fictional film "Willingly," a drama that depicts a couple receiving their divorce decree in the Jewish "get" ceremony. Pazit's film was one of the few chosen from many thousands for the Tribeca short film category of the Tribeca film festival in 2008. An accomplished editor, Pazit teaches editing to first year students at Ma'aleh and also gives film workshops to the many groups who come to visit the school from all over the world.
FILM: Looking for Love
Arts and Performance
We look for love and approval from parents, children, spouses, God and the community. Sometimes we are lucky, sometimes not.
Reel Jews: Filmmakers on the Cutting Edge
Gabriela Bohm,
Ethan Isenberg,
Pazit Varda Lichtman,
Salvador Litvak,
Sharon Rennert,
Suzannah Warlick,
Pamela Weisberger
Arts and Performance,
Global History and Culture
What motivates Jewish filmmakers to write, produce and direct documentaries and fictional films? How do they deal with the illusion of authenticity in filmmaking? How to they manipulate---or avoid manipulating--their audiences? Why are some drawn to document history, while others to fictional subjects? Do they exploit their own life experience for material? Listen, learn and ask your own questions of six of the filmmakers who are presenting their works at LimmudLA.
With Suzannah Warlick, Gabriela Bohm, Sharon Rennert, Ethan Isenberg, Sal Litvak and Pazit Lichtman, all of whom are showing films at LimmudLA, moderated by Pamela Weisberger
FILM: Willingly…or Not: The Female Perspective on Love, Romance and the Aftermath
Arts and Performance,
Teen Approved
These two films explore orthodox Jewish women creating cinema about taboo and sensitive issues: searching for your "beshert," the pressure to marry, the trauma of divorce. In "Willingly," director Pazit Varda Lichtman raises questions about love and commitment, about the advantages and disadvantages of "get" as a ceremony, and about Israel's non-separation of religion and state. (22 min) In director Dalit Eliraz's "Cheftzi on the Air," a radio broadcaster who offers romantic advice to her single, female callers decides to take her own advice, and proposes marriage on live radio to her boyfriend Yonatan. To Chefzi's surprise, her theories don't work in practice and her world begins to collapse. (22 minutes)
FILM: The Jewish Family Through the Eyes of the Ma'ale Filmmakers
Arts and Performance,
Global History and Culture,
Israel,
Teen Approved
Pazit Lichtman introduces and discusses two family-themed documentaries: In "Luz," we witness the unique relationship between Lisa and her adopted daughter. Unable to have children, Lisa adopted Luz from Columbia when Luz was three months old. Despite their differences, the two have built a home which is loving and strong. Now 18 years old and troubled by questions of identity, Luz re-opens her adoption file while Lisa builds a home with her new husband. A dramatic new development in their lives threatens to destroy all the old bonds, and forces Luz and her mother to confront the basic questions: What is a home? What is motherhood? And what is the meaning of a blood relationship? (30 Min) In "About Time," on the banks of the Yarkon River, an elderly couple says goodbye to Tel Aviv, which was their home for more than 70 years. During the measuring and the packing, the worrying and the cookie-baking their world colored by assertiveness, sacrifice and love is observed by their granddaughter, the filmmaker. (30 minutes)
