JTA — When Deborah Koenigsberger Gutierrez attended a cocktail party with acclaimed Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro last December, she didn’t expect to walk away with a new synagogue fundraising project.
However, while talking with del Toro and a few other guests, present for the premiere of his latest feature film, “Pinocchio”, the famous filmmaker made a remark that marked him.
“He said something that really touched me,” recalls Koenigsberger Gutierrez, president of the Tribeca Synagogue. He said, “Every Mexican outside of Mexico is an ambassador of Mexican culture. »
Ms. Koenigsberger Gutierrez, who was born in Mexico City, was looking for more creative ways than the traditional silent auction and gala dinner to encourage the participation of young families in her congregation. Through the filmmaker, she found a program that would attract an audience and pay homage to del Toro’s art, and set out to organize the first-ever Mexican Jewish Film Festival at the Synagogue, which kicked off on Sunday, April 2.
“I thought to myself, ‘How can I organize a big event that attracts people and celebrates Mexican Jews?’ “says Koenigsberger Gutierrez. “And everyone likes to go to the cinema. »
The three-day festival will feature ten films with English subtitles, all directed, written or performed by Mexican Jews. The Jews selected for the festival come from diverse Jewish backgrounds, including Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Syrian, and the films span a variety of genres, including horror, comedy and drama.
Guillermo del Toro, right, with Tom Cruise at the 95th Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon on February 13, 2023 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. (Credit: Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP)
In addition to film screenings, the festival will offer question-and-answer sessions with two of the directors: Guita Schyfter, who directed Like a Bridea coming-of-age film about two young women in 1960s Mexico, and Isaac Ezban, who directed two horror films, Evil Eye et The Similars. There will also be a performance by the Nashir Choir!, pop-up stalls of artisan products in the foyer, coffee from Mexico’s Chiapas region, and cocktails and kosher Mexican food from Carlos & Gabby’s restaurant.
Film screenings end on April 4 and a final day of various events will be organized on the occasion of the festival on April 5, the day before Passover, including a “bread festival” during which participants will taste leavened products , traditionally forbidden during this holiday. Mexican folk art and kosher Mexican cookies will also be on offer.
The Tribeca Synagogue, which a decade ago was called the Synagogue of the Arts, often rents out its sacred space and in November hosted the 2022 NYC Bicycle Film Festival. . By installing a giant screen in front of the place of worship, it can be transformed into an improvised theater. According to Koenigsberger Gutierrez, it was enough to select the films and obtain the screening rights to organize the Mexican Jewish film festival (and in one case, to add English subtitles to one of the films, the drama from 2008’s “3:19”, for the very first time).
Other films screened at the festival include the 1955 comedy The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruzwhich tells the story of an aspiring serial killer who constantly plots new assassinations without ever managing to carry them out; One for the Road, a 2014 film about three octogenarian friends who go on a road trip together; and the 2007 comedy My Mexican Shivahwhich tells the story of a family whose secrets are revealed as they mourn their patriarch.
Deborah Koenigsberger Gutierrez during an interview in 2022. (Screenshot/YouTube ~ Used pursuant to Section 27a of the Copyright Act)
Beyond the community of her own synagogue, which has less than 100 active members, Deborah Koenigsberger Gutierrez hopes for diverse participation in the festival. Jorge Islas Lopez, Consul General of Mexico in New York, will deliver a speech and encourages Mexicans in New York to attend. The American Sephardic Federation and the Syrian Jewish group Kanisse have also partnered with the festival.
Koenigsberger Gutierrez hopes the films will allow viewers to see beyond American clichés about Mexico, which she says focus too much on violence fueled by drug cartels.
“We have more to offer than just one genre,” says Koenigsberger Gutierrez. “We’re not just El Chapo and all those drug dealers you often see in Hollywood. We have much more than that to offer. The film festival aims to celebrate Mexican Jews and their work. »
She added, “People think Jews look a certain way. And, similarly, people seem to think Mexicans look a certain way too. »
When Ms. Koenigsberger Gutierrez came to the United States to get her master’s degree eight years ago, she was surprised to find that people doubted her nationality.
“In Mexico, nobody ever questioned the fact that I was Mexican,” she says. “There was no doubt about it. But when I came to America, people said to me, ‘You’re not really Mexican because you’re Jewish.’ I had never heard that. I was like, “What do you mean? I am 100% Mexican, I am 100% Jewish. I am Mexican and Jewish. »
