The Walnut Street Synagogue in partnership with Women in Film & Video New England and the Boston Latino International Film Festival are proud to present “Tikkun Olam/Sanar el Mundo” a film series & roundtable virtual event.

With the multiple stressors our community has faced and will continue to face, this film series focuses on and celebrates how an act of healing, no matter how small, contributes to Tikkun Olam/Sanar el Mundo – healing and repairing the world. Our films and roundtable discussions with the filmmakers are free to attendees. The films are available in both English and Spanish (captions). The discussions will directly follow the screenings.

Film Schedule

The Longing: The Forgotten Jews of South America directed by Gabriela Bohm. A small group of South Americans, whose ancestors were European Jews forced to convert during the Spanish Inquisition, long to affirm their faith. Isolated in Catholic countries and rejected by local Jewish communities, they battle to become Jews regardless of the consequences.

Sunday, February 21, 2021

Film Screening – 3:30pm (runtime 75 min)

5:00pm discussion will directly follow the screening with filmmaker Gabriela Bohm and will be moderated by Dalia Wassner P h.D. Director, HBI Project on Latin American Jewish & Gender Studies at Brandeis with special guest Rabbi Claudia Kreiman of Brookline’s Temple Beth Zion.

Trailer

Panel Discussion Video

Decade of Fire directed by Vivian Vázquez Irizarry and Gretchen Hildebran. Throughout the 1970’s, fires consumed the South Bronx. Black and Puerto Rican residents were blamed for the devastation even as they battled daily to save their neighborhoods. In DECADE OF FIRE, Bronx-born Vivian Vázquez Irizarry pursues the truth surrounding the fires – uncovering policies of racism and neglect that still shape our cities, and offering hope to communities on the brink today. Vázquez Irizarry, in her role as the film’s central character and co-director seeks not only healing for her community, but to redeem them from the harmful mythology spread by the media that has continued largely unchallenged to this day.

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Film Screening: 3:30pm (runtime 75 min)

Discussion with Vivan Irizarry and Gretchen Hildebran, moderated by Sabrina Aviles, featuring special guests Roseann Bongiovanni and Maria Belen Power from GreenRoots in Chelsea directly following the screening at 5:00pm.

Trailer

Panel Discussion Video       

Havana Curveball directed by Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider is the story of 13-year-old Mica who takes to heart his Rabbi’s dictate to help “heal the world,” and launches a grand plan to send baseballs and baseball equipment to Cuba, a country with a mysterious pull. He knows only that Cubans have few resources, love baseball, and that they saved his grandpa’s life during the Holocaust.…

Sunday, March 14, 2021

Film Screening: 4:00pm (runtime 50 min)

Discussion with Marcia Jarmel, moderated by Ariana Cohen-Halberstam, Artistic Director of Boston Jewish Film, and featuring special panelists Dinanyili Paulina, COO of La Colaborativa and Melinda Vega, Community Activist, directly following the screening at 5:00pm.

Trailer

Panel Discussion Video

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Chelsea Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.