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The Bay Area is a hub of artistic expression, attracting artists, writers and musicians from around the globe to live, work and create. We highlight some of the offerings here.
By the Artful Observer
Bay City News Foundation
A passport to everywhere: Film festivals have grown with such ferocity that they are now like Hallmark holidays: There s seemingly one for every occasion, and many more than you can hope to keep track of. This weekend, for instance, marks the start of the acclaimed San Francisco International Film Festival (details and schedule at sffilm.org). But we re here to tell you about another film fest that kicks off this weekend one that often flies under the radar but that features some utterly rewarding gems. The East Bay International Jewish Film Festival, kicking off Saturday, has as its motto: See a film see the world. And that has never seemed so desirable as at a time when
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has attended commemorations in Weimar to remember the thousands of people killed by the Nazis at the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora concentration camps.
A year after Gabrielle Robinson was born, her father died in World War II, an Austrian-born pilot shot down in his German plane over England. So the young girl turned to a gent she called Api, her grandfather.
âI had the happiest years of my childhood with him,â she recalls of his empathy, his hope, his respect for nature and his steady affection through Germanyâs meager post-war years. âHe meant everything to me.â
She never pondered that Api could have supported the Nazisâ atrocities. Heâd served as a military doctor in exchange for a scholarship that allowed him to study and become an eye surgeon, but that didnât require party membership.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has attended commemorations in Weimar to remember the thousands of people killed by the Nazis at the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora concentration camps.