they had me at 'shakespeare'

Today was my first outing for this year's Savannah Jewish Cultural Arts Festival, as well as my first venture out with others since my norovirus onslaught.

I had waited until after the event was to begin, to allow folks to find their seats.

I wanted to be sure to sit away from others, just in case I might pass on the calamity.

I needn't have been concerned.

Whether it was the new wave of colder temperatures or the subject, few attended.

They certainly missed out.

As good as the documentary had been, the question-and-answer session was stellar.

In fact, that discussion gave me a new appreciation of the film and its construction.

The title of the 2016 documentary, "A Gathering Of Strangers: The Making Of A Merchant In Venice", led me to expect a bit of the Bard, with the performances actually taking place in the Jewish ghetto of Venice.

I did get that, too, but with a twist: the actors were all modern time in mindset, though clad in the garb of the sixteenth century. 

That wasn't troublesome to me in the least, however, as I'd been to the Savannah Shakes productions, all of which featured time-traveled settings for the works.

What had been irksome, however, were the frequent overlays of news headlines from fall of 2015 to the spring of 2016, headlines detailing hate crimes around the world.

My thought had been that those headlines were there to titillate a Jewish audience and perchance gain entry of the documentary to those secular film festivals.

Thanks to the Q&A, I know that was not the intent at all.

 

The director, Ted Hardin, even referred to those headlines as the "montage of horror" that served as the behind the scenes topics discussed by the actors.

That's him, talking with his hands in action, while his wife, the producer Elizabeth Coffman, sits calmly across from him.

Both are college professors in Chicago, home of Long Distance Productions, their company.

He's an interesting character, starting out on a degree in chemistry at Florida State University, then dropping it - with only a quarter left in his studies - to pursue cinematography.

His story of how this documentary came to be was interesting, too.

The couple were in Italy and heard tell that "The Merchant Of Venice" was to be performed in the Venetian Ghetto to mark the 500th anniversary of the institution of that area in Venice by government decree on 29 March 1516.

The couple started off with low-key interviews of the play's director and the troupe (Karin Coonrod and Campagnia de Colombari), with the husband doing a bit of casual filming to supplement the talks.

Next thing you know, they're making a movie about the staging of the play, with a lot of back story on why Jews were forced to live in that area, why 'Shylock' came to be the face of the loan shark out for his 'pound of flesh' as payment, and how well Shakespeare represented the sentiment of the late 1590's for a place he never visited.

Hearing their talk afterward truly made all the difference in the world to my take on the film.

Perhaps I'll have a chance to see it again someday.