Image courtesy Oren Rudavsky Productions
Jewish Film Festival
Through April 2020 at the Weinstein JCC
The president of the United States stands before Congress and denounces a newspaper publisher for his indictment of the executive’s pet project as “colonialist overreach built on a $40 million cover-up.” The president accuses the publisher of libel and threatens him with imprisonment.
The newspaperman is Joseph Pulitzer, who came to the United States as a Hungarian Jewish immigrant with few prospects. He became a major proponent of the free press as publisher of the New York World. Pulitzer is the one the prize is named for. The president was Theodore Roosevelt.
Director Oren Rudavsky’s “Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People” screens at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 16 during the Jewish Film Festival at Weinstein Jewish Community Center. The 85-minute film narrated by Adam Driver features the voices of Liev Schreiber as Pulitzer, Tim Blake Nelson as Roosevelt and Rachel Brosnahan as the adventurous Nelly Bly.
In his director’s statement, Rudavsky describes Pulitzer’s passion for distributing information. “He published everything he thought was news. He didn’t care whom he harmed. He was a guy you could like if he weren’t such a difficult guy. … He was impressive to me because he came over as an immigrant, became fabulously wealthy, but maintained his progressive ideals.”
Trouble began when a tipster informed the World about the dealings of the Roosevelt administration spending $40 million to acquire the assets of the failed French firm the New Panama Canal Company. The contemporary story was that the French government received the funds to distribute to investors. Instead, the source said, financier J.P. Morgan gave $15 million to the liquidator. Another fat amount — perhaps $12 million — went to U.S. hands. The two lead investors were Roosevelt’s brother-in-law, Douglas Robinson, and Clark P. Taft, brother of Teddy’s vice president, William H. Taft.
The World hired an attorney to hunt for the company and its backers — finding no trace. Roosevelt thundered that the World’s stories were “scurrilous and libelous, and false in every essential particular” and that for the sake of the country, Pulitzer needed to face justice. Pulitzer and the World went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the film gets into that fight. A talkback is scheduled after the showing.
The Jewish Film Festival offers a variety of films and conversation through April, with discussion following many of the showings.
$12 general admission in advance, $15 at the door. Visit weinsteinjcc.org for the full schedule.
2 MORE FILM EVENTS
Oct. 20 and 26 at The Byrd Theatre
If putting a movie together in two days wasn’t scary enough, this year filmmakers try to complete a horror film in 48 hours. Screenings will include discussions with the filmmakers. $10.
Nov. 21-24 at The Byrd Theatre
This film festival features Native American-associated classic and recent films. This year, in addition to the films, a class on Native American code talkers is offered. $20 to $50.
