SAN DIEGO (SDJW) — The 17-minute Letter to a Pig, a nominee for an Academy Award as the Best Animated Short Film, will be screened at 7 p.m., Monday, Feb. 5, at the San Diego International Jewish Film Festival.
Two other shorts — White Lie and Requiem for a Whale –will also be shown with Letter to a Pig in a presentation of works by Israeli filmmakers. The free presentation is sponsored by the Murray Galinson San Diego-Israel Initiative (MGSDII). Here is a link for reserving tickets.
Each academic semester, MGSDII brings Israeli professors, including those from the film world, to San Diego to teach at such local universities as San Diego State, UC-San Diego, University of San Diego, and Cal State San Marcos.
Letter to a Pig, by Israeli filmmakers Tal Kantor and Amit Gicelter, is about a Holocaust survivor reading to a classroom of teenagers a letter to a pig he credited with saving his life.
Kantor, the director, teaches at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. Gicelter, the producer, is the CEO of The Hive Studio in Israel, which specializes in animation. Gicelter is an invited speaker at the film festival, which will be held in the David and Dorothea Garfield Theatre at the Lawrence Family JCC, 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla.
The Academy Award winner will be announced Sunday, March 10.
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Former President Donald Trump’s advisor on trade and manufacturing issues, Peter Navarro, has been sentenced to four months in federal prison upon his conviction of contempt of Congress. He had refused to testify to a committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, claiming executive privilege. In 1992, Navarro ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of San Diego in a bitter contest against Susan Golding, who won the office. Navarro now seeks to have the sentence delayed pending appeal.
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In Vista, a Democratic challenger is waging a billboard battle against incumbent Assemblywoman Laurie Davis (R-Laguna Niguel) for the 74th Assembly District seat that includes portions of San Diego and Orange Counties. Duncan commenced the battle with a billboard picturing Davis at a 2020 rally for then-President Trump standing near the rally’s emcee Alan Hostetter, who was convicted nearly three years later — in July 2023 — on four felony charges in relation to the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol.
The billboard says of Davies and Hostetter, a former La Habra Police Chief: “Laurie Davies stood with a convicted January 6 felon. Literally.” Hostetter is now serving an 11-year, 3 month sentence at a federal prison in Louisiana. Duncan’s campaign strategist Dan Rottenstreich told associate editor Ken Stone of Times of San Diego, ““There isn’t a responsible public servant in America who wouldn’t publicly and repeatedly denounce a supporter who was convicted for their violent role in January 6. He was labeled a terrorist by his own government and Davies can’t seem to find the words to denounce him.”
The Duncan campaign next put up a billboard with Davies’ picture, saying “When she had a chance, Laurie Davies refused to give police more tools to solve Fentanyl crimes. AB 102, 6/27/23, $6,666,000 for fentanyl enforcement, Davies skipped the vote.”
Donald H. Harrison, publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World, muses: “The billboards are hard-hitting, but are they fair? Davies supported President Trump’s reelection. To speak, she came onto the stage where Hostetter was standing as emcee. That hardly suggests that she and Hostetter are close friends, and there is no way that she could have known that months later, Hostetter would be involved in the Capitol invasion, or that nearly three years after the rally he would be convicted for his role in that reprehensible incident.”
“Concerning the second billboard,” Harrison said, “there are many reasons why a legislator might miss a vote — illness, excused absence, other legislative business are examples — but in this case, the charge seems fair. When asked about her failure to vote on the measure, Davies didn’t offer any such excuse. She said she thought with California in budget crisis, the fentanyl measure was simply too expensive.”
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Jewish National Fund-USA urges people to celebrate today’s Tu B’Shevat holiday by planting a tree in Israel. It offers these reasons why you might want to do so: 1) To show your love for our homeland; 2) In recognition of brave IDF soldiers and those on the frontlines; 3) As a beacon of hope for the hostages and their families; 4) As a memorial to someone who passed away; 5) In honor of your heroes and the important people in your life; 6) To help replant the Be’eri Forest. To make it as easy as possible, JNF-USA offers a way to pay for a tree and print out a certificate via internet. Here is a link.
–OBITUARY NOTICE–
Funeral services for Helaine Cheryl Meyerson (Dec. 23, 1958-Jan. 25, 2024) will be officiated at 3 p.m., Friday, Jan. 26, by Rabbi Scott Meltzer at Singing Hills Memorial Park, 2800 Dehesa Road, El Cajon.
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SDJW staff report