Having trouble viewing this email? Click here July 25, 2022 – 26 Tamuz 5782

The 23th edition of the European Day of Jewish Culture, which highlights the diversity and richness of Judaism and promotes dialogue, recognition and exchange, will take place on Sunday, 18 September. As in the past years, the event will open the doors of synagogues, museums and other Jewish sites to citizens, with hundreds of appointments. In Italy, one hundred and two locations in sixteen regions, from the north to the south to the islands, participate.
The next edition of this European-wide festival, to which 26 countries adhere and which in Italy is coordinated by the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities, will have as central theme Renewal. It is an invitation to rethink our models of coexistence and development in the face of our time challenges.
“Renewal in a crucial issue, in this historical period that urgently requires a change of pace both in terms of protection and preservation of the environment at a global level and in terms of international relations, specifically in the management of the conflict unleashed by Russia against Ukraine, which carries terrible risks for humanity”, pointed UCEI President Noemi Di Segni.
“Only through a profound and radical change, in terms of ability to coexist between peoples and towards the search for a still possible peace between competing forces, and in the direction of a definitive attention to protecting the environment and the Earth, we will be able to pass on to young generations the right and necessary testimony of life and values, accompanied and supported by a millenary tradition. It is a message we launch on the occasion of the European Day of Jewish Culture”.
The leading city in Italy this year will be Ferrara, home to an ancient and important Jewish community and home to the National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah-MEIS. A rich program of initiatives will take place in Ferrara, including guided tours in the former ghetto and in the main Jewish sites and moments of encounter and study. The event will coincide with the last day of the Jewish Book Festival, which takes place from 15 to 18 September). Organized by MEIS, it will feature a prestigious parterre of national and international guests.

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Since January 1, 2019, Tonia Coen-Uzzielli has been the director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art-TAMA, an institution celebrating in 2022 its 90th anniversary and a history of successes. Before, she held important positions at the Israel Museum and was co-curator of the Israeli pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2018.
Born in Rome, trained in archeology and art history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, she is one of the leading figures of the Israeli cultural system. A commitment in which she always displayed a special attention to her country of origin, for which Italian President Sergio Mattarella recently awarded her the title of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy. 
Now comes a new recognition. According to the Israeli edition of Forbes magazine, among the most famous and influential in the world, her name appears in the ranking of 50 women who in 2022 most left their mark.
“For its location, the Israel Museum reminds of the Parthenon: you go up into the city to reach it, a bit like the Acropolis in Athens. It is a position that also represents its identity and function”, she told Pagine Ebraiche right after her appointment. “The Tel Aviv Museum of Art is instead an agora: it is fully inserted in the urban structure and is in close contact with all things happening in a city that is always on the move”. A reality of which she has become an interpreter of excellence.

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By Daniel Reichel

“The coronavirus crisis has in all respects sped up some changes we were undergoing and has brought problems that already existed into the spotlight. After their abrupt closure, the cultural institutions began asking themselves: What exactly is our role? Do we have one or not? As they have all, to different extents, reinvented themselves and found other ways to promote their own culture, especially the museums, I think they responded well”.
The negative dynamic of the pandemic has therefore had at least some positive effects: we rediscovered the role of culture in our lives and institutions were pushed to put themselves in the game, explains the director of the Museum of Modern Art of Tel Aviv Tania Coen-Uzzielli to Pagine Ebraiche.
“This change will affect us permanently, even when we return to being a normal cultural institution, one that opens the doors, and highlights art in the traditional way. At the same time, we will continue, I believe, to use different platforms as well as different ways of thinking to reach a wider audience. This means we will try to be an institution that is less tied to a specific sector.
As the director of the Museum since 2018, Coen-Uzzielli has been awarded Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy in recent weeks, a prestigious recognition from the Quirinal Palace. “I am very happy about this honorary award. I believe it represents my efforts to serve as a bridge between the Italian culture and the Israeli reality properly”.

Translated by Oyebuchi Lucia Leonard and revised by Gianluca Pace, students at Trieste University and the Advanced School for Interpreters and Translators of Trieste University, interns at the newspaper office of the Union of the Italian Jewish Communities.

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By Leo Barraclough*

The Beta Film has come on board to co-produce eight-part Italian period drama series “La Storia,” based on Elsa Morante’s bestselling novel, continuing its successful partnership with Picomedia. Shooting for the production has started in Rome under the helm of director Francesca Archibugi (“Romanzo famigliare”), before moving to Naples and Lazio later in the year. Beta handles world sales.
The cast is led by Jasmine Trinca (“The Gunman”), starring as Ida, a single mother of two sons, who hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution during the end of World War II and post-war Rome. Also starring are Asia Argento (“xXx – Triple X”), Elio Germano (“Leopardi”) and Valerio Mastandrea (“Perfect Strangers”). The series adapts one of the most critically acclaimed novels of the 20th century, published in two dozen languages. Morante is a landmark figure of feminist literature and the literary role model of Italian star author Elena Ferrante, who stated in the New York Times in 2014: “I try to learn from her books, but I find them unsurpassable,” calling her a “bewitching example.”

*This article was originally published on Variety on June 30, 2022.

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