Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas
A musical documentary about the amazing story of a group of Jewish songwriters who wrote the soundtrack to Christmas.
October 1, 2018 - Christmas has come early for Riddle Films, which is good news for fans of their beloved documentary, Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas.
Read John Doyle’s review from the Globe here.
Could any 20th-century American Jew, no matter how famous, compare to Moses?
For Philip Roth, the answer was yes, and that Jew was composer Irving Berlin. In his novel, “Operation Shylock: A Confession,” Roth writes that Berlin, in his megahit “White Christmas,” secularizes the birth of Jesus; the song “turns Christmas into a holiday about snow.” While that quote does not appear in Larry Weinstein’s new documentary, “Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas,” the sentiment underlies every frame of the film.
For immediate release (November 5, 2018)
Riddle Films DREAMING OF A JEWISH CHRISTMAS makes sales to BBC, NHK, PBS, Czech Television and more.
Riddle Films’ musical documentary Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas has made sales to the BBC, NHK, Czech Television and Estonian Public Broadcasting. These are in addition to over 20 PBS stations who will begin airing the film in the United States this holiday season, including GEOR-Atlanta, KPBS-San Diego and WLRN-Miami. In the UK, it will air on BBC4.
The film, seen in Canada on CBC and The documentary Channel, recently received an International Emmy nomination for Arts Programming as well as the Czech Crystal for Best Documentary at the 2018 Golden Prague Awards. The International Emmy Awards will be held on November 19th in New York.
Directed by Larry Weinstein (Inside Hana’s Suitcase, Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star) and produced by Liam Romalis and Jason Charters (The Group of Seven Guitars, Leon Redbone: Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone), Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas tells the story of Irving Berlin, Mel Tormé, Gloria Shayne Baker and the many Jewish composers who wrote some of the best-loved Christmas songs of all time. It originally aired on CBC and The documentary Channel in December 2017 and features performances by Tom Wilson, Steven Page, Dione Taylor and the Lemon Bucket Orkestra among many others. Interviews include writer and radio host Ophira Eisenberg (NPR’s Ask Me Another), Grammy Award-winning musicologist Rob Bowman, Yuk-Yuk’s Mark Breslin, writer, jazz musician and producer Ben Sidran (The Steve Miller Band, There Was a Fire: Jews, Music and the American Dream), music journalist Robert Harris (20 Pieces of Music That Changed the World) and many more.
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For more info, set up interviews, get GAT:
Ingrid Hamilton – [email protected] – 416-731-3034 | Jen Gorman – [email protected] – 647-390-0884
Read, watch and listen to RCI’s article here.
Read about Dione Taylor in Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas here.
Read what the CBC has to say here.
Read what the documentary Channel has to say here.
Read what the Calgary Herald has to say here.
Read what the A*holes have to say about the film here.