On April 19th, Aviva attended the closing of the 2016 Dayton Jewish Film Fest with a screening of Rosenwald. This is the third time she has been in Dayton with her films as previously speaking with her movies on Hank Greenberg and Gertrude Berg.
The screening was in honor of the memory of Carole Rabinowitz who, with her husband Bernard, funded Ciesla’s past films. Her memory will live on in her many philanthropic contributions to the Jewish community of Dayton.
After the screening, Aviva attended a discussion on the film with Film Fest Chair Martin Gottlieb.
The 2016 Dayton Jewish Film Fest was presented by the JCC of Greater Dayton. Below is a a picture of Aviva with members of the Rabinowitz family members.
On March 31st, Reverend Donrico Colden, who organized the showing of the film in Harrisburg after seeing it in Philadelphia, drove Aviva to Harrisburg, PA for a packed screening of Rosenwald. Rev. Colden and Julie Sherman, Chair of the Harrisburg Jewish Film Festival, introduced Aviva before the film. Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse was in attendance. The next morning, Aviva showed the film for the students at SciTech High as well as some students visiting from The Nativity School of Harrisburg who had come to listen.
Chair Julie Sherman, Mayor Papenfuse, Aviva Kempner, and Rev. Colden
After the Harrisburg screening, Aviva flew out to Washington state for the Seattle Jewish Film Festival on April 3rd, where Rosenwald screened to a warm reception. Aviva was honored with a REAL/REEL Difference Award from the festival, along with the festival’s founder, Deborah Rosen.
Afterwards she flew back to the east coast to Boston, MA for a special event screening on April 5th at Brandeis University. Peter Ascoli, Rosenald’s biographer and grandson, also spoke after the film. Brandeis is also home to the National Center of Jewish Film, who distribute the Rosenwald film and all the films produced by the Ciesla Foundation.
From left to right: Peter Ascoli, Lisa Rivo, Aviva Kempner, Sharon Rivo
Peepilton the Musical comes in third in The Washington Post Peeps Contest
Actress Sara Chase, presently appearing in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and her cousin documentary filmmaker Aviva Kempner (The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, Yoo-Hoo, Mrs Goldberg, and Rosenwald) submission of Peepilton the Musical came in third in The Washington Post annual peeps contest.
Their entry, named Peepilton the Musical, is based on the Broadway hit Hamilton, was judged a third place winner in the contest. The announcement of the award appeared Sunday in TheWashington Post magazine.
It was Kempner’s thespian cousin who had the insights how to construct a theatre based diorama because she stared on Broadway in First Date the Musical. Chase also saw Hamilton. Inspired by the musical she came up with the concept and executed it, and Kempner just delivered it.
Unlike her cousin, Kempner is just hoping to see Hamilton. And who knows since First Lady Michelle Obama loved the show so much and invited the cast to present at the White House, maybe she will invite them to present Peepilton the Musical to another group of students.
Peepilton the Musical!
Created by Aviva Kempner, 69, Washington, and Sara Chase, 32 , New York
Photos by Dixie D. Vereen for The Washington Post.
A miniaturized version of Broadway’s Richard Rodgers Theatre may be the closest either maker of this diorama gets to seeing “Hamilton.” The hit musical is effectively sold out for months to come, with prime seats going for more than $1,000 on secondary-sales sites.
Created by D.C. documentarian Aviva Kempner (“Rosenwald,” “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg”) and her cousin, actress Sara Chase (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”), “Peepilton the Musical!” captures a tableau of marshmallow bunnies in five of the show’s big roles: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and, along a catwalk in the back, sisters Peggy and Angelica Schuyler, as well as Eliza Schuyler Hamilton, who was Hamilton’s wife. (Onstage, the singing trio, dressed in bustled gowns, has been likened to an early America version of Destiny’s Child.) Two lucky theatergoers, holding copies of Peepbill magazine, look on from the side.
Stage lights, above and below, set everything off to glorious dramatic effect, using key-ring mini flashlights whose lenses have been colored with Sharpie pens. The costumes were created with wide cloth ribbon — a secret Chase says she picked up over four years of submitting to Peeps contests with Kempner.
Chase, who worked on Broadway (“First Date the Musical”) before moving to television, brought her knowledge of stagecraft to the construction of the scene. But she says it’s something more ineffable than lights, sets and costumes that completes the transformation of humble confections into the cast of a hot Broadway musical.
In a word, she says, the secret to a good Peeps diorama is magic. “Isn’t that what theater is all about?”
It’s been quite the month for Rosenwald, as screenings continue at film festivals and Community Centers along the coast! On March 13th, Aviva returned to the Maine Jewish Film Festvial, where she had shown The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, to a warm reception. Rachel Talbot Ross, president of NAACP of Portland served as MC for the screening, as well as an encore screening the following night. Rachel Talbot Ross also plans to run for Maine state office and is the daughter of Representative Gerald Talbot, a man who reorganized NAACP in Maine and became the first president of NAACP chapter in Portland.
The Maine Jewish Film Festival screenings were also accompanied by a panel of women film makers. Joining Aviva were two amazing Israeli film makers: Shirly Berkovitz (The Good Son, Dir.) and Hilla Medalia (Censored Voices, Prod.).
Left to right: Aviva Kempner, Shirly Berkovitz, Hilla Medalia
On March 19th, Aviva attended a screening at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Washington DC. At the screening were Doris A. Dearing Johnson, Vyllorya Andrette Evans, and Thelma D. Jones.
All three ladies have their own Rosenwald school connection- Doris attended Higison-Rosenwald in Aberdeen, Mississippi where her mother Ora Lee James Bailey was the principal and where Vyllorya’s mother also taught. Thelma attended the Greene County Training School-South Greene High School in Snow Hill, NC. Before the screening, the women talked about their experiences with the schools.
Left to right: Doris A. Dearing Johnson, Vyllorya Andrette Evans, Aviva Kempner, Thelma D. Jones
March 22nd was a big day- beginning with this screening at the US Department of Agriculture Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in Washington DC. She was joined at the screening by Charles Smith, Gladys Gary Vaughn, and David Leon King.
Left to right: Charles Smith, Aviva Kempner, Gladys Gary Vaughn, David Leon King
Aviva ended the day with a trip to north for the Baltimore Jewish Film Festival where the filmed screened for a packed house of over 500 people at the Gordon Center for the Performing Arts.
On February 20th, Aviva turned out to a screening of Rosenwald at Northumberland High School in Heathsville, Virginia. The screening was teeming with excited individuals, including a large group of Rosenwald school alumni.
A group of Rosenwald school alumni
Members of the Julius Rosenwald School Foundation of Northumberland County at the screening of Rosenwald.
However, this was not an average screening. The Heathville event was organized by the Julius Rosenwald School Foundation of Northumberland County- a group that is currently working to repurposed an original Rosenwald school. Before the screening, Aviva received a short tour of the school.
Aviva and the Foundation members stand before the Rosenwald school
A fascinating, two-story Rosenwald school, the Northumberland collective still has a long way to go in terms of restoration.
You can find out more about how to support the Julius Rosenwald School Foundation of Northumberland County by following them on their Facebook page.
A LECTURE ON THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MR. JULIUS ROSENWALD
“The Man – The Moments – The Movement”
Building an Educational Legacy in Anne Arundel County
Event Sponsored by:
Presented by:
You are invited to a free public lecture on the life and times of Mr. Julius Rosenwald. History’s foremost leaders in African American education include such celebrated names as Douglas, Washington, Du Bois, and The Little Rock Nine, but also the almost forgotten name of Rosenwald. Julius Rosenwald (1862-1932) amassed a fortune serving as president and part owner of Sears Roebuck Company. After becoming friends with famed Tuskegee educator, Booker T. Washington, Rosenwald established a fund to build new, state-of-the-art school buildings for African American children living in the rural South. Between 1917 and 1932, the Julius Rosenwald Fund was responsible for the construction of more than 5,000 new schools in states. In 1940, 23 of Anne Arundel County’s 32 black schools were Rosenwald buildings. The Rosenwald School Building Program advanced African American education in a level unmatched until Brown vs. Board of Education and the subsequent end of segregation.
Guest Speaker: Sherri Marsh Johns
Sherri Marsh Johns has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of architectural research and historic preservation. Her interest in Rosenwald Schools began with her work at Anne Arundel County, Department of Cultural Resources. While there, she researched the County’s Rosenwald Schools and was involved in restoring four of them. In 2006, she founded Retrospect Architectural Research, LLC a consulting firm specializing in historic preservation and cultural resource management issues. Ms. Johns enjoys volunteering her services to nonprofit organizations, and currently serves as executive director of the Smith Island Cultural Center, president of the Lost Towns Project, and is on the board of directors of the Anne Arundel County Trust for Preservation, Inc.
Great DOOR PRIZES and GIVEAWAYS in the name of Mr. Rosenwald.
RSVP to Lisa Craig, Historic Preservation Division Chief, HistPres@annapolis.gov.
For more information, please contact Alderwoman Rhonda Pindell Charles at aldpindellcharles@annapolis.gov or
410-266-6857 / 410-266-5809
The Life and Times of Mr. Julius
Rosenwald is one in a series of lectures
scheduled for 2016 in celebration of
Preservation50,which recognizes the
50th Anniversary of the National Historic
Preservation Act of 1966, and is the
reason we have a federally-certified
historic preservation program in Annapolis.
Walter S. Mills-Parole Elementary School PTA
City of Annapolis, Department of Planing and Zoning, Historic
Preservation Division
Retrospect Architectural Research, LLC
Greater Parole Community Association, Historic Preservation
Committee, Co-Chairperson and Consultant, Mrs. Pearl C. Swann
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