Aviva Kempner took a trip to California during late July and early August to promote Rosenwald, screening the film at various theaters throughout the area to many wonderful crowds.
First, a preview screening of Rosenwald was held at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, CA on July 27th where it was warmly received in a packed house. The event was held in collaboration with the NAACP Hollywood Bureau and TheWrap. After the show, Sharon Waxman, journalist and founder of TheWrap, interviewed the director Aviva Kempner. Among those in the audience were actor Shelly Berman, who has a brief appearance in the film and director Arthur Hiller, former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, with his family.
On July 31st, Aviva Kempner returned to the Castro Theatre in San Francisco to screen her fourth film at the wonderful San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Started as the first Jewish Film Festival in the world in 1980, the festival has gone on for over 35 years, where it has continued to be one of the largest Jewish film festivals.
The film was preceded by the “Taking a Stand” panel discussion that included Aviva herself- as well as Rick Goldsmith, Judith Helfand, and Melissa Donovan. They took the time to “discuss their filmmaking careers, Jewish identity, activist filmmaking,
empowerment and community engagement.”
In 2009, Aviva Kempner was awarded the Freedom of Expression Award from the San Francisco Film Festival for her work on Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg!
After the screening of Rosenwald, Aviva Kempner and Julius Rosenwald’s grandson, Peter Ascoli, were welcomed to the stage to answer questions by a standing ovation. In the audience were a dozen West Coast members of the Rosenwald family who enthusiastically embraced the movie.
After the screening at the San Francisco Film Festival, on August 2nd Aviva headed over to the Official screening of Rosenwald for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The screening was followed by a Q&A with Aviva, moderated by Patt Morrison (LA Times). Among Academy members was Kempner’s favorite European actor, Armin Mueller Stahl.
The following day, Aviva attended a preview screening of the film for Reel Talk at the Landmark Theater in Los Angeles. The screening was also followed by a Q&A- moderated by Reel Talk host, Stephen Farber. Kempner’s favorite American actor, Ed Asner in the audience.
