Meet a Star Director, Watch 'Yippee: A Journey to Jewish Joy' February 17, 2011

MEET A STAR DIRECTOR
WATCH YIPPEE: A JOURNEY TO JEWISH JOY
Critically Acclaimed Film Screening
Hosted By Oscar-Nominated and Multi-Award-Winning Writer/Director/Actor Paul Mazursky

"Brilliant documentary, beautifully told-and funny."
- LARRY KING
"Paul Mazursky delivers an enchanting world, funny, fascinating and surprisingly touching."
- MEL BROOKS
"A deeply moving film-powerful-and wonderfully funny. Yippee!"
- KIRK DOUGLAS

The Osher Marin JCC presents 'Yippee: A Journey to Jewish Joy,' a critically acclaimed film that will be hosted and screened by the adored, famous, multi-award-winning director, scriptwriter and actor Paul Mazursky. One of the New York Film Critic's best directors and recent recipient of a Career Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, Mazursky (actor on 'The Sopranos,' 'Once and Again' and 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' and director and writer of 'An Unmarried Woman,' 'Down and Out in Beverly Hills,' and the three-time-Oscar-nominated 'Enemies: A Love Story') heard from his optometrist that 25,000-mostly Hassidic-Jews visit the Ukrainian town of Uman every Rosh Hashanah for three days of praying, singing and dancing and he felt compelled to make the journey himself.

Arriving in the Ukraine with a small film crew, Mazursky experiences an amazing series of events. He meets and interviews a wide variety of Jewish men from many countries, sharing meals, laughs, and this unique experience. The director visits the gravesite of Hassidic movement founder Baal Shem Tov and talks with Uman's non-Jews about their reactions to the annual massive influx of Hassidim. The adventure culminates on the evening of Rosh Hashanah in a mass expression of spiritual ecstasy. Yippee is an infectious road movie filled with electricity and awe and Mazursky is a splendid guide: funny, curious, and generous.

Official Website: http://www.marinjcc.org