Pozole a la 'Tijuana'
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/features/20050210-9999-lz...
Director Isaac Artenstein serves up a memory stew ? 'all that mixing of cultures has always fascinated me'
By Lilia O'Hara
February 10, 2005
The San Diego Jewish Film Festival doesn't usually hold great interest for Latinos, but this could be about to change.
At least one segment of the Hispanic population will certainly attend this year's festival because a documentary will be screened Saturday that deals
with a group that is often overlooked but has been active for many decades: the Jews of Tijuana.
"The first thing people say when I talk about the Jews of Tijuana is, 'I didn't know there were Jews in Tijuana,' " said Isaac Artenstein, the San
Diego-born director of the documentary "Tijuana Jews."
According to the filmmaker, there are some 600 to 800 Latino Jewish families in the San Diego/Tijuana region who can trace their roots to different
countries in Europe and the Middle East.
Artenstein, who directed "Ballad of an Unsung Hero" (1984) and "Break of Dawn" (1988), and produced "Love Always" (1996) and "A Day Without a Mexican"
(2004), has also taught cinema at UCLA and UCSD. He had lived for the last five years in Los Angeles but returned to San Diego a few months ago.
"It seems like I'm returning to my roots," he said with a smile. "It was a great experience talking to people of my parents' and grandparents'
generations. Yes, it's been a homecoming."
Artenstein, 50, has always been a history buff, he said, even of history that converges on the border.
According to "Tijuana Jews," Jewish immigrants began to arrive in the border city in the early 20th century. One of the reasons for embarking on this
documentary was to record the memories of older generations who are dying. The film has not yet been shown, but it is already considered an important
element in the history of Jews in this region.
Rabbi Mendel Polichenco, president of the Centro Social Israelita de Baja California, characterized the film as a cultural contribution and a
well-researched way to learn more about the local Latino Jewish community.
"It's a starting point to creating a memory of what the Jewish community is, what its history has been," said Polichenco, who also is interviewed in
the film.
In the nearly hour-long film, the history of Jews in Tijuana is taken up from a personal perspective. Artenstein serves as narrator and talks of his
parents and forebears. His grandparents on his father's side came from Poland and on his mother's side from Turkey. He was born in San Diego and grew
up in Tijuana.
"All that mixing of cultures has always fascinated me," he said.
The rites, celebrations, customs and evolution of the Jews of Tijuana in the last century and up to the present are captured in this documentary. Most
Jews who were born and raised in Tijuana have moved to San Diego and have built their lives here.
The documentary is valuable in that it casts light on a group that has been relatively unknown, in large part because the larger community does not
know much of their activities, which are as traditional as any other group's.
Polichenco explains that much of this is because "Judaism is not a proselytizing faith and we don't seek to spread our religion."
Nonetheless, as this film shows, Tijuana's Jews have been active members of that community and now participate in the political and economic life of
the San Diego region.
Finding material was not difficult for Artenstein, as many of the interviewees contributed historical materials. "We went from house-to-house,
family-to-family and they very generously contributed these materials," he said.
The local collaboration did not end there, as Tijuana composer Jaime Valle wrote the film's score.
The documentary, which cost some $200,000 and took five years to produce, will have its worldwide premiere at the San Diego Jewish Film Festival. It
will also run during the San Diego Latino Film Festival and from there will travel to Los Angeles; Tucson, Ariz.; Washington, D.C.; and Barcelona,
Spain. It will also likely be aired by local public television station KPBS.
The director is working on two new projects, a film based on the lives of photographers Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, and another that takes place
in Tijuana and was inspired by Josef Von Stenberg's 1930 film "The Blue Angel."
While those projects come together, Artenstein said his goal with "Tijuana Jews" was not to present the Jewish community in either a good or a bad
light. He sought only to present a truthful portrayal of its history. He feels that if the documentary can be valuable, it will lead to a better
understanding of the Jewish presence in Mexico and Mexico's presence in the worldwide Jewish community.
He concluded, "It is evident that Mexico opened its arms to a Jewish community and that, in some fashion, we made Mexican culture our own."
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