Dorot Presents:
“The Hollywood Blacklist: Then and Now” with Dr. Gillian Helfield
Tuesday, January 20, 11:00 am
Winter is the perfect time to curl up and watch some movies! As such, our Dorot group will join together to discuss “The Hollywood Blacklist – Then and Now”, with renowned film professor and Holy Blossom member, Dr. Gillian Helfield.
Our program will explore the ongoing Hollywood boycott of Israeli film institutions, which has been compared to the Hollywood Blacklist of the McCarthy era in the late 1940s and 1950, a previous period of extreme polarization in America when political ideology and propaganda were also used as tools to target and silence Jewish voices in the entertainment industry.
We’ll gather in the Mishkan (online option available) for a lively lecture and some movie excerpts, followed by lunch from Holy Grounds Cafe.
Event costs $15/member, $18/non-member.
Register (in-person and virtual) HERE!
Games will begin as per usual at 12:45 pm in the Schwartz/Reisman Atrium.
The Dorot program is generously sponsored by a gift from the Estate of Saundra and Henry Sherman.
ABOUT DR. GILLIAN HELFIELD
Dr. Gillian Helfield is an assistant professor in the Cinema and Media Arts program at York University in Toronto. She wrote her Ph.D. and has published several papers on the subject of Quebecois films of the Quiet Revolution. Other areas of academic interest are Genre Studies, Cultural Studies, Women’s Cinema, National Cinemas and Cinemas of the Diaspora. She co-authored the book Representing the Rural: Space Place and Identity in Films About the Land which explores the links between urban and rural in films spanning different eras and locations. She is also involved in eLearning and experiential education initiatives at York University, for which she has received several awards in recognition of her research and course design.
Prior to embarking on a full-time teaching career, Dr. Helfield worked in the Canadian film and television industry as a freelance production coordinator and production manager for Atlantis Films, the Insight Production Company, Scholastic Television, Global Television, the CBC, and The Canadian Film Centre.
Apart from her teaching at York, Dr. Helfield works as a programmer for the Toronto Jewish Film Festival, a facilitator for film clubs, and as host of the monthly Holy Blossom zoom program ‘What I’m Watching’, which she started during the COVID 19 pandemic to maintain a sense of community and engagement through the participant’s shared love of cinema.
Gillian believes that films are more than just a medium of entertainment or subject for academic study: they are a reflection of life itself. She can relate everything to a movie, and she can relate every movie to some aspect of society, culture, or everyday life. And she loves nothing better than to share her knowledge, experience and unique insights with those around her.
