Nathan Abrams, at The Blogs

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Jul 11, 2019, 2:24 PM

We’re still finding Jewish clues in Kubrick’s work 20 years after his last film

Twenty years ago next week, legendary film director Stanley Kubrick released his final film Eyes Wide Shut and passed away just a week later, aged 70. As we approach this anniversary, it is worth remembering that the director of such films as The Shining, 2001:...

Jun 21, 2019, 12:24 PM

Chernobyl’s Jewish history

Aerial view Chernobyl nuclear power plant with sarcophagus. (Chernobyl, Ukraine)
(Photo Credit: Vadim Mouchkin / IAEA - Jewish News)

Jews may only be mentioned explicitly twice in the HBO television series Chernobyl, but this belies the deep Jewish history of the region. Chernobyl is one of the oldest Jewish settlements in Ukraine, dating from the sixteenth century. By 1897, it had grown to over five...

Mar 26, 2019, 1:10 PM

Cinema with popcorn (Jewish News)

On the surface, a story about the toys of a boy named Andy led by a cowboy called Woody who befriends a space ranger with the unlikely Jewish name of Buzz could not be more goyish. But underneath lies a hidden Jewish history. Certainly, the...

Mar 12, 2019, 4:50 PM

A history of entertaining our nation on screen

Alexander Korda, Ali G, Mike Leigh and Peter Sellers (Wikimedia Commons and Youtube screenshot - via Jewish News)

An untold story is the major pioneering role Jews have played in UK film and television. Perhaps because of fear of accusations of antisemitism, or perhaps because of British understatement, we’ve hidden this story in the shadows of our far bigger and richer American cousin....

Oct 5, 2018, 3:22 PM

When it comes to Britain’s Jewish history, Wales is overlooked

Photograph of members and clergy of Cardiff’s Jewish community; identified: Abe Schwartz, JE Rivlin, the Reverend Harris Jerevitch, the Reverend Gershon Grey, MJ Cohen, the Rabbi of Newport (name unknown), the Reverend Harris Hamburg, Alter Rivlin, Rabbi Grunitz; photographer: S Edelman; c.1920; Glamorgan Archives ref. DJR/5/21. (Via Jewish News)

When it comes to British Jewish history, Wales is overlooked. Consider the name of the subject, ‘Anglo-Jewish History’. Rarely does this name refer to the predominant language of the United Kingdom – English. More typically it refers to the fact that most British Jews live...

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About Me

Nathan Abrams is Professor in Film at Bangor University in Wales.