April 2001 Update
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===================UPDATE: A LETTER WITHOUT WORDS ===================

There are a variety of ways to see A LETTER WITHOUT WORDS this month.  We
neglected to send out notices of the past ten screenings, and so wanted to
be sure to give you a chance to see the film if you haven't yet had the
chance.

Here are a few upcoming venues:

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, BOULDER
April 17 at 4:30PM With Lisa Lewenz, in Education 220, 303-247-1385 for
information

GERMAN TV BROADCAST,  PHOENIX TV:
April 17 at 1.45AM
April 19 at 10.45PM
April 20 at 12:01PM
The second German TV broadcast of A LETTER (they call it  "MEINE JUDISCHE
GROSSMUTTER: Die wiederentdeckten Filme der Ella Lewenz".) Subsequent
screenings are scheduled on the ARD network in 2001-- check local
programming schedules.

DEPARTURES: NEW FEMINIST PERSPECTIVES ON THE HOLOCAUST:
April 22 at 8:00PM, WILLEY HALL 125, West Bank, University of Minnesota,
612-624-6310 for more information

WGBH BOSTON BROADCASTS:
April 23 at 12:00AM CHANNEL 44
April 29 at 3:00PM CHANNEL 2

VHS TAPES FINALLY FOR SALE:
NoNet Productions is now selling home video copies of A LETTER for personal
use.  If you're interested, send a reply to this message and we'll forward
ordering information to you or a friend.


IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO RECEIVE FUTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS, PLEASE COPY THIS ENTIRE
MESSAGE (we need to have specific information that is on the title bar in
order to find and remove your name.)  PLEASE SEND THIS COPY BACK TO US> WE
WILL REMOVE YOUR NAME (OR DUPLICATES IF YOU RECEIVED MORE THAN ONE MESSAGE.)
Sorry!

=====================A LETTER WITHOUT WORDS=====================

ABOUT "A LETTER WITHOUT WORDS"
1. SELECTED REVIEWS
2. SYNOPSIS
3. WEBSITES
4. PROGRAM HISTORY
5. RECENT AWARDS
6. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
7. SELECTED FEATURE SCREENINGS



1. SELECTED REVIEWS

NEW YORK TIMES --  "Exceptional and gripping...eloquent...Lewenz'
father...says that he regrets turning his back on his Jewish identity; his
daughter's passionate but non-judgmental film restores it. Such honesty is
at the core of "A Letter Without Words," which becomes more compelling as it
goes along, more powerfully concerned with the enigmas of personality and
history." 

VARIETY -- "Remarkable...opens a window on an entire world...mesmerizing."

PHILADELPHIA ENQUIRER -- "A love letter without equal...one of those
fascinating, eerie duets - not unlike Natalie Coles' duet with her long-dead
father, Nat King Cole - that show how technology permits family members to
collaborate from beyond the grave."

NEWSDAY -- "a really wonderful Sundance documentary...simply remarkable -
Einstein in Berlin in 1929, the bliss of pre-Hitler Jewish life in Germany,
the gradual disintegration of a society that forced a family to flee..."

BALTIMORE SUN -- "One of the most lovely, eloquent and touching films about
family, memory and identity that I have ever seen."

TV GUIDE -- "A moving chronicle of the rise of Nazis as seen through the
lens of a German Jewish woman's movie camera." [Among six most notable
programs of the week, April 1999]

VILLAGE VOICE -- "One of the best-received films of the Berlin Film
Festival"

NY JEWISH WEEK -- "A remarkable film, wholly devoid of sentimentality...with
the richness and resonance of a fine novel."

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2. SYNOPSIS

A Jewish Grandmother dared to defy Nazi laws prohibiting independent
filmmaking.  Her family tried to forget the past. Sixty years later, her
granddaughter uncovered the truth exposed by a box of films.....  A LETTER
WITHOUT WORDS exposes a granddaughter's seventeen year quest to discover her
grandmother's motives for having dared to make films when it was illegal,
while exploring her father's decision to hide his family's identity. A
LETTER WITHOUT WORDS marks the directoral debut of writer/director Lisa
Lewenz and offers a posthumous glimpse into Ella Arnhold Lewenz' never-seen
film archive.

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3. WEBSITES

FOR MORE INFORMATION you can also go to the website:
http://thinksmall.org/aletterwithoutwords/
http://www.itvs.org/showsynopsis/letterwithoutwords/letter.html
http://www.jewishculture.org/film.html

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4. PROGRAM HISTORY

To date A LETTER WITHOUT WORDS has screened in cinemas in Germany, France,
Italy, Russia, the USA, Norway, Sweden, Scotland, England, Canada, Israel,
Portugal, the Netherlands, Australia, Hong Kong and Brazil, at major
international festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Vancouver, Troia,
Melbourne and Amsterdam.
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5. RECENT AWARDS

FIRST PLACE RIAS 2000 TV Award, Berlin *
*A LETTER WITHOUT WORDS awarded top RIAS Television award, April 8, 2000
The RIAS Berlin Commission is a binational organization established in 1992
to maintain German/American understanding in the field of broadcasting and
to promote the transatlantic tradition symbolized by RIAS (Radio in the
American Sector) Berlin for over the past fifty years. The Commission is
overseen by five German and five American commissioners and is based in
Berlin, and the recent jury was comprised of 3 Americans and 3 Germans. RIAS
award winners address the relevant aspects of German/American relations in
the fields of politics, economics, social issues, cultural developments or
current events.

BEST DOCUMENTARY, the Sao Paulo Jewish Film Festival

FIRST PRIZE/Personal History, the Sixth Annual Jewish Video Competition of
the Judah L. Magnes Museum

Women in Film and Television's third annual CHARM CITY AWARD given to Lisa
and Ella Lewenz in Baltimore, Maryland

BEST DOCUMENTARY/AUDIENCE AWARD, The Denver International Film Festival

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE: Festival dei Popoli, Florence, Italy

The film was also featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, CBS THIS MORNING,
National Public Radio's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, as well as numerous
television and radio programs worldwide.

----------------------------------------------

6. BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Lisa Lewenz: Director/Writer/Producer/Editor/Cinematographer (contemporary
footage):
A LETTER WITHOUT WORDS is Lisa Lewenz' first film.  Her award-winning
multimedia arts projects have been widely exhibited throughout the U.S.
Lewenz' work has been recognized for its merit including: three consecutive
Fulbright Research Fellowships to Germany; two National Endowment for the
Arts fellowships; a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship to
Berlin; the 1989 Ferguson Award; the Baltimore Mayor's Commission
Fellowship; numerous state arts fellowships; and residency fellowships to
LaNapoule, France and Amherst College,  among others.  She received wide
critical acclaim for her photographic documentaries 1984: A View from Three
Mile Island; Towards a More Perfect Union and Idol Worship/Idle Warship.  In
addition, Lewenz taught at New York University, the University of Illinois,
and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and was commissioned for
documentary research in Germany for CBS News and the Discovery Channel.  She
has worked as a project director with the artist Christo and as programming
assistant for filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow.  Lewenz holds a BFA from the Art
Institute of Chicago (where her film studies began and ended with two film
history courses taught by filmmaker Stan Brakhage) and a MFA from CalArts.
Lewenz was born in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ella Arnhold Lewenz (July 12, 1883-July 5, 1954) Cinematographer (historical
footage): 
Born in Dresden, Ella began experimenting with photography in Germany during
the early 1900s.  She married Hans Leo Lewenz in Berlin in 1909 and moved to
that city, that remained her home until December of 1938.  Her former
residence is now the Standesamt Charlottenburg von Berlin, Alt-Lietzow 28,
and her family's vacation home was in Kladow, on the outskirts of Berlin.
After learning how to process her own film, Ella started making 16mm films
sometime during the mid-1920s.  Eventually, she and her camera became
inseparable, and although she was unknown as a filmmaker during her
lifetime, her work represents one of the more important personal archives of
her time.  Ella Lewenz was one of the few women known to document the first
half of this century in movies, diaries and photographs.  A mother of six,
she also edited, titled and dated her films.  Her archive which includes
about twenty hours of previously hidden footage, recorded family and
friends, as well as many important figures in science, the arts, religion,
and politics.  Ella's work remained in the family attic for almost thirty
years following her death in New York shortly after her last visit to
Germany in 1954.  Her archive remained unseen until 1981, when discovered by
her granddaughter, Lisa.

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7. SELECTED FEATURE SCREENINGS

More than 100 international festival screenings, including many recent
Jewish festivals in cities such as: Hong Kong Jewish (opened festival); San
Francisco, Boston, Toronto, Miami, Palm Beach and dozens of others. The
major international festivals include:

Melbourne International Film Festival, Doc. Comp.       1999
Göteborg International Film Festival, Doc. Comp.       1999
Festival dei Popoli, Florence, Jury Award               1998
Denver International Film Festival, Best Documentary    1998
Vancouver International Film Festival, Doc. Comp.       1998
Amsterdam International Doc. Film Festival, Comp.       1998
Edinburgh International Film Festival, Doc. Comp.       1998
Jerusalem International Film Festival, Doc. Comp.       1998
Berlin International Film Festival, Forum Comp.         1998
Sundance Film Festival, Doc. Comp.                      1998
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