Posted in NJFP, Zoe, tagged NJFP, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, "Zoe Pollak", new jewish filmmaking project, Berkeley, California, Ten Lists Part II, Sea World, Baldy, Beanie Baby, Oakland A's, baseball cap, Pt. Reyes, second grade, salmonella, Murray Perahia, Chopin Etudes, R-rated movies on December 19, 2009 | 1 Comment »
by Zoe Pollak
Ten Negative Memories of Childhood (to supplement the past week’s list, not in chronological order)
1. Feeling out of control of my parents’ lives when they dropped me off at my kindergarten class. Every day I went through a ritual with the parent who dropped me off, making them promise not to get [...]
Posted in NJFP, Zoe, tagged "Zoe Pollak", aging, Berkeley, betta fish, California, college applications, divorce, new jewish filmmaking project, NJFP, Ten Lists, vivid memories, wheat thins on December 6, 2009 | 4 Comments »
I just wanted to add something before you read this post: Because for this assignment I’m thinking of a bunch of negative things, I can see why I might come across as harboring a bunch of negative feelings. So just a reminder, this is supposed to be glass-half-empty (nostalgic), but the next post will be [...]
Posted in NJFP, Zoe, tagged "time travel", "Zoe Pollak", Berkeley, California, childhood, Coming Back, Marin Elementary School, memories, new jewish filmmaking project, NJFP, nostalgia, retrospection on December 2, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I visited my elementary school with my dad today. Surprisingly, I hadn’t set foot at Marin School in years. Normally, I see my old school through the glaze of the car window, but don’t really look at it. Today, though, I decided to see what it would feel like to physically revisit my childhood.
We [...]
Posted in NJFP, Zoe, tagged "time travel", "Zoe Pollak", Back to the Future, Berkeley, Berkeley Jewish Community Center, California, Cary Grant, childhood, JCC, Lawrence Hall of Science, LHS whale, Michio Kaku, new jewish filmmaking project, NJFP, nostalgia, Steven Hawking, wormhole on November 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
From a young age, I have always wanted to time-travel. When I read books, I not only imagine myself in the place of the characters, but picture my life in the pages’ long-passed histories, a Zoe plucked out of today and teleported to 1760s Europe, 1850s South, or 1940s nuclear America. When I watch black [...]
Posted in NJFP, Zoe, tagged "Anne Goldman", "Zoe Pollak", Another Birthday, Another Cupcake, Berkeley, birthday, birthday candle, Boulder, California, Colorado, cupcake, curly hair, memory, new jewish filmmaking project, NJFP, pre-school on November 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I chose a new photograph to write about this weekend, and it just so happens that it revolves around another Boulder birthday with Hannah. After my mother and I had finished our pieces and began to read the other’s writing, I commented on her broader approach, noting her more general response in comparison to the [...]
Posted in NJFP, Zoe, tagged "Anne Goldman", "Zoe Pollak", balloon, Berkeley, birthday party, Boulder, California, Colorado, cupcake with sprinkles, curly hair, friendship, Hannah, Hannah (As Seen Through Two Angles), memory, new jewish filmmaking project, perspective, pink balloon, pre-school on November 4, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I decided to create another blogpost like the one I posted a couple weeks before this one. In this post, I again reflected on a photograph (only this time my memory played itself out more chronologically), and again I asked my mother to write about the photograph from her own perspective. And again, neither one [...]
Posted in NJFP, Zoe, tagged "Bee Season", "Zoe Pollak", Coffee Will Make You Black, Influences, kaleidoscope, new jewish filmmaking project, NJFP, words, writing on October 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I sometimes wonder if I’d be interested in writing if my mother weren’t a writer. Ever since I was little she encouraged me to read and write, whether for a school assignment or for pleasure. I don’t actually remember her praising my writing or any specific prompts she suggested because our exchanges were so frequent that they [...]
Posted in NJFP, Zoe, tagged "Zoe Pollak", Berkeley, California, multi-media, new jewish filmmaking project, NJFP, old photographs, Snapshots on October 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Before I begin my blog-post, I wanted to include some preliminary ideas and quesitons for the multi-media exhibition:
For the multi-media exhibition, I will most likely use lots of photographs with embedded quotes. I will also include excerpts from conversations and formal writings, both from my family and from other writers. There is a film clip [...]
Posted in NJFP, Zoe, tagged "Zoe Pollak", Berkeley, California, new jewish filmmaking project, NJFP, Reconstructions on October 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Last week I had a conversation with my mother about perspective and how it changes with the age and the development of empathy. I included a short transcript. After the transcript both my mother and I wrote a sentence summarizing our conversation, partly using words from the transcript and adding our own as well. (My [...]
Posted in NJFP, Zoe, tagged "Anne Goldman", "Zoe Pollak", Berkeley, California, Distanced and Connected, Double Vision, new jewish filmmaking project, NJFP on September 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The next two blogs I write will be paraphrasing a conversation between my mother and myself. In this first part, I interviewed my mother and told her about the collaboration aspect of the project. (The following entries are summarized.) Next week, I will continue our conversation and delve deeper into the more cerebral rather than [...]
Posted in NJFP, Zoe, tagged "Zoe Pollak", Berkeley, Boulder, California, Colorado, constellations, kaleidoscope, Mary Cassatt, new jewish filmmaking project, NJFP, Parallax, planetarium on September 20, 2009 | 2 Comments »
At some point, we all realize that our parents are not referred to by everyone as “mom” and “dad.” For me, this awareness occurred when I brought myself away from the warmth of my kindergarten classroom to hesitantly watch my dad slip out of my control, getting smaller and smaller as he walked through the [...]
Posted in NJFP, Zoe, tagged "Zoe Pollak", Berkeley, California, new jewish filmmaking project, NJFP, Week 1: Brainstorming on September 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
For my film topic, I have decided to focus on my uncle’s death. David died sixteen years ago of lung cancer, when he was 31 years old. He left three siblings, one being his identical twin brother.
I have come up with a few questions/observations to help me choose what perspectives I want to represent/narrate the [...]
Posted in NJFP, Zoe, tagged "Zoe Pollak", An In-Between Genre, Berkeley, California, David Ofek, documentary, home, Israeli, new jewish filmmaking project, NJFP, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, SFJFF, Tale of Nicolai and the Law of Return on July 31, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
By Zoe Pollak
David Ofek’s films are out of the ordinary because he employs an in-between genre (part documentary, part story), to narrate an account. In both of his films (Home and The Tale of Nicolai and the Law of Return), the director/screenwriter chronicles relationships within families and gives the audience the sense that they are [...]
