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What does it mean to become a man on the occasion of your bar mitzvah? Why do some kids seemingly have all the material advantages simply due to the circumstances into which they were born? These are some of the questions with which Mica, the 13-year-old protagonist of the documentary
Havana Curveball, wrestles as he embarks on a quest to deliver baseball gear to kids in Cuba as part of his bar mitzvah service project and his gratitude to the country that welcomed his grandfather during the Holocaust. Baseballs, bats, shoes and gloves are expensive luxuries difficult to acquire in Cuba due to the island nation’s poverty, exacerbated by the US trade embargo. Part travelogue and part coming-of-age story,
Havana Curveball, by Mica’s parents (Bay Area filmmakers Marcia Jarmel and Ken Schneider,
Return of Sarah’s Daughters, SFJFF 1997), is a marvelously crafted tale that provides insights into the bizarre state of relations between the US and Cuba as well as the idealism of youth. Over a period of three years Mica struggles to make good on his promise. He finally gets to play ball with his Cuban contemporaries, visit the house where his grandfather lived as a child and experience the satisfactions and disappointments of playing benefactor to those less fortunate.
-Mark Valentine World Premiere
Co-Sponsored by Craig Harrison Expressions of Excellence!TM and by Doris and George Krevsky
Directors Marcia Jarmel, Ken Schneider and subject Mica in person.
After-party and Youth Activism ShowcaseSunday, August, 3rd, 2014 -- 4:00PM – 6 PM
LOCATION: Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, 290 Dolores Street, San Francisco
Following the world premiere of
Havana Curveball please join PatchWorks Films, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and local partners for an
After-party and Youth Activism Showcase, celebrating Bay Area young people and nonprofits involved in powerful service projects that are changing our world. This showcase will launch
Havana Curveball's national outreach and engagement campaign celebrating and promoting youth activism.
If your organization or project would like to be featured in the showcase, please contact PatchWorks Films at 415-387-5912 or yas@patchworksfilms.net. By participating, you will help us promote your work, realize our vision, and reach a broad audience of parents, teens, educators, and philanthropists united in a common goal of supporting and encouraging youth activism.