Aviva Kempner
Encyclopedia
Aviva Kempner is an American filmmaker. Her documentaries investigate non-stereotypical images of Jews in history and focus on the untold stories of Jewish heroes. She is most well known for The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg
.
, Germany
, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and a U.S. Army officer. She moved to Michigan
with her parents and graduated from the University of Michigan
. She has made her home in Washington, D.C.
, where she plays a prominent role in the artist and film community. She started the Washington Jewish Film Festival
in 1989. She attended the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, McDowell and Yaddo artist colonies in 2002–2004. She is also an activist for voting rights
for the District of Columbia. She is also the member of International Film And Television Club of Asian Academy of Film & Television
, Noida Film City, India.
Kempner creates her films under the auspices of The Ciesla Foundation. Created in 1981, the Foundation's original task was to promote, with pride and dignity, educational materials on issues relating to the Holocaust and the occurrence of Jewish resistance to it. The Ciesla Foundation has expanded its mission to, more generally, produce and distribute films to educate the public on social issues of the past and present.
In 1986, Kempner produced and co-wrote Partisans of Vilna, a documentary on Jewish resistance against the Nazis. Additionally, she was the executive producer of the 1989 Grammy Award
-nominated record Partisans of Vilna: The Songs of World War II Jewish Resistance.
She is the scriptwriter
, director
and producer
of The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg
, a film about the Jewish slugger who fought anti-Semitism in the 1930s and 40s. It was awarded top honors by the National Society of Film Critics, the National Board of Review, the New York Film Critics Circle, and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The film received a George Peabody Award and was nominated for an Emmy.
She wrote the narration for Promises to Keep
, the Academy Award-nominated documentary on the homeless.
In 2009, she released Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
, a 90-minute documentary on Gertrude Berg
, one of America's favorite radio and television personalities. Berg was the creator, principal writer, and star of the popular 1930s radio show and then the 1950s weekly televised situation comedy
, The Goldbergs
.
She is currently working on her new film project The Rosenwald Schools, a documentary on the incredible story of how businessman and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald joined with African-American communities in the South to build schools for them during the early part of the 20th century.
She is also co-writing and producing Casuse, the story of Larry Casuse, a young Native American activist. Growing up in Gallup, New Mexico
, he witnessed the rampant alcoholism, racism and poverty imposed upon his Navajo people. Attending the University of New Mexico
, Casuse worked hard to organize his fellow students and fight to improve the lives of his tribe. Frustrated by his inability to effect change through the system and influenced by the tumultuous political climate of the early 1970s, Casuse kidnapped the Mayor of Gallup to publicly expose the hypocrisy of the establishment.
Additionally, her films have received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and state humanities boards.
, The Forward
, Washington Jewish Week
, and The Washington Post
. She also lectures about cinema throughout the country. She wrote chapters for the books, Daughters of Absence, What Israel Means to Me, and Jews and American Popular Culture. She has served on the board of CINE
, DC VOTE, Forum for the Psychoanalytical Study of Film, District of Columbia Jewish Community Center, and Women in Film and Video.
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is a documentary film directed, produced and written by Aviva Kempner about Hall of Fame first baseman Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers. A Jewish player who chose not to play on Yom Kippur in 1934 during a heated pennant race, Greenberg experienced a great...
.
Life and career
Kempner was born in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and a U.S. Army officer. She moved to Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
with her parents and graduated from the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
. She has made her home in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where she plays a prominent role in the artist and film community. She started the Washington Jewish Film Festival
Washington Jewish Film Festival
The Washington Jewish Film Festival is a film festival that features films that represent the great diversity of Jewish experiences. It is held at the Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater in the Washington, D.C., Jewish Community Center and other cinemas in Washington and suburban Maryland and Virginia....
in 1989. She attended the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, McDowell and Yaddo artist colonies in 2002–2004. She is also an activist for voting rights
District of Columbia voting rights
Voting rights of citizens in the District of Columbia differ from those of United States citizens in each of the fifty states. District of Columbia residents do not have voting representation in the United States Senate, but D.C. is entitled to three electoral votes for President. In the U.S...
for the District of Columbia. She is also the member of International Film And Television Club of Asian Academy of Film & Television
Asian Academy of Film & Television
The Asian Academy of Film & Television is a film school located in India's Noida Film City in India's Capital region, NCR. It is affiliated with the International Film & Television Research Center and the Marwah Films & Video Studios....
, Noida Film City, India.
Kempner creates her films under the auspices of The Ciesla Foundation. Created in 1981, the Foundation's original task was to promote, with pride and dignity, educational materials on issues relating to the Holocaust and the occurrence of Jewish resistance to it. The Ciesla Foundation has expanded its mission to, more generally, produce and distribute films to educate the public on social issues of the past and present.
In 1986, Kempner produced and co-wrote Partisans of Vilna, a documentary on Jewish resistance against the Nazis. Additionally, she was the executive producer of the 1989 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-nominated record Partisans of Vilna: The Songs of World War II Jewish Resistance.
She is the scriptwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
, director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
of The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg
The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is a documentary film directed, produced and written by Aviva Kempner about Hall of Fame first baseman Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers. A Jewish player who chose not to play on Yom Kippur in 1934 during a heated pennant race, Greenberg experienced a great...
, a film about the Jewish slugger who fought anti-Semitism in the 1930s and 40s. It was awarded top honors by the National Society of Film Critics, the National Board of Review, the New York Film Critics Circle, and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The film received a George Peabody Award and was nominated for an Emmy.
She wrote the narration for Promises to Keep
Promises to Keep
Promises to Keep: Technology, Law, and the Future of Entertainment is a book William Fisher, Ph.D. wrote. Fisher was a Harvard University Hale and Dorr Professor of Intellectual Property Law and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society Director. Stanford University Press published the book in...
, the Academy Award-nominated documentary on the homeless.
In 2009, she released Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg is a 2009 documentary film on the broadcast career of Gertrude Berg and her radio and television serials, The Goldbergs. Aviva Kempner directed the film, interviewing family members of Berg, cast members of the Goldbergs and historians of radio and television...
, a 90-minute documentary on Gertrude Berg
Gertrude Berg
Gertrude Berg was an American actress and screenwriter. A pioneer of classic radio, she was one of the first women to create, write, produce and star in a long-running hit when she premiered her serial comedy-drama The Rise of the Goldbergs , later known as The Goldbergs.-Career:Berg was born...
, one of America's favorite radio and television personalities. Berg was the creator, principal writer, and star of the popular 1930s radio show and then the 1950s weekly televised situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
, The Goldbergs
The Goldbergs
The Goldbergs is a comedy-drama broadcast from 1929 to 1946 on American radio, and from 1949 to 1956 on American television. It was adapted into a 1948 play, Me and Molly, and a 1973 Broadway musical, Molly.-Radio:...
.
She is currently working on her new film project The Rosenwald Schools, a documentary on the incredible story of how businessman and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald joined with African-American communities in the South to build schools for them during the early part of the 20th century.
She is also co-writing and producing Casuse, the story of Larry Casuse, a young Native American activist. Growing up in Gallup, New Mexico
Gallup, New Mexico
- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 20,209 people, 6,810 households, and 4,869 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,513.7 people per square mile...
, he witnessed the rampant alcoholism, racism and poverty imposed upon his Navajo people. Attending the University of New Mexico
University of New Mexico
The University of New Mexico at Albuquerque is a public research university located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. It is the state's flagship research institution...
, Casuse worked hard to organize his fellow students and fight to improve the lives of his tribe. Frustrated by his inability to effect change through the system and influenced by the tumultuous political climate of the early 1970s, Casuse kidnapped the Mayor of Gallup to publicly expose the hypocrisy of the establishment.
Awards
Kempner is a recipient of the following awards, grants, and fellowships:- 2008 National Endowment for the Arts
- 2001 Women of Vision award from D.C.'s Women in Film and Video chapter
- 2001 Media Arts award from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture
- 2000 DC Mayor's Art Award.
- 1996 Guggenheim Fellowship
- 1995 Individual Artist Grants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts
- 1993 NEA Mid-Atlantic Region Media Arts Fellowship
- 1992 NEA Mid-Atlantic Region Media Arts Fellowship
- 1991 Individual Artist Grants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts
- 1990 Individual Artist Grants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts
- 1988 Individual Artist Grants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts
- 1987 NEA Mid-Atlantic Region Media Arts Fellowship
Additionally, her films have received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and state humanities boards.
Contributions
Kempner writes film criticism and feature articles for numerous publications, including The Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
, The Forward
The Forward
The Forward , commonly known as The Jewish Daily Forward, is a Jewish-American newspaper published in New York City. The publication began in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily issued by dissidents from the Socialist Labor Party of Daniel DeLeon...
, Washington Jewish Week
Washington Jewish Week
Washington Jewish Week is an award-winning independent community weekly newspaper whose logo reads, "Serving the nation's capital and the greater Washington Jewish community since 1930." Its main office is located in Rockville, Maryland, a Maryland suburb of the District of Columbia.Over the...
, and The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
. She also lectures about cinema throughout the country. She wrote chapters for the books, Daughters of Absence, What Israel Means to Me, and Jews and American Popular Culture. She has served on the board of CINE
CINE
CINE is a consortium formulated to depict American life and thought realistically for a global audience. CINE recognizes and fosters the highest quality of non-theatrical film and video production through its semi-annual film competitions....
, DC VOTE, Forum for the Psychoanalytical Study of Film, District of Columbia Jewish Community Center, and Women in Film and Video.
Filmography
- Casuse (work in progress)
- The Rosenwald Schools(work in progress)
- Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. GoldbergYoo-Hoo, Mrs. GoldbergYoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg is a 2009 documentary film on the broadcast career of Gertrude Berg and her radio and television serials, The Goldbergs. Aviva Kempner directed the film, interviewing family members of Berg, cast members of the Goldbergs and historians of radio and television...
(2009) - Today I Vote for My Joey (2002)
- The Life and Times of Hank GreenbergThe Life and Times of Hank GreenbergThe Life and Times of Hank Greenberg is a documentary film directed, produced and written by Aviva Kempner about Hall of Fame first baseman Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers. A Jewish player who chose not to play on Yom Kippur in 1934 during a heated pennant race, Greenberg experienced a great...
(1999) - Partisans of Vilna (1986)