Other Reels

The Kansas City Benefit Premiere screening of Robert Altman’s Jazz ´34: Remembrances of Kansas City Swing will kick off a celebration and tribute to Kansas City’s Jazz Heritage on Thursday, April 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the Manor Square Tivoli Theatre in Westport. The documentary featuring some of the best young jazz artists working today will be followed at 9:30 p.m. by a concert/jam session at the Mill Creek Brewery & Restaurant. Sonny Kenner and the Wild Women will begin the concert. Bass player Tyrone Clark will sit in on the jam with many other area jazz artists joining in. Claude “Fiddler” Williams is the honorary chair of the event. Tickets are $25 for both the screening and the concert or $15 for either the screening or the concert. Call the Central Ticket Office (816-235-2700) for advance tickets.

ð The Kansas Connection Inc., a charitable, nonprofit organization based in Los Angeles, is calling for film entries to its inaugural Film Fair Fundraiser. This event, to be held July 22 at DreamWorks Studios in Los Angeles, will showcase Kansas filmmakers, actors, writers, directors, and producers, as well as films shot on location in Kansas. Entries will be accepted March 1 through May 1. Entries must be submitted in VHS format. To qualify, at least one of the following three criteria must be met:

1) Producer/writer/director/star is native to or is a resident of the state of Kansas.

2) A significant portion of the film was shot on location in Kansas.

3) Producer/writer/director/star is a member in good standing of The Kansas Connection Inc.

All information necessary to enter is available at www.kansasconnection.org.

ð The Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City and the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle present the second annual Kansas City Jewish Film Festival, April 1 through 8 at the Fine Arts Theatre. The festival opens Saturday, April 1, with the KC premiere of Aviva Kempner’s baseball documentary The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg. Sunday, April 2, at 4 p.m., My Mother’s Courage shows how a Hungarian woman survives a 1944 deportation. At 7:30 p.m., Hannah, a tale of modern-day neo-Nazis who are undone by a Jewish heroine, will be shown. Katheryn Bernheimer, author of The 50 Greatest Jewish Movies, will speak between shows. Two Israeli films are on this year’s program: Under the Domim Tree at 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 4 — a sequel to The Summer of Aviya — and Yana’s Friends at 9:30 p.m., a seriocomic look at Russian Jewish immigrants who arrive in Israel on the eve of the Persian Gulf War. Other films range from serious examinations of religious issues to the nostalgic Mah Jongg: The Tiles That Bind, whose director, Bari Pearlman, will speak after its 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 6, showing. Tickets to the opening night are $10 each. Other individual show tickets are $6. A nontransferable pass is $25. For more information, call 913-327-8000 or visit www.jewishkc.org/jcc/highlights.htm.