Where does The Ballad of the Weeping Spring take place? The question hovers over Benny Toraty's Wild East fable, which may unfold in yesteryear's Levant, or perhaps just in fantasyland. Either way, music forms its center. So it's only fitting that Mark Eliyahu's soulful, nostalgic composing uses the "maqam" system of musical modes: "maqam" means "place" in Arabic. In the Eastern classical tradition, modal scales are used to influence one's spi...

By Maria Esteves – March 25, 2012 The 16th New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival 2012 (NYSJFF 2012) was held at the Center for Jewish History, March 15-22, 2012. Presented by the American Sephardi Federation in collaboration with Yeshiva University Museum, this year’s festival showcased films that illuminated the scope of the Sephardic Jewish experience from filmmakers throughout the world. ASF Chair Cultural Programs Florence Tatistcheff presented writer/director Izza Genini the Lifeti...