The opening weekend’s closing night film for the 20th Austin Jewish Film Festival is Matthew Mishory’s WHO ARE THE MARCUSES?. Matthew talked with our Gadi Elkon about the film, the Marcuses, the festival and so much more!
“Who Are the Marcuses?” reconstructs the lives of Holocaust refugees Lottie and Howard Marcus, an unassuming couple from Great Neck, New York, who retired to a modest two-bedroom apartment in San Diego, California. Former dentist Howard passed away in 2014 at age 104. Lottie passed less than two years later. In 2016, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev announced the Marcuses had given them over half a billion dollars: the largest single charitable donation to the State of Israel in its history. The film simultaneously traces the development of Israel’s vital water technology from pre-state to the present; how the Marcuses” endowment to BGU has ensured its continued leading-edge development in this science for not only the Israeli people, but the world as a whole; sets the family’s gift in geopolitical context; and explores both its impact and implications for regional peace through technology exchange.
Matthew and Gadi talked about their own personal stories, the important generosity of the Marcuses, shooting in the secluded Negev and so much more.
Interview with Filmmaker Matthew Mishory:
For info about, WHO ARE THE MARCUSES?
For info about the, AUSTIN JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL.
For info on the screening at AJFF.
