12th Houston Jewish Film Festival (HJFF 2016): Carvalhos Journey (MFAH Screenings)

Evelyn Rubenstein JCC of Houston presents the 12th Houston Jewish Film Festival March 5-20, 2016. The festival showcases the best Jewish and Israeli films from around the world.

Screenings will be held at the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Holocaust Museum Houston (HMH), Sundance Cinemas, and Congregation Beth Jacob in Galveston. This year’s festival is comprised of 27 films over 16 days, and presents current documentary and feature films with meaningful Jewish or Israeli content.

Carvalho’s Journey
Directed by Steve Rio
2015
USA
85 minutes

Introduced by Malcolm Daniel, curator in charge, department of photography and special projects.

This 19th-century adventure story documents the extraordinary career of Solomon Nunes Carvalho (1815–1897) and his life as a photographer, artist, and pioneer in American history. A Sephardic Jew from Charleston, South Carolina, Carvalho traveled with the fifth westward expedition of famed explorer John Fremont in 1853.

Carvalho was one of the first photographers to record the sweeping vistas and treacherous terrain of the American West. His experience as a Jew on the 2,400-mile trail is unprecedented, and his 1857 memoir provided a clear window into the inter-ethnic cultural exchanges that were commonplace in this period of American history.

About the presenter
Malcolm Daniel formerly served as senior curator in charge of photographs at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. He received his PhD in 1991 at Princeton University and is a specialist in 19th-century photography. He joined the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in June 2014.

For the complete line-up and ticket info visit www.erjcchouston.org/filmfest or call Amy Rahmani at 713-595-8197.