A Cantor’s Head (film)

A wise Jew once opined – “You don’t leave synagogue humming the sermon.” It is sacred song that lifts, inspires, transports the soul, and carries the beating heart of tradition. Cantor Jacob Ben-Zion Mendelson – or just “Jackie” – has been in the vanguard and at the epicenter of that evolving tradition since graduating from Hebrew Union College in 1970. As a cantor, a teacher and a performing artist, his Brooklyn-born chops, dynamism and humor have inculcated and inspired legions of cantors across the U.S. and world. But Jackie is no longer the cantor at his long-time home of Temple Israel Center in White Plains, NY. His absence on the bimah – Hebrew for stage – reveals multitudes about both the state and future of Jewish sacred music.

Director Erik Greenberg Anjou (A Cantor’s Tale, The Klezmatics – On Holy Ground, Deli Man) had unparalleled access to his larger than life subject in this captivating, warts and all portrait.

75 minute run time with special guest Q&A. At Vogue Theater, San Francisco.

Part of JFI WinterFest 2020, 2/29 – 3/1. Use code WINTER20 for $2 off each ticket for any film.