FROM BRAZIL: NEWS ABOUT MOLDOVA - part II

During my latest visit to Brazil I found out, by talking to relatives, that Yeshaya Tolpolar's wife was aunt of Cecilia's Nisemblat. Cecilia is cousin of my dad on his mother's side (Nisemblat). It actually never crossed my mind that besides my grandparents' wedding there was any other relation between a Tolpolar and a Nisemblat. But there was. And much more than this.

Visiting Cecilia at her daughter's apartment, she showed me a bunch of old pictures, letters and documents. These materials are simply amazing, beautiful in the aesthetic side, but also contains a lot of history. Everything is either written in Romanian, Hebrew or Russian, so I could not understand anything, but she would tell me that some letters were from my grandfather to her father, and vice-versa, and even from my grandfather to her grandfather (my grandma's father). There were also some identity documents, postcards and the invitation to my grandparents' wedding in Bessarabia. I selected about 50 of these documents and scanned everything. Hopefully someday I'll have them translated.


But my dad was also keeping a few surprises from me. He had found new documents of his parents, including their ketubah, my grandfather's Brazilian naturalization document and the original picture of the "lost" grave, that now we know it's in Vadul Raskov. I wish I knew Romanian and Russian and Hebrew and Yiddish...


Being in Porto Alegre you see that some old memories are still alive. For example, we were having lunch at a Israeli restaurant (maybe the only one in town), and a friend of my grandmother stopped by to say hi and stared at me: "are you by any chance Mauro Tolpolar's son?" Her name was Berta and said she was a very good friend of my dad when they were children. "We used to play in the street", she said. When I mentioned that to Mauro, he said "Yeah, and I caught pertussis from her". It's things like that that makes every trip back to Porto Alegre a journey into the past as well.

Next: surprising e-mails and grandma makes mamaliga in Brazil!

FROM BRAZIL: NEWS ABOUT MOLDOVA - part I

I recently came back from a 2-week trip to Brazil, went to visit family and friends. While I was there a few experiences reconnected me to my Moldovan/Bessarabian past.

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and on Sunday evening I gave a lecture about my trip and documentary on Moldova, Mamaliga Blues. My mom and cousin Estelita Rovinski helped organize the event. Tolpolars, Nisemblats, Pogorelskys, Kretchmans and others met in a small theater room to listen to me. I was actually surprised to see the room full, about 50 people present. It was the first time I was officially talking about the subject in such a formal manner.

I detailed the highlights of the trip and then showed the 2 promos of the documentary. Afterwards there was some time for conversation. It was great. Besides meeting family members I've never met before (strangely Porto Alegre is not a big town...), the audience was curious enough to ask interesting questions and make important remarks: Jaco Zylberstejn, for example, made me realize the deep connection between the infamous Kishinev pogrom in 1903 and my own family history. Jaco pointed out that the incident was the main event that triggered the immigration of many Jews not only to Brazil, but to the SOUTH of Brazil, where I'm from. Currently there is a big Jewish community in Porto Alegre that originates from Bessarabia. I had actually never made the connection: Kishinev pogrom = Jews in Porto Alegre = my grandparents = my father and mother = me and my sister and many others.

Another member in the audience recalled the name of Klara Kielmanowicz, who immigrated from Edinitz to Sao Paulo when she was 10 years old. I spoke to her on the phone a few days later and she mentioned she remembered the surname Tolpolar. "There was a doctor in Edinitz", she said. That was Sioma Tolpolar, Fima's brother, executed in Cepeleutz.

The lecture ended in hugs and kisses, people chatting and greeting each other. I was dead tired. After 13 hours on a plane, your body and mind don’t coordinate much anymore. We headed for some meat sandwiches and then home to get some rest. I was trying to assimilate what happened. But there was more to come, as I would get phone calls of people giving additional information (see next posting). I thought “The past is still present and alive”. Well, at least for now.

Next: News about Moldova - part II: a polemic marriage, old letters and 2 surprising e-mails.

MAMALIGA BLUES NEW PROMO!

Here you go:



YOU CAN BE A PART OF THIS FILM!

This film needs support to be completed, all donations are tax-deducted. Please visit http://documentaries.org/cid-films/mamaliga-blues/ for more information. Note: If you choose to send a check, it must be made payable and sent to The Center for Independent Documentary. Donors should also indicate producer's name, or the name of the project either on the check ON THE MEMO LINE or on a note enclosed with the check. Any amount is good, any support is important for us. Please spread the word. Thank you for your support!

MAMALIGA BLUES – NEWS

As we move forward with the completion of the documentary Mamaliga Blues, I’m pleased to announce a few additions to our crew:

Shawn Harris has come on board as motion graphics artist. Shawn’s role as a designer and 3D artist at various studios throughout Los Angeles has allowed him the opportunity to collaborate and lead in various broadcast, commercial and experimental projects for such clients as HBO, MTV, NBC, ABC, VHI, Nike, DirecTV, Redbull and HP.

Christopher Gray is a prolific editor in the post-production field, working in off-line and on-line editing, color correction, graphics and titling for the last 25 years. He has done on-line editing and color correction for many documentary features including Sundance winner "Shakespeare Behind Bars" and Oscar nominees, "Fighting for Life" and "Recycled Lives" . He helms a post-production house in Los Angeles

More news will be coming soon, including the new trailer!

NEW DISCOVERIES!

My dad just called yesterday at midnight: “I found it, I found it!” he said.

He basically called me to say that he was organizing some papers and suddenly found a bunch of important documents and photographs of my grandparents. My grandfather’s naturalization document, marriage certificate, many photos and the original picture of the Vadul Raskov grave.

Needless to say I’m very excited. I’ll be going to Brazil in June and will see all this material in person. Could I wait till then??

MAMALIGA BLUES - THE DOCUMENTARY

New link to the documentary video promo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I08Su-q_a30

Enjoy it!

PROMO #1

Click on the link below to watch the first promo of Mamaliga Blues, the documentary of our adventures in Moldova. The film is 90 percent finished; however we need extra funding to complete it. If you have access to any company or person who may be interested, or know of any funding application/possibilities, please send them this way for further discussion: mamaligablues@gmail.com


Click on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-bhrWeL_P0

Thank you!