Itzhak (2017)
(Director: Alison Chernick | Documentary USA | 2017 | 83 min. | English)
RJFF. From Schubert to Strauss, Bach to Brahms, Mozart to Billy Joel, Itzhak Perlman’s violin playing transcends mere performance to evoke the celebrations and struggles of real life. Alison Chernick’s enchanting documentary looks beyond the sublime musician to see the polio survivor whose parents emigrated from Poland to Israel, and the young man who struggled to be taken seriously. Itzhak himself is funny, irreverent and self-deprecating, and here his life story unspools in conversations with masterful musicians, family and friends, and most endearingly his devoted wife of 50 years. As charming and entrancing as the famous violinist himself, ITZHAK is a portrait of musical virtuosity seamlessly enclosed in warmth, humor and, above all, love.
“ITZHAK is a joyous film about a joyous man.” Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
Community partners: Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester & Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
PRE-FILM: Live music provided by Eastman School of Music students.
Generously underwritten by Sherri and Richard Goldstein