Aviva Kempner grew up in Detroit, where every Yom Kippur her father, a Jewish immigrant, would tell her the same story about how the legendary Detroit Tiger Hank Greenberg refused to play baseball on the Jewish Day of Atonement.
"For a long time I thought (the story) was part of the Yom Kippur service!" Kempner recalled the other day, speaking from her office in Washington, D.C. "He was part of our Jewish history in our home."
Kempner was in Los Angeles, opening her documentary "The Partisans of Vilna," in 1986 when she heard that Greenberg had died the day before. "I said, 'That is my next film.'"
It took Kempner 13 years to complete "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg," but since making its debut last October at the Hamptons International Film Festival, where it won an audience award, it has become a favorite on the festival circuit.
The film, which traces Greenberg's career from his childhood in the Bronx to the cat-calls he endured while playing for Detroit in the 1930s and his brush with Babe Ruth's home run record in 1938 (he missed breaking it by only three home runs), uses archival material and interviews with Greenberg himself to trace the development of the first Jewish baseball superstar.
Actor Walter Matthau, lawyer Alan Dershowitz and Senator Carl Levin also offer reminiscences about Greenberg's importance as a Jewish hero.
"I'm actually jealous of all the people in my film," said Kempner "I'm the only one who didn't meet him." Kempner said she wanted to make "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" to make an under-known player better known, and "I also wanted to make a film about the Jewish character that wasn't the nebbishy Jewish male. I tend to devote my filmmaking life to countering these negative stereotypes of Jews on screen."
In addition to winning awards, "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" has emerged as an audience favorite on the festival circuit, where sports fans and civilians alike have responded to Greenberg's story of athleticism, perseverance and character. "It's just a great American story," Kempner explained. "It's made people laugh a lot as well as cry a little. The only thing it didn't do was scare them."
"The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" will make its Baltimore premiere Monday at the Gordon Center for Performing Arts, 3506 Gwynnbrook Ave., in Owings Mills. The program begins at 7 p.m. Kempner, Greenberg's son Stephen, former Orioles Mike Flanagan and Jim Palmer and Sun sports columnist John Steadman will also be on hand. (The film will open theatrically in New York in January.)
Tickets are $100 and will benefit the educational programs of the Babe Ruth Museum as well as Kempner's non-profit Ciesla Foundation ($65 of the ticket price is tax-deductible). For more information call 410-727-1539, ext. 3016.
Colburn film wins award
Congratulations to Martha Colburn, whose animated film "Spiders in Love" recently won the award for best animated movie at the Chicago Underground Film Festival. Colburn left this week for San Francisco for a temporary teaching post at the San Francisco Art Institute but plans to return to Baltimore after the gig ends in December.
Waters in motion
It's true: John Waters will begin filming his next movie this fall. "Cecil B. Demented," Waters' long-awaited comedy about a troupe of underground filmmakers who kidnap a Hollywood star and force her to appear in their movie, will go before the cameras Oct. 4. Melanie Griffith and Stephen Dorff will star, along with Alicia Witt. "Melanie is the movie star, Stephen is Cecil, and Alicia is his insane actress girlfriend, Cherish," Waters said the other day. Waters noted that smaller parts are still being cast; interested parties should send resumes and head shots to casting director Pat Moran at the Broom Company, 1301 S. Baylis St., Suite 425, Baltimore, Md., 21224. No phone calls or visits, please.
'La Traviata' showing
The wildly popular Open-Air Film Festival in Little Italy continues this evening with a screening of Franco Zeffirelli's film adaptation of "La Traviata" (1982), starring Placido Domingo. The movie begins at 9 p.m. on the corner of High and Stiles streets. Admission is free. Bring a lawn chair (and a big umbrella if it's raining) for maximum comfort.
See 'Ten Things'
The Columbia Lakefront Summer Festival continues its family film series tonight with a screening of "Ten Things I Hate About You" (PG-13). Starting next Friday, the September Film Fest will hold screenings on Fridays and Saturdays. Films begin promptly at dusk on the lawn at the Columbia Town Center Lakefront (Lake Kittamaqundi), off Little Patuxent Parkway. Admission is free and open to the public.
'Woodstock' 30th year
The Senator Theatre will present a free screening of "Woodstock" Saturday to commemorate the legendary concert's 30th anniversary. The presentation of filmmaker Michael Wadleigh's fully restored director's cut -- with previously unseen film of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Canned Heat and Jefferson Airplane -- will be shown at 10: 30 p.m. Although admission is free, tickets are required and will be available today starting at 11: 15 a.m. at the Senator box office (only four per person). The Senator is located at 5904 York Rd.
'Signals' director to speak
"Smoke Signals" director Chris Eyre will speak at Goucher College on Thursday. Eyre will present a lecture entitled "How Stories Change the World" at 6: 30 p.m. in Kraushaar Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public. For more information call 410-337-6333.
More extras needed
"The Replacements," the Warner Bros. football comedy starring Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman, still needs paid extras for its seven remaining weeks of filming in Baltimore. Several hundred people are needed for crowd scenes. Extras should be available immediately for the next seven weeks. Mail a recent snapshot with your phone number and address to Replacements Extras Casting, PO Box 13066, Baltimore, Md., 21203.