Currently Browsing: Jan Lisa Huttner
Today, I am celebrating a milestone intimately connected with my own life: The world premiere of The Company – twenty years ago today – at the Toronto International Film Festival
In 2003, I was in Chicago – in a period of transition from my old life as a health care computer consultant to my new life as a writer – when I learned that Indie Icon Robert Altman was also in Chicago making a new film with our world-renown Joffrey Ballet Company.… read more.
On Thursday afternoon, February 9, 2023, I received the following email from the Film at Lincoln Center Patrons Desk, announcing that Viola Davis would be the honoree for their 2023 Chaplin Award Gala. This was sixteen days after the world learned that Viola Davis would not be a candidate for a 2023 Oscar in the Best Actress category.… read more.
In September 2022, Jan Lisa Huttner, author of Diamond Fiddler: New Traditions for a New Millennium (Why Fiddler on the Roof Always Wins), spoke with Barbara Bayes, the wife of Sammy Dallas Bayes, who sadly passed in May.
Jan Lisa Huttner: How did you and Sammy meet?
Barbara Bayes: Sammy and I met in 1985. I was a performer, dancing and singing in an industrial show for IBM.… read more.
Today’s SWAN-of-the-Day is filmmaker Pearl Gluck, one of the first Jewish women to give outsiders a peek inside Ashkenazi Orthodoxy. Although we have many opportunities now – especially in streaming series like Shtisel and Unorthodox – Pearl was a courageous trail blazer.
The following is adapted from the review I wrote of her film Divan for the September 2005 issue of the World Jewish Digest:
Pearl Gluck comes from a large Hasidic family based in the Borough Park neighborhood of Brooklyn.… read more.
April 24, 2022: Today is Barbra Streisand’s 80th Birthday and I have something very special to share.
From “Tzivi’s March ’09 Spotlight” in Chicago’s JUF News
Barbra Streisand’s Yentl has just been re-released in a brand new 25th anniversary DVD box set. Although much maligned over the years, Yentl is a great and heartfelt work of cinematic art, and I urge you all to watch it again with fresh eyes in celebration of Women’s History Month.… read more.
Hello, Cyberspace. I’m Jan Lisa Huttner, the “mastermind” behind the SWAN concept.
Today is the last Saturday of March, and I am thrilled to be celebrating 15 years of continuous SWAN Day programming with all of you – ensuring that Women’s History Month ends once again this year with a tribute to women artists regardless of mode and media.… read more.