User:Alexjacobowitz/Married to the Marimba

"Married to the Marimba - A Street Performer's Life" is an hour-long independent film, released in English in 2012, documenting the life and music of American-Jewish marimbist Alex Jacobowitz. Conceived in 1996 by British/Israeli director Alan Rosenthal after encountering Jacobowitz's street-show in Munich, Germany, the film was shot by American/Israeli Larry Price and Rosenthal between 1998 and 2011. Shooting sequences in the final version include Israel (Jerusalem, Kibbutz Ma'ale haChamisha, Kiryat Arba); Germany (concert and interviews in Berlin; street-shows in Munich, Leipzig, Weimar, a church concert in Hannover, and Dachau concentration camp); Victoria College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia; New York City (Broadway, Eldridge Street Synagogue on the Lower East Side); and Boxsburg, South Africa at the National Marimba Festival there.

An important scene in the film features vibraphonist David Friedman and conductor Michael Zukernik in discussion with Jacobowitz about what it means to be a Jew in contemporary Germany.

The film was premiered at the Paul Spiegel Jewish Film Festival in Düsseldorf (January, 2012), and was screened at the Budapest Jewish Film Festival (November, 2012, retitled as "Szerelem, házasság, marimba") and the Vierte Jüdische Filmtage in Munich, Germany (January, 2013). Since 2020 the film is available on demand in Vimeo.