“Oma and Bella” Post Film Discussion with Alexa Karolinski, the director and Jeffrey Yoskowitz, an expert on Eastern European Jewish cuisine and its history: Moderated by Martine Perry, Germany Close Up Program Coordinator.

Classrooms Without Borders, in partnership with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), is excited to offer the opportunity to watch the film “Oma and Bella” and engage in a post film discussion with Alexa Karolinski, the director and Jeffrey Yoskowitz, an expert on Eastern European Jewish cuisine and its history: Moderated by Martine Perry, Germany Close Up Program Coordinator.

Oma and Bella is an intimate glimpse into the life of two dynamic elderly Jewish women in Berlin. The film follows them as make elaborate dishes recalled from their childhoods, before the Holocaust. Through the cooking of the sumptuous meals, they retain a part of their past past while remaining very much engaged in the present.

Alexa Karolinski
Alexa Karolinski is a German-Canadian screenwriter, director, producer. She has received the Peabody and Adolf Grimme awards for her work.

Berlin-born Alexa Karolinski is a documentary filmmaker, who divides her time between Los Angeles and New York. Karolinski premiered her first feature documentary, Oma & Bella, at the Berlin Film Festival in 2012. Adopting a non-traditional form of story-telling, Karolinski is inspired by fashion, art, and design in both her personal and commercial projects.

Her clients include CR Fashion Book, V Magazine, VICE Magazine, Opening Ceremony, Eckhaus Latta, NastyGal, Nowness and Arte TV. She was named one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film 2012 by Filmmaker Magazine. In 2019, Karolinski co-wrote and co-created the Netflix show Unorthodox, which is based on writer Deborah Feldman’s memoir.

Jeffrey Yoskowitz
Jeffrey Yoskowitz is a Brooklyn-based food entrepreneur, creative producer, and thought leader at the intersection of food, culture and business. He’s also a Jewish food expert and a devotee to all things fermentation.

As co-founder of The Gefilteria, he produces a cutting edge artisanal gefilte fish and culinary events, presents lectures and cooking demos around the world, and creates unique content related to Jewish food. Jeffrey co-authored the cookbook The Gefilte Manifesto: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods, which was named a National Jewish Book Award finalist and a top book of the year in USA Today, Epicurious, Newsday, etc. The book sparked a national conversation about the legacy of Eastern European Jewish food traditions.

Jeffrey’s writing on food, culture, and the environment has been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Forward, among others. He has contributed to both The Mile End Cookbook and The 100 Most Jewish Foods. He created and edited the literary site Pork Memoirs, which was featured in O magazine and Grub Street.

He was named to both the Forbes 30 Under 30 in food & wine and to the Forward 50, and he served as a guest chef at the esteemed James Beard Foundation multiple times.

Moderated by: Martine Perry, Germany Close Up Program Coordinator

Martine Perry, Germany Close Up Program Coordinator
Martine Perry has been working as a Germany Close Up program coordinator since February 2012. She holds a Bachelor’s degree with majors in Political Science and German from the University of Melbourne and a Master’s degree in Political Science from the Freie Universität, Berlin.