Event

RAISE THE ROOF

Tucson Festival of Films and Tucson International Jewish Film Festival present RAISE THE ROOF.

ARIZONA PREMIERE

An international team chases an improbable dream to reconstruct one of the magnificent lost wooden synagogues of Poland in RAISE THE ROOF. These architectural marvels originated in the small 18th century town of Gwoździec. Inside the complex log structure, the prayer hall was elaborately adorned with Hebrew inscriptions and brightly painted animals. Eventually more than 200 of these unique wooden synagogues dotted the countryside, until the Nazis burned every last one to the ground.

Though neither Jewish nor Polish, Boston-based artists Rick and Laura Brown recruit hundreds of craftsmen, students and other volunteers to their cause. Employing old tools and artisanal techniques, the team sets about recreating the synagogue's timber-framed roof and intricate mural designs.

Beautiful to behold and buttressed by traditional klezmer melodies, RAISE THE ROOF is an inspiring story of how combined talents in art and science brought back to life an artifact lost to history.

Screening sponsored by SBBL Architecture + Planning
Film courtesy of The National Center for Jewish Film, www.jewishfilm.org

FESTIVAL EXCLUSIVE
Rick and Laura Brown in attendance for post-screening Q&A.

Director: Yari Wolinsky | USA/Poland | Documentary | 84 min