Superjews | |
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Directed by | Nirit Peled |
Written by | Nirit Peled & Simon van Melick |
Produced by | Tamara Vuurhuis & Valérie Schuit |
Edited by | Paul Delput |
Music by | Amit Gur |
Distributed by | NTR / Viewpoint Productions |
Release date |
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Running time | 66 minutes |
Country | Netherlands |
Languages | Dutch Hebrew |
Superjews (Dutch : Superjews: De Superjoden van Ajax) is a 2013 documentary film produced and directed by independent Israeli-Dutch filmmaker Nirit Peled. [1]
The film premiered 24 November 2013 at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The film is entirely spoken in Dutch and Hebrew, but subtitles are shown. [2]
On Thursday, 2 January 2014 the film premiered on national television, when it was broadcast by NTR on channel Nederland 3. [3]
In the 2013 documentary "Superjews" director Nirit Peled sheds light on the supporters of the Dutch association football club AFC Ajax, who have often referred to themselves as super Jews. What makes the documentary unique however, is that she offers the perspective of both the supporters, as well as her own personal perspective as an Israeli immigrant living in Amsterdam searching to find her own identity. [4]
Nirit Peled herself is the narrator of the documentary, which follows her into the world of Ajax, as well as back to Israel in search of her own Jewish identity, and sometimes critical view of Israel. [5] The film is built around personal, mostly intimate and often revealing interviews, in which Peled is also in front of the camera amongst recordings from the Ajax home-stadium, the Amsterdam ArenA, archival footage from Ajax-supporters from before the Second World War, and unique footage of Ajax supporters visiting Israel in attendance of an away match against Maccabi Tel Aviv. [6]
In the documentary Nirit speaks with the likes of Jeroen and Diana, hardcore Ajax-supporters, Ronald, one of the founders of F-side and creator of the fanzine De Davidster (The Star of David); longtime Ajax-archivist Mr. Schoevaart, former Ajax-chairman Uri Coronel; 11-year-old Ajax-fan Jodi and his single mother; Mrs. Visser, Holocaust survivor and resident of the Jewish retirement home Beth Shalom in Buitenveldert; Shalo Muller, former Jewish masseuse of Ajax; and Avi the owner of CaféTraffic.
As an obvious football outsider Peled offers a very personal view into the game, the lore of Ajax and its relation to Judaism. [7]
Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax, also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax is the most successful club in the Netherlands, with 36 Eredivisie titles and 20 KNVB Cups. It has continuously played in the Eredivisie, since the league's inception in 1956 and, along with Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven, it is one of the country's "big three" clubs that have dominated that competition.
Femke Halsema is a Dutch politician and filmmaker. On 27 June 2018, she was appointed Mayor of Amsterdam and began serving a six-year term on 12 July 2018. She is the first woman to hold the position on a non-interim basis. She previously was a member of the House of Representatives for the leftist green party GroenLinks from 1998 to 2011, and served as the party's parliamentary leader from 2002 to 2010.
The history of the Jews in the Netherlands began largely in the 16th century when they began to settle in Amsterdam and other cities. It has continued to the present. During the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany in May 1940, the Jewish community was severely persecuted.
Jodensavanne was a Jewish plantation community in Suriname, South America, and was for a time the centre of Jewish life in the colony. It was established in the 1600s by Sephardi Jews and became more developed and wealthy after a group of Jews fleeing persecution in Brazil settled there in the 1660s. It was located in what is now Para District, about 50 km (31 mi) south of the capital Paramaribo, on the Suriname River. Sugarcane plantations were established and Black African people were used as slave labour. At its height in around 1700 it was home to roughly 500 plantation owners and 9000 slaves. The colony faced regular attacks from Indigenous people, slave revolts, and even raids from the French navy. The community eventually relocated to the capital of Paramaribo. Clearing of grave sites and maintenance of the synagogue ruins has been attempted at various times from the 1940s to the 21st century.
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Benny Brunner is an Israeli-Dutch filmmaker, born in Bârlad, Romania and based in Amsterdam since 1986. He studied film at Tel Aviv University. Since the late 1980s, Brunner has written, directed and produced films about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict including The Concrete Curtain, It Is No Dream, Al-Nakba and The Great Book Robbery, films about Jewish history like The Seventh Million, and films concerning the modern history of the Middle East. He describes himself as "a veteran leftist" and his political films take the side of the 'other'. Brunner has worked in the Middle East, Europe, South Africa, and the United States. In addition to winning a special commendation by the Prix Europa for A Philosopher for All Seasons in 1991, his films have been screened at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the Jerusalem Film Festival, the San Diego Jewish Film Festival, and numerous international, human rights and Jewish film festivals.
Amsterdam has historically been the center of the Dutch Jewish community, and has had a continuing Jewish community for the last 370 years. Amsterdam is also known under the name "Mokum", given to the city by its Jewish inhabitants. Although the Holocaust deeply affected the Jewish community, killing some 80% of the approximately 80,000 Jews at time present in Amsterdam, since then the community has managed to rebuild a vibrant and living Jewish life for its approximately 15,000 present members. Six of Amsterdam's mayors were Jewish. Job Cohen was runner-up for the award of World Mayor in 2006.
Eddy Hamel was an American soccer player for Dutch club AFC Ajax. Hamel was the first Jewish player for Ajax. He was killed by the Nazis in 1943 in Auschwitz concentration camp.
The F-side is a Dutch football hooligan group associated with AFC Ajax. The name came from the stand in Ajax' former stadium De Meer Vak F.
Manja Croiset is a Dutch poet, writer and recitation artist.
The Supportersvereniging Ajax (SVA) also known as Ajax Life is an organisation linked to AFC Ajax football club, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
The VAK410 was a Dutch Ultras group associated with AFC Ajax. The name comes from the name of their initial stand in Ajax's home stadium, the Amsterdam Arena.
The South Crew ("STH-CRW") is a Dutch football tifosi group associated with AFC Ajax. The name is from their location the stand in Ajax' home stadium Amsterdam Arena, namely Zuid-1 and Zuid-2.
The North Up Alliance ("N.U.A.") is a Dutch football tifosi group associated with AFC Ajax. The name is from their location the stand in Ajax' home stadium Amsterdam Arena, namely rows 409 to 414 in the 2nd ring of the Stadium.
Becoming Zlatan is a 2015 Swedish independent coming-of age sports documentary about Swedish International association football player Zlatan Ibrahimović. The film was directed by brothers Fredrik and Magnus Gertten and follows Ibrahimović through his formative years with football clubs Malmö FF and AFC Ajax all the way to his break through with Juventus F.C. in 2005.
Juda Lion Palache was a professor of Semitic languages at the University of Amsterdam and a leader of the Portuguese Jewish community in that city. He came from the Pallache family.
Jacob Hiegentlich was a gay Dutch poet of Jewish descent. He committed suicide in 1940, at age 33, days after the German invasion of the Netherlands.
Arnold van den Bergh was a Dutch legal notary based in Amsterdam. He was a well-known and high-profile lawyer, one of six Jewish notaries operating in Amsterdam. Van den Bergh contributed to the field of social work in the Netherlands, and was widely known in Amsterdam outside of the Jewish community.