Tiger Eyes and Judy Blume

Every year in December, The Atlanta Jewish Film Festival releases the next years dates and films to be shown.  This year marked their 13th anniversary, and the 4th year my mom and I have attended.  

We receive our 129 page bulletin (which has grown tremendously compared to the 5 page flyer I first picked up from Regal Cinemas 5 years ago) and eagerly begin to dog-ear pages of movies we want to attend.  Every year we get pickier and pickier: "I really like LeFont, let's try to go there," "I don't like subtitles.   Which ones are English?" "I really don't want to see another WW2 movie." "This one looks good!" "Boring..." " How about this one?" "I'm busy that day."

Finally, we narrow it down to 2: Jerusalem on a Plate (complete with a food tasting!) and The Rabbi's Cat.  Tickets go on sale January 3!  We get online to order them on January 7 and both are sold out.  My mom then begins to process of just trying to figure out which ones are not sold out on dates that we can actually attend.  We decide on Tiger Eyes.  She says its based on a Judy Blume novel, so I figure it can't be that bad.

When we arrived to the theater, mini-wine bottles stowed in our purses (LeFont tickets were sold out), there was already a line.  We ended up having to sit in the front row.  AJFF does such as nice job at these events and introduces every movie.  During this particular introduction, we find out that Judy Blume IS ACTUALLY HERE, and that the Q&A after the movie will be with her and her son, Lawerence, who directed the film.  I can hardly believe it!  

The film was done quite nicely, and it occurred to me while watching it that Stephenie Meyer probably read Judy Blume books as well.  It told the story of a teenage girl who moves with her mom and brother to New Mexico after the passing of her father.  She meets a guy who shoes her great friendship and is finally able to say goodbye to her father.  

During the Q& A, Ms. Blume commented that the main actress was actually from Gossip Girl, and The O.C. (probably why I passed right by it when reading through the film descriptions the first time).  She also noted that she was relived when they chose a New Mexico local (comedian Tatanka Means) to play opposite Willa Holland instead of Mr. Lautner (adding a quick, "No offence").

After the Q&A, ticket holders who had happened to know that Ms. Blume was attending AND those who had remembered to bring their books were invited to have them signed.  I shot my mom a desperate look and told her we had to go to Barnes and Noble, RIGHT NOW.  We managed to get out of the theater, to B&N,and back within 10 minutes, just in time to be the last in line to meet Ms. Blume.  Of course, when it was my turn, all of my calm and collected-ness vanished and I went silent.  Regardless, it was still a treat to meet the woman who shaped my and many others' adolescent years through her thoughtful and funny books.  

The movie comes out this summer and I would highly recommend grabbing your daughter, niece, sister, and mom to check it out!  Also, to received future mailings from AJFF, check out their website: www.ajff.org.  "Like" Tiger Eyes on facebook! Tiger Eyes