Lawyer and genealogist E. Randol Schoenberg will discuss this deeply personal documentary ahead of its Lincoln Center screening at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
Fioretta dives into the personal depths and expanses of Jewish history itself, while also focusing on the contemporary relationship of a father and son connecting through their shared fascination with the past. Fioretta follows Schoenberg, a Los Angeles–based genealogist and dedicated attorney who specializes in recovering Nazi-looted art, and his at-times-reluctant teenage son, Joey, as they embark on a quest to trace their family lineage and to find out more about an ancestor named Fioretta. This leads them to Randy’s famous grandfather, the Austrian-American composer Arnold Schoenberg; his great-grandmother Pauline, a music teacher in Prague; and then further and further back to the 500-year-old Jewish Ghetto in Venice. It’s a story of kings and mystics, of everyday people who lived through centuries of historical upheaval throughout Europe, taking Randy and Joey—and the viewer—on a journey from California to Austria, the Czech Republic, and Italy.
After the discussion, please join Randy Schoenberg at Lincoln Center for the film screening on Sunday, January 21st at 3:45 PM at the 33rd New York Jewish Film Festival, Walter Reade Theater. Get your tickets here!