Last month, we released an episode on the rise of anti-semitism in the 905. We released it and thought it would be some time before we might have to revisit the topic. We were shocked to find out that only a few weeks later the topic would rear its ugly head once again in Hamilton.

On March 19th, without warning The Playhouse Cinema in Hamilton announced unilaterally it would be postponing the Hamilton Jewish Film Festival, slated to happen in April, citing concerns from emails and social media surrounding the event as justification for the decision. Later, the Cinema would clarify that no specific threats had been issued to the venue, just a general atmosphere towards the event itself because it was a Jewish Film Festival. Nevertheless, pressure on the Cinema to cancel the event because it was a Jewish cultural event can only be described as anti-semitic. We reached out to the Playhouse to invite them for comment, however they did not respond to our requests.

We did want to discuss this though with the organizers of the festival to hear their side. To that end, we invite back to the podcast Jazmin Rymberg of the Hamilton Jewish Federation, to present their side and how this setback will not deter Hamilton’s Jewish community from celebrating their heritage.

Tickets for the Film Festival can be found here:

https://www.jewishhamilton.org/film-festival

Our Previous episode with Jazmyn Rymberg can be found here:

It takes money and time to do this podcast. We love doing what we do, but please consider supporting us if you can so we can keep improving, and keep paying the bills.

You can become a monthly or yearly patron on our website at 905er.ca. We didn’t like sharing your generosity with that other ‘patron’ website, so we created our patron system. Become a patron, get member benefits and our eternal gratitude, and know that you’re not mainly funding some crummy web company in the US. Win-win!

Or, why not buy us a coffee?

Nicholas Paul: sound editing.

The Quadrafonics: fantastic opening and closing tunes!