"Red Father" the Film Comes to Moscow 57 to Celebrate Its Premiere at the Soho Film Festival Friday, May 16th

Newly opened Russian Central Asian restaurant with live music, Moscow 57, will host a party celebrating the premier of the documentary film, RED FATHER, on Friday, May 16th at 7:30pm. Moscow 57 owner Ellen Kaye met Tova Beck-Friedman, the film's director at a broadcast of Cat Radio Cafe, hosted by Janet Coleman and David Dozer on WBAI at The Cornelia Street Cafe.

RED FATHER, directed by Tova Beck-Friedman is the story of the rise and fall of Bernard Ades. The film examines Bernard Ades' life, as told by his daughter, which was marked by the events and political forces that rocked the world - events in which he actively participated - from struggling for civil rights at home to fighting fascism on the battlefields of Spain to losing his livelihood as the result of blacklisting.

In the early 1930's, as a young lawyer working for the International Labor Defense, Bernard Ades gained notice defending African Americans in capital cases on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. His most noted trial was the Euel Lee case, in which he fought the Maryland white judicial system compelling it to expand its jury panels to include African Americans. His civil rights advocacy was met with disbarment proceedings in which he was successfully defended by Thurgood Marshall, the future Supreme Court justice.

His daughter Janet, a "red diaper baby" growing up in a New York socialist enclave, looked up to her father. She admires his wisdom, his generosity and his world outlook. While as a child she thought him larger than life, as an adult she questions his ideology, its implementation, and her father's Communist involvement. Throughout his trial and later tribulations, Ades remained true to his ideals.

RED FATHER will premiere at the Soho International Film Festival, on Friday, May 16th at 5:30pm at the Village East Cinemas, 189 Second Avenue, New York City. A Question and Answer period with the cast and crew will immediately follow the screening.

Tova Beck-Friedman is an artist working in the mediums of film, video, photography and sculpture. Recipient of several grants and artistic residencies, her work has been shown internationally in festivals, galleries, on television and on the internet.

She has exhibited at international venues notably: The International Artists' Museum, at the 50th Venice Biennale; The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC; Yeshiva University Museum in New York; The Jerusalem Cinematheque; The Newark Museum; The Athens Video Art Festival, Athens, Greece; The In Flux Video Art Festival. Thessaloniki, Greece; The Francisco Women Film Festival and Cinematic Film and experimental film & video art, Paris, France; The Norwegian Short Film Festival@ Grimstad.; International Short Film Festival, Detmold, Germany; Pärnu International Film Festival, Estonia; Women in Film Festival, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Women's Independent Cinema and SOHO International Film Festival.

Her film "At The Alter of Her Memories" was broadcast on Israeli Television and "A Portrait Of The Artist As An Old(er) Woman" was shown on US PBS stations.

Janet Coleman is an author and actor. Her publications include "The Compass," the definitive history of improvisational theater in America; and (with Al Young) "Mingus/Mingus: Two Memoirs." One of playwright/director Richard Maxwell's New York City Players, she was one of The Believers in his video theater piece "Ads" and toured extensively with his musical play "Neutral Hero." On film, she appeared as Evelyn Lincoln in "13 Days" and was Emily Ann Andrews in David Dozer's long-running radio comedy series, "Poisoned Arts."

She and husband and comedy partner Dozer have long been teamed as producer/hosts of WBAI's weekly "Cat Radio Cafe," "The Next Hour," and a political satire program, "The Monthly Laughing Nightmare." Currently she is working on a biography of Viola Spolin, the creator of theater games. Her memory of Sidney Kaye's Russian Tea Room appears in the "The New York Review of Books" 50th Anniversary piece, "57th Street Rag."

David Dozer is a playwright and actor, appearing in such films as "The Telephone Book," "Bloodbrothers," "Hackers," and "Young Doctors in Love." His long-running radio comedy series, "Poisoned Arts," debuted on WBAI in 1967 and has been published in "Scripts: A Publication of the Public Theater"and "The Best Short Plays of 1999-2000." His dada plays and poems play in the repertoire of "dadaNYNY." He and Janet Coleman have created, performed and produced hundreds of radio commercials as well as hosted and produced such radio comedy series for WBAI and Pacifica Radio as "Cat Radio Cafe," "The Poisoned Arts Minutes," "The Monthly Laughing Nightmare," and "Mushroom Cloud Theater." He appears as Sergeant Groves on the TV series "M*A*S*H*."

WBAI is listener-supp orte d radio. As a member of the Pacifica chain of radio stations, it provides a vast array of original programming to listeners in the Metropolitan New York City region at 99.5 FM and worldwide at http://www.wbai.org.

Ellen Kaye owns Moscow 57 on Delancey with partners Seth Goldman and Ethan Fein. Their company Moscow 57 is comprised of the restaurant, a catering division, a small music label, theater and film productions, and its own M57 On-Air Urban Salon podcasts. The company creates M57 Urban Salons, evenings of music, food and digital visual art displays, from Harlem to New Orleans. Soon, the restaurant will have a Sunday night radio show. For more information please go to http://www.moscow57.com.

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