By Laurie Niles: With the Academy Awards just a little more than a week away, here is one nominee that will likely interest string players and teachers: Joe's Violin, which is up for Best Documentary, Short Subject. The film, directed by Kahane Cooperman, traces the story of 91-year-old Holocaust survivor Joe Feingold, who donates his violin through the Mr. Hollands Opus Foundation to a school in a low-income Bronx neighborhood. Feingold had bought the violin after he was finally released from a Siberian work camp, as a way of reconnecting with the past he had lost.
Realizing he can no longer play, he decides to donate the violin after hearing on the radio about an instrument donation program. Brianna Perez, 12, receives the instrument with great appreciation, and prepares something special to play for him. Very moving, keep the tissues close!
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