A pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Lebowski Fest's cult traditions
Movie buffs around the world love the anti-hero of Joel and Ethan Coen's 1998 cult hit The Big Lebowski. The misadventures of the middle-aged early-1990s Los Angeles-based deadbeat, portrayed brilliantly by Jeff Bridges, and a supporting cast of companions and adversaries, has been celebrated around the world via a fan community tradition called the "Lebowski Fest," which has been hosted regularly since 2002 in locales from Kentucky to California.
Now Israel is getting its first Lebowski-styled party to celebrate the cult phenomenon, with the event's entertainment including bowling, white Russians, plenty of Credence tunes over the speakers, a costume contest and yes, a screening of the beloved movie. The party is the brainchild of Jerusalem's Eliyahu Sidikman, who says the Holy City's concentration of Lebowski fans makes holding Israel's first Lebowski Fest here a no-brainer. "There's a large Anglo population - and a lot of Israelis who are very up on it and can even quote you from the movie," he tells GoJerusalem.com.
The party takes place on June 16th at the Lev Talpiot mall's bowling center. Admission, priced at 60 NIS, covers the movie screening, enjoying live tunes by a Creedence Clearwater Revival cover band, one white Russian cocktail, and the right to compete in the costume and trivia contests. An extra 30 NIS enters party-goers in the bowling tournament. Sidikman says that tickets are going fast, with the remaining ones to be reserved via the event's Facebook presence.
The timing seems to be right for all things Coen and Israeli. The Jerusalem Cinematheque is running a Coen Brothers retrospective throughout the month of May, and pre-production is rumored to be underway for the brothers' adaptation of Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union, an "alternate reality" meditation on what would have happened if the contemporary Jewish homeland had been founded in Alaska instead of Israel.
Although the Coen brothers recently visited Israel for the first time to accept Tel Aviv University's Dan David Prize, they are not expected to make an appearance at the upcoming party in Jerusalem. Neither did Sidikman say he could secure confirmed attendance from John Goodman, who plays the militant, Jewish, Theodor Herzl-quoting Walter, to make an appearance. But Sidikman did say he has plans to keep the party going annually, should it be a success, and even expand it to Tel Aviv in the future.
Illustrative image of costumed revelers at a recent Los Angeles Lebowski Fest courtesy of Kim Nowacki from Flickr under a Creative Commons license.
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