Screening next week at Makor is The Syrian Bride, which director Eran Riklis calls an “opssimistic” wedding movie set in the Druze community on the Israeli-Syrian Border. Apparently, Riklis coined the neologism out of “optimistic” and “pessimistic” to describe the Middle Eastern political situation—which, surprise surprise, ties into the film.

Along the film festival circuit, it’s racked up a number of awards, too: Best Film at the Montreal Festival, Public Choice Award at Locarno, Best Script at Gent and the Grand Prix at Auxerre.

For more, check out the official website.

We recently came across an interview with Morris Dickstein over on Robert Boynton’s blog. Morris is the author of the widely read Gates of Eden: American Culture in the Sixties and a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books.

This Sunday, December 18, Dickstein will be stopping by the Y for a brunchtime discussion of Realism and the Novel. In the interview, Dickstein puts forward his idea that hippies, Ralph Ellison and modern media criticism can all be traced back to the automobile culture of the ‘50s. Interesting stuff.

If you missed Salman Rushdie‘s appearance here last month, you can now download an audio version of it at Audible. The same goes for Ken Follett‘s Halloween lecture on the history of the thriller. We also interviewed Follett a while back.

Sign up for all the good stuff at Audible.com/92Y. 

Hanukkah is right around the corner. Here’s a roundup of what we’ve got going on at the Y to celebrate:

· For arts-and-crafts-minded kids, there’s a Make a Menorah workshop on Thursday for ages 2-4.

· Sunday, December 18, we’re throwing our annual Hanukkah Festival. Bring the family.

· Celebrate Hanukkah with NPR when correspondent Susan Stamberg stops by to read from the Studs Turkel-esque anthology Hanukkah Lights: Stories of the Season on Wednesday, December 21.

· And Makor is getting in on the act with Hanukkah Hijinks on Wednesday, December 28. Laurie Graff will read from her chick-lit story, “The Eight Dates of Hanukkah.” Speed-dating will ensue.