May 9-11, 2016: Trip to Lithuania

Jens and I (Andrea) will travel to Vilnius, Lithuania to attend a concert dedicated to the legendary entertainer Al Jolson, who was born in Lithuania in 1886. The music ensemble "Vilniaus Divertismentas" will present their recently released tribute CD to Al Jolson.

The footage along with interviews will be added to our upcoming documentary ON THE ROAD TO AL JOLSON (est. release date: October 6, 2017).

10 YEARS!

2016 not only marks the 10th year of our Al Jolson documentary works, it is also the 10th year of AJ-IMAGES.COM. We will celebrate this anniversary with you with a video Youtube mini-series of 11 episodes. In each episode we let you take a look behind the scenes of our work for each year since 2006.

Our first episode will be published on Sunday, May 8th, as it was in May 2006 when our work as filmmakers really began. So, stay tuned!

First Jolson Festival in Lithuania

Jolson fans all over the world might have this dream of... maybe a new Jolson tribute CD coming out, or a book, or having a new Jolson Festival being established somewhere (besides those held by the International Al Jolson Society), or a Jolson conference, or even a new Jolson momument being opened somewhere? Something that introduces new, young people to the World's Greatest Entertainer. Well, ALL OF THIS is about to happen THIS YEAR in Lithuania, Jolson's country of origin.

Until recently, not much was going on with Jolson in Lithuania. Only few people in Lithuania know Jolson's name. Now, thanks to Irena Karsokiene, a conductor, musician, and Jolson fan herself, things look A LOT different. The story behind it is amazing, too. Irena won the Green Card in 2001 and discovered Jolson while being in the USA.

Last October, she organized the FIRST MUSIC FESTIVAL DEDICATED TO AL JOLSON in Seredzius, the little village Jolson was born in (Jens and I only found out about it AFTER it had taken place). If you saw this little village which still looks quite a bit like late 19th, early 20th century, you would fully understand how amazing an event like this really is. Irena also recorded a tribute CD and will publish a book on Jolson this fall. Another festival will be held in Lithuania this year, an international conference, and a monument will be unveiled in late September.


We will receive more information soon and will share it here, on our website www.aj-images.com and on our AJ-Images Facebook page. In any case, mark your calendars for May 10th (Jolson music Festival) and September 30th (monument/conference), and if you can make it: COME TO LITHUANIA, Jolson's country of origin!

We will definitely be there to film the events for our upcoming Jolson documentary ON THE ROAD TO AL JOLSON (est. release date: October 2017). www.roadtoaljolson.com.

Last "Jolson trip" to the USA!

2016 marks the 10th year of our Jolson documentary endeavors. Our shootings will come to an end and post-production will begin later this year. Our last trip will lead us to the New York area, to Florida, Arizona, and California, where we will conduct one of our most important interviews ever since the beginning of our work with THE American film critic - stay tuned!

WILD ABOUT JOLSON Talk Show ep. #4

Check out our latest episode of our WILD ABOUT JOLSON talk show in which we welcomed our first guest: Ron Hutchinson, founder of the Vitaphone project and responsible for the restauration of the Vitaphone disc of A PLANTATION ACT (1926) starring Al Jolson.

WILD ABOUT JOLSON Talk Show ep. #3

Watch and listen to our latest episode of our WILD ABOUT JOLSON Talk Show with Nigel Dreiner, Andrea Oberheiden-Brent, Vlad Petnicki, and Andrew Serio. In this episode, we discuss Jolson's fifth feature film BIG BOY (1930). A crazy comedy, social commentary, or both?

JOLSON & More in SOCIAL MEDIA

Here is a list of Facebook pages we are hosting - the fastest way to get in touch with us:

AJ-Images Facebook page

Here you can find up-to-date information about Andrea's & Jens' film work, including their upcoming documentary ON THE ROAD TO AL JOLSON. You will also be able to see preview clips, outtakes, trailers and unused material you will find nowhere else. So come, check us out.

FLAp Podcast Facebook page

This is our Film, Literature and Art Podcast (FLAp) page on Facebook. You will find video episodes on different topics here. It also features interviews and gives you talks on material we created as documentary filmmakers.

 

WILD ABOUT JOLSON Talk Show

This is a collaboration of Andrea Oberheiden-Brent, Nigel Dreiner, Andrew Serio and Al "Vlad" Simmons. You will find audio episodes on the world's greatest entertainer and fascinating discussions on that Facebook page.