*Schedule subject to change

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

3:00 p.m.                Check-in & Coffee 

3:30 - 4:45 p.m.    Opening Keynote

Welcome Remarks:

• Russ Ganim, Associate Provost and Dean of International Programs, University of Iowa
• Roland Racevskis, Associate Dean for the Arts and Humanities
• Elke Heckner, Associate Professor of Instruction, LLLC

Keynote: 

“Something to celebrate: Argentine-Jewish Films (e.g., The Jewish Gauchos)” 
Mónica Szurmuk, National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina; Universidad Nacional de San Martín

4:45 -5:00 p.m.    Coffee Break

5:00 - 6:15 p.m.    Crypto-Jewish Identities in the 21st Century: Ibero-American Journeys

• Jesús Jambrina, Viterbo University
• Denise Filios, University of Iowa
• Mónica Szurmuk, National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina; Universidad Nacional de San Martín
• Elías Lilienfeld Quevedo, University of Iowa

6:15 - 6:20 p.m.    Brief introduction to tonight’s screening of The Klezmer Project (2023), dir. Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann by Mónica Szurmuk (Senate Chamber, Old Capitol Museum)

6:20 - 6:45 p.m.    Taco bar dinner buffet for registered attendees (ground floor, Old Capitol Museum, University of Iowa) 

6:45-8:45 p.m.     Screening of the 2023 Argentine-Jewish film The Klezmer Project (Adentro mío estoy bailando), dir. Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann (Senate Chamber, Old Capitol Museum)

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

9:45 a.m.                    Check-in & Coffee 

10:00 - 10:20 a.m.    Follow-up discussion of The Klezmer Project with Mónica Szurmuk

10:30 - 11:15 a.m.     Athletic Attachments—Ethnic alliances

“Mizrahi Coming of Age Stories: Indian-Jewish and Moroccan-Jewish Bonding in Turn Left at the End of the World (2004)”
Elke Heckner, University of Iowa

11:30 - 12:20 p.m.    Keynote

“Food for Thought: Intercultural Encounters in Israeli Culture” 
Miri Talmon, Tel Aviv University

12:20 - 12:30 p.m.    Coffee Break

12:30 - 1:30 p.m.     Current Latin-American Film and Media 

• Giovanna Rivero, University of Iowa will address the adaptation of her novel into the 2021 film "98 Seconds without Shadow" (98 segundos sin sombra)
• Mónica Szurmuk, National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina; Universidad Nacional de San Martín
• Sant Giralt, Filmmaker, University of Iowa

1:30 - 2:00 p.m.    Lunch for registered attendees (ground floor, Old Capitol Museum, University of Iowa)

2:00 - 3:15 p.m.     Singing and Dancing Together

“The Hidden Legacy of Iraq n’ Roll (2011)”
Felicitas Leichtle and Katharina Juchoff, University of Iowa

“Learning to dance, learning to get along: Jewish and Palestinian children in Dancing in Jaffa (2013)”
Lian Alt, University of Iowa

3:15 - 3:30 p.m.    Coffee Break

3:30 - 4:45 p.m.    Culinary Connections: Beyond Hummus

“Cooking Between Cultures: Identity, Conflict and Connection in Abe (2019)”
Asma Ben Romdhane, University of Iowa

“Time to Proof: The Growth of Jewish-Muslim relationships in Dough (2015)”
Cay Fingerholz, University of Minnesota

“Food Diplomacy in Breaking Bread (2020)”
Elke Heckner and Abby Rasof, University of Iowa

4:45 - 5:30 p.m.    Middle Eastern dinner buffet for registered attendees (ground floor, Old Capitol Museum, University of Iowa)

5:30 - 7:30 p.m.     Screening of Turn Left at the End of the World (2004), dir. Avi Nesher on how immigrant Indian and Moroccan Jews come together over sports (Senate Chamber, Old Capitol Museum)

Thursday, April 23, 2026

9:45 a.m.                   Check-in & Coffee 

10:00 - 10:50 a.m.    Bollywood and the Jewish Connection

“Jewish Performers in Early Bollywood”
Elke Heckner, University of Iowa

“Bawaal: Bollywood Does the Holocaust”   
Lawrence Baron, San Diego State University

11:00 - 12:15 p.m.     Keynote

“Love Conquers Prejudice: Israeli Palestinian Utopian Transgressions”
Miri Talmon, Tel Aviv University

12:15 - 12:45 p.m.    Lunch for registered attendees (ground floor, Old Capitol Museum, University of Iowa)
12:45 - 1:45 p.m.        Keynote

“What does it mean to be American – or un-American? Antiracist Jews, Hollywood and the Blacklist”
Alyssa Sepinwall, California State University, San Marcos

2:00 - 3:15 p.m.    Joel Barkan Memorial Lecture—Closing Keynote

Welcome Remarks:
Russ Ganim, Associate Provost and Dean of International Programs, University of Iowa

“Black is the New Jewish in Streaming and TV Series”
Lawrence Baron, San Diego State University

3:15 - 3:30 p.m.     Coffee Break

3:30 - 4:30 p.m.     Concluding Discussion  

Professor Emeritus Lawrence Baron held the Nasatir Chair of Modern Jewish History at San Diego State University from 1988 until 2012 and directed its Jewish Studies Program until 2006. He received his Ph.D. in modern European cultural and intellectual history from the University of Wisconsin where he studied with George L. Mosse. He taught at St. Lawrence University from 1975 until 1988. He has authored and edited four books including The Modern Jewish Experience in World Cinema (Brandeis University Press: 2011) and Projecting the Holocaust into the Present: The Changing Focus of Contemporary Holocaust Cinema (Rowman and Littlefield: 2005). He served as the historian and as an interviewer for Sam and Pearl Oliner’s The Altruistic Personality: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe (The Free Press: 1988). In 2006 he delivered the keynote address for Yad Vashem’s first conference devoted to Hollywood and the Holocaust. His contribution to Holocaust Studies was profiled in Fifty Key Thinkers on the Holocaust and Genocide (Routledge: 2010). In the fall semester of 2015, he taught as the Ida King Distinguished Visiting Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the Richard Stockton University of New Jersey.

Alyssa Goldstein Sepinwall is Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the History Department at California State University, San Marcos, where she is a past winner of the statewide CSU Wang Award for Outstanding Faculty Teaching. She received her PhD from Stanford University in History and Jewish Studies. Her previous publications include The Abbé Grégoire and the French Revolution: The Making of Modern Universalism (UC Press, 2005; paperback, 2021); Haitian History: New Perspectives (Routledge, 2012); and Slave Revolt on Screen: The Haitian Revolution in Film and Video Games (UP Mississippi, 2021), and several articles on film and history (on topics from Muslim-Jewish romance in film to 21st Century French Holocaust films).

Mónica Szurmuk is Senior Researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council of Argentina, and a Professor of Latin American Literature at the Universidad Nacional de San Martín where she chairs the M.A. program in Latin American Literatures. She is the author of Women in Argentina, Early Travel Narratives, La vocación desmesurada: Una biografía de Alberto Gerchunoff and Malmö: Una historia argentina. She has coedited Mujeres en viaje, Memoria y ciudadanía, Dictionary of Latin American Studies, Sitios de la memoria: México Post ´68, The Cambridge History of Latin American Women’s Literature, Entre mundos y lenguas: las cartas de un maestro de la Alliance Israélite Universelle, Latin American Literature in Transition 1980-2017 and A History of Argentine Literature. She is the editor of the series “Latin American Literature in Transition” for Cambridge University Press.

Miri Talmon is a scholar of cinema, television, and media culture, who specializes in the research and teaching of Israeli culture and in comparative approaches to the Israeli and American film and television cultures. Talmon teaches at the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Faculty of Arts, Tel Aviv University. She is the author of Israeli Graffiti: Nostalgia, Groups and Collective Identity in Israeli Cinema, (Haifa University Press and Lamda-Open University of Israel Press). Talmon is the editor of the anthology Israeli Cinema- Identities in Motion (with Yaron Peleg, University of Texas Press) and the anthology Israeli Television: Global Contexts, Local Visions (With Yael Levy, Routledge, 2021).

Old Capitol Museum Senate Chambers location – The Old Capitol Museum is located on the Pentacrest at the University of Iowa. Linked is a map of campus.

21 N. Clinton Street
Iowa City, Iowa 52242

Parking – The Capitol Street parking ramp is located at 220 S. Capitol Street, with entrances on both Capitol Street and Clinton Street. Parking is $2/hour and the first hour is free. The parking ramp is within walking distance of the International Commons. Accessible parking is located on streets surrounding the Old Capitol Museum. Most on-street parking in downtown Iowa City is metered with limited times of 1-2 hours. Free street parking is possible outside the central downtown area, but will require a walk.

If parking in the Capitol Street parking ramp, you will walk through the University Capitol Centre and exit through the doors on the north end of the building. The Old Capitol Museum is located across the street to the north.

Bus Service – The Old Capitol Museum is located adjacent to the Downtown Interchange bus stop. A number of University of Iowa (CAMBUS) and city buses frequent this location.

Accessibility – The Old Capitol Museum's accessible entrance is on the southside of the building. Take the ramp to the south door and ring the bell. A staff member will open the door for you as quickly as possible. Please allow for a few moments as they may be coming from a different floor to reach you. 

Once inside the building, there is a centrally located elevator which can reach all 3 floors. 

If you are needing any assistance, please feel free to stop by the main desk or contact the museum's Visitor Services Coordinator in advance. Any of their staff would be happy to assist you.

Visiting from out of town? Below are some highlights for places to eat, things to do, and hotel options close by. If you are a presenter, refer to your event contact for details on what meals are provided and what hotel you are staying in.
 

Places to Eat
Thee are many places to eat located inside the University Capitol Centre.

For places to eat in downtown Iowa City, visit the Iowa City Downtown District food and drink guide.

For more options, visit Think Iowa City's restaurant guide.
 

Hotels

For hotels within walking distance of the University of Iowa campus, visit the Iowa City Downtown District hotel guide.

For more options outside of downtown Iowa City, visit Think Iowa City's hotel guide.

Shopping
Shops located within walking distance of campus can be found on the Iowa City Downtown District shopping guide.

Located 5 miles from campus is the Coral Ridge Mall.
 

Things to Do
Looking for events and activities happening in the area? Visit the Think Iowa City visitor guide.