Daily Podcasts Video Research

A lost film by Israeli B-movie director Sam Firstenberg gets a new life 

JL;DR SUMMARY Sam Firstenberg, an acclaimed Israeli director known for cult B-movies, is experiencing a resurgence with the re-release of his lesser-known 1989 film, 'Riverbend.' A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

JL;DR members get full summaries of all articles in the archive, including this one. Donate & start reading »

Tags

Cultural DiversityB MoviesIsraeli DirectorFilm RestorationCult FilmsSam FirstenbergRiverbendVietnam VeteransAction CinemaMulticultural Jerusalem

Places mentioned

Jerusalem, Israel
"Smadar, now known as Lev Smadar, began screening films for the public in 1950. Firstenberg would spend afternoons watching double features."
Wałbrzych, Lower Silesia, Poland
"Firstenberg, whose given first name was Shmulik, was born to a Jewish family in March of 1950, in Wabrzych, Poland."
Los Angeles, California, United States
"In 1972, he enrolled in film school at the L.A. campus of Columbia College. He still lives in Los Angeles, although he continues to speak with a distinctly Israeli accent."
Texas, United States
"Firstenberg came to direct Riverbend after he was approached by a group of private investors from Texas — a pair of married couples, one white and one Black — who weren’t experienced in the movie business."
South Africa
"Dennis got in touch with Firstenberg and, during the pandemic, tracked down a 35-millimeter copy of the film in South Africa."

Support this source

This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 80588
Cairo Source ID 42
Retrieved 2026-04-22 18:00:36 UTC
Curated 2026-04-22 19:00:39 UTC