'Tis the season for hot cocoa and curling up in front of the TV for a good holiday movie! However, despite the plethora of Christmas-themed movies, this talk instead focuses on the evolution of Hanukkah movies on TV and streaming platforms over the last ten years.
Dr. Amy Weiss is an assistant professor of Judaic Studies and History at the University of Hartford, where she also holds the Maurice Greenberg Chair of Judaic Studies. Most recently, she received a 2025 – 2026 Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture Fellowship and a 2024 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend to assist with the completion of her first book. Interfaith Friends and Ideological Foes: American Jews, Evangelicals, and Israel, 1963 – 2018 will be published by Oxford University Press in 2026. Amy’s latest research explores the contemporary characterizations of American Jews and Judaism in holiday movies on TV and streaming platforms. “A Very Merry Hanukkah: Secular Tensions and Christian Hegemony in Hallmark’s ‘Countdown to Christmas,’” appeared in the edited volume Critical Perspectives on the Hallmark Channel: Countdown to Romance (Routledge) in 2024.
Co-sponsored by: UConn Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, Digital Media & Design, and University of Hartford Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies.