Film

Now that the Kimmel Center has disassembled the imaginary time machine that long dominated its lobby, the Gershman Y across the street has something closer to the real thing: The reconstituted 1918 film The Yellow Ticket , which was partly filmed in the later-razed Warsaw ghetto and was one of the first cinematic exposés of anti-Semitism. Now on a multicity tour with a live score by violinist Alicia Svigals, founder of the Klezmatics, The Yellow Ticket will be shown at 8 p.m. Thursday (copresented by the National Museum of American Jewish History)

Repertory Films Adventure Aquarium 1 Aquarium Dr., Camden; 1-866-451-2782. www.adventureaquarium.com . 4D Theater. $22.95; $19.95 children 2-12. Ambler Theater 108 E. Butler Ave., Ambler; 215-345-7855. www.amblertheater.com . M (Germany, 1931) $9.75; $7.25 seniors, students and children 17 and under. 5/16. 7:30 pm. The Barnes Foundation-Philadelphia 2025 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy.; 215-278-7000. www.barnesfoundation.org . ArtKids at the Movies: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

In even the most functional family, there can be a painful something that triggers a strong emotional response, despite the passage of time. For the Benders, it's the digital camera. "Digital killed the family business," Ben Bender says. Yet digital just might be the route to a family-business revival, as well. Bender has become the region's only franchise owner for TapSnap, a social-media-equipped replacement for the party photo booth. To fully appreciate this cycle of commercial irony - a primary motivator of which was his cancer scare three years ago - a little history is required.

With legendary film auteur John Cassavetes as their father and Oscar-nominated actor Gena Rowlands as their mom, it must have seemed inevitable that at least one of the Cassavetes children would become a filmmaker. But all three? Alexandra "Xan" Cassavetes laughs when asked if film was a destiny pre-written for the Cassavetes brood: The 47-year-old writer-director's brother Nick, 53, and sister Zoe, 42, are also directors. Cassavetes this week follows up her 2004 documentary, Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession with the vampire love story Kiss of the Damned . "I didn't plan to be a director until I was 35. For years I wanted to do anything but!"

Chaos was in the air Thursday night in Doylestown. About 5:30, two hours before a locally produced film about a runaway slave, The North Star, was set to premiere at the County Theater, the star and director were missing. The star, former Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, was stuck in traffic. He was supposed to greet fans and media at Rob's Bar before heading down State Street in a horse and buggy, but was behind schedule. The director, Thomas Phillips, who wrote the script and shot the movie in his home county of Bucks, faced a bigger predicament.

Deanna Durbin, 91, whose songs and smile made her one of the biggest box-office draws of Hollywood's Golden Age with fans that included Winston Churchill, died last month outside Paris, where she had lived out of public view since 1949. The exact date of her death was unclear, and family friend Bob Koster, whose father, Henry, directed six of her films, also did not know the cause. At the height of her career, the Canada-born Miss Durbin, who made her first feature, Three Smart Girls, at 13, was among the highest-paid actresses.

In the 1840s, Benjamin "Big Ben" Jones of Baltimore was a fugitive slave living in Bucks County. The mountainous Jones - nearly seven feet tall, according to historical accounts - made friends in the region, but in 1844, he was caught by his slave master and forced to return to Maryland. Those friends from Buckingham, however, helped him return. After raising about $700, they bought Jones' freedom, bringing him back to Bucks County, where he lived until his death. Jones' dramatic life has been recounted in books and historical exhibits, and now will be brought to the screen in The North Star , a biopic set to debut at theaters in Doylestown and Newtown this week.

The city's first film festival aimed at children and a family art-making festival run in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts are among the 21 projects funded through the PNC Arts Alive initiative, which is concluding the $5 million program's five-year life with this round of grants. Over the course of the five years, Arts Alive has awarded 122 grants to 55 arts organizations in the Philadelphia and South Jersey region. "The creativity of Philadelphia's arts sector is clearly evident in the innovative programs by PNC Arts Alive grantees," Bill Mills, PNC regional president for Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, said in a statement.

A little over a week ago, Sam Katz spoke to John F. Street's class at Temple University. Afterward, the onetime mayoral rivals turned political soul mates were seen huddling together for a couple of hours, prompting a cadre of usual suspects in the political class to wonder what they were cooking up. Was Street once again urging Katz to make one last mayoral run? It's never too early for rumor. There is speculation that Councilman Bill Green and mayoral aspirant Tom Knox recently reached an accommodation that would sideline Green in 2015.