Six Claims Conference-supported projects have been announced as part of the lineup for SFJFF45. World Premieres include Labors of Love: The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Szold and My Underground Mother. The festival will take place July 17 – Aug 3.
Labors of Love: The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Szold (dir/prod: Abby Ginzberg) brings long-overdue recognition to Henrietta Szold, a Jewish American humanitarian whose legacy includes advocating for binational cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians. Her achievements included spearheading an initiative that saved the lives of thousands of Jewish children during the Holocaust.
My Underground Mother (dir: Marisa Fox, prod: Marisa Fox, Deborah Shaffer, Kelly Sheehan) documents the filmmaker’s search for her late mother’s hidden identity, which leads her to a shocking story of Nazi trafficking, sexual violence and agency, as she confronts the price of silence.
Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire (dir: Oren Rudavsky, prod: Oren Rudavsky, Tal Mandil, Michael Chomet, Annette Insdorf) is a documentary that seeks to understand the man behind the searing and widely read memoir ‘Night.’ Penetrating at the heart of the known and unknown, the film dives into the author’s legacy as one of the most influential survivors of the trauma of the Holocaust.
Disposable Humanity (dir/prod: David T. Mitchell, Cameron S. Mitchell) is one family’s exploration into the history of the Nazi Aktion T4 program, its targeting of disabled people, and its reverberations into the present day.
The Stamp Thief (dir: Dan Sturman, prod: Dylan Nelson, Gary Gilbert, Dan Sturman) follows director Dan Sturman, as he learns of a treasure trove of priceless stamps stolen by a Nazi officer from concentration camp victims and buried in a house in Poland. Employing an Argo-like fake-movie ruse, he and his team set out to find the treasure, but run into complications they never expected.
More here.