Upcoming Film Screenings at Alliance Française D'atlanta
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Upcoming Film Screenings at Alliance Française d’Atlanta | Goethe-Zentrum In conjunction with its ongoing exhibit running through March 15th, “Hélène Berr, A Stolen Life”, Alliance Française and Goethe-Zentrum bring you two films made possible by Memorial De La Shoah Paris. Registration required at www.afatl.com/EventListing.htm Admission is free for members of AF or GZ and $5 for non-members. Filming the Camps: from Hollywood to Nuremberg A film by Christian Delage Country of production: France Production: Sophie Faudel, Mélisande Films When: February 25th 7:00 pm Director: John Ford, Samuel Fuller and George Stevens Language: English 54 min | drama Sixty-five years ago, the world was to discover the films made by the Allied in the concentration camps and in the extermination camps. Though we got their images, we know few, if at all, the authors and even less, the conditions of their realization. We follow the path of three of these images' producers, these film directors who came from Hollywood: John Ford, Samuel Fuller, and George Stevens. In 1945, the pictures of Dachau taken by Stevens' crew are inserted in a documentary, first shown in the United States, before being projected and used as evidence of the Nazis' crimes in front of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. It is John Ford, who has undertaken this unprecedented experience. He directed himself a special unit – the Field Photographic branch (FPB) – responsible for the production of films such as The Nazis concentration camps, and for the organization of the filming of the trial. (see page 5 of this document for more detailed information) Stevens and his crew filming in France, n.d. © Courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, California March 5th - Film Followed by Special Panel and Audience Q/A Session “Hélène Berr, a young woman in occupied Paris” & Round Table Discussion From Jérôme Prieur 80 minutes When: Wednesday March 5, 7:00 pm Student at the Sorbonne, Hélène Berr was 21 when she began her journal. With the introduction of Vichy’s anti-Jewish legislation, her life takes a turn in 1942. Deported with her family on March 27, 1944 to Auschwitz-Birkenau, she dies in Bergen-Belsen, just before the liberation of the camp. Her journal remained a family treasure for 60 years and was published in 2008. Jérôme Prieur’s documentary is based on a selection from her journal, images from the archives and sobering reenactments. This film was supported by the Foundation of the Memorial de la Shoah, Paris. Film followed by round table led by Sally Levine, Executive Director, Georgia Commission on the Holocaust, and Karen Edlin, President of Hemshech, an Atlanta based holocaust survivors group. Hélène Berr’s Official portrait, 1942 © Mémorial De la Shoah – Coll. Mariette Job Registration required at www.afatl.com/Event Admission is free for members of AF or GZ and $5 for non-members. __________________________ Hélène Berr, A Stolen Life, exhibit continues through March 15th, 2014 and was curated by Karen Taieb and Sophie Nagiscarde, and designed, created, and circulated by Mémorial de la Shoah (Paris, France), and made possible through the generous support of SNCF. From 1942 to 1944, Hélène Berr kept a diary on a daily basis which combines the everyday experience of the unbearable and the dream world of literature, before her deportation in March 1944. This document, of an exceptional quality, gives a unique image of a young French girl brutally cast away from society during the German occupation in Paris. The showing is brought to Atlanta with the participation of Alliance Française d’Atlanta, the Goethe-Zentrum, the Consulates of France and Germany and the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust. For additional details please contact Wendy Robertet Marketing & Communication Director Alliance Française d’Atlanta 404-898-1227 FROM HOLLYWOOD TO NUREMBERG: JOHN FORD, SAMUEL FULLER, GEORGE STEVENS Hollywood directors John Ford, George Stevens, and Samuel Fuller entertained audiences with cinema classics like The Grapes of Wrath, Shane, and The Big Red One. But their most important contribution to history may have been their work in the U.S. Armed Forces and Secret Services, filming the realities of war and the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. Their documentation provides an essential visual record of WWII. Combining a wealth of rare material, including private letters and footage from their own personal archives, From Hollywood to Nuremberg explores these filmmakers’ experiences during and after WWII, their confrontation with Nazi atrocities, and the mark left on them as artists. George Stevens directed the Special Coverage Unit during the war under orders from General Eisenhower. His unit covered D-Day, the Allied march through France and the liberation of Dachau–with the concentration camp’s conditions, casualties, and survivors captured in still-stunning black-and-white and color footage. During the war, John Ford headed the Field Photographic Branch, crafting two Oscar-winning documentaries about Pearl Harbor and Midway. While stateside during the conflict itself, Ford used Stevens’ Dachau images for a contemporary film about Nazi atrocities that was later used as evidence at the Nuremberg Trials, whose filming Ford also oversaw. Unlike Ford and Stevens, Samuel Fuller wasn’t specially commissioned or trained for his role as a wartime documentarian. The son of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, Fuller joined the infantry in 1942 and, at the instruction of his captain, filmed the liberation of the Falkenau camp with a camera that Fuller’s mother had sent him. It was the first filming experience of a man who would go on to be a major American director, and whose 1980 movie The Big Red One would directly reflect upon his own wartime experiences. From Hollywood to Nuremberg was presented as a world premiere at the IFC Center in New York City in 2012, in conjunction with “Filming the Camps: John Ford, Samuel Fuller, George Stevens,” a special exhibition at the Museum of Jewish Heritage curated by Christian Delage. In 2013, the film also received the renowned French award "Étoile" from Société Civile des Auteurs Multimédia”, the Civil Society for Multimedia Authors. Director Christian Delage is a historian, curator, and filmmaker whose earlier credits include the documentary “Nuremberg, The Nazis Facing Their Crimes”. .