Daniel Wildmann (Leo Baeck Institute) and Ben Barkow (Wiener Library) have pleasure in inviting you to our first lecture in the 2008/2009 series:

Tuesday, 28 October 2008, 6pm

Ronny Loewy (Filmmuseum Frankfurt)

Flight or Exodus. Holocaust Survivors and Illegal Immigration to Palestine

In The Illegals (Meyer Levin, 1947) filmmakers escort Holocaust survivors on their way through Europe, finally embarking on battered ships hoping to reach Palestine. This semi-documentary was filmed on a real ship of the Jewish underground. Later Otto Preminger tells a similar story in his large-scale production Exodus (1961), starring Paul Newman and Eve Marie Saint.

Ronny Loewy, born in Tel Aviv, works for the German Film Institute in Frankfurt/Main. He was curator of the 1987 exhibition ‘From Babelsberg to Hollywood. Film Emigration out of Nazi Germany’ and has written on topics such as ‘Film in Exile’ and ‘Holocaust & Film’. He has directed several documentary films, and was co-publisher of the magazine Filmexil until 2005. He is project manager of ‘Cinematography of the Holocaust’ in cooperation with the Fritz Bauer Institute.

Please note that this event starts at 6pm. From 6-7pm, The Illegals will be shown, followed by a short break. The lecture, with more excerpts from both films, starts at 7.15pm. If you prefer to attend the lecture only, please feel free to do so (but do let us know when you book).

FilmTalk Lectures are held at the Wiener Library, 4 Devonshire Street, London W1W 5BH. Admission is free, but places must be reserved in advance by contacting the Leo Baeck Institute (info@leobaeck.co.uk or tel: 020 7580 3493).

Underground: Great Portland Street, Regent’s Park; Bus: C2, 18, 27, 30, 88, 135.

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