The Lloyd M. Burstein Memorial Holocaust Film Series 2023 begins Sunday, March 12 at the Figge Art Museum Auditorium, 225 W. 2nd Street, Davenport, IA Davenport, Iowa. This series is also part of the Out of Darkness: Holocaust Messages for Today project.
Tickets available at the door. Adults $7; Seniors (60+) and Military $6; Students Free. For more information contact [email protected] or (309) 793-1300.
Resistance
Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 4PM
He saved their lives in silence. Before he was the world-famous mime Marcel Marceau, he was Marcel Mangel, an aspiring Jewish actor who joined the French Resistance to save the lives of thousands of children orphaned at the hands of the Nazis. Jesse Eisenberg, Clémence Poésy, Ed Harris (Top Gun: Maverick), and Édgar Ramírez star in this compelling drama about a group of unsung heroes who put themselves in harm's way to rise above hatred and oppression during World War II. As a young man growing up in Nazi-occupied Europe, Marcel has no intention of getting involved in the war—his pursuits include impersonating Charlie Chaplin in burlesque clubs, painting backdrops for his plays, and antagonizing his obstinate father. His life is thrown into upheaval when he is recruited into the French Resistance, putting his acting skills to the ultimate test in teaching orphaned Jewish children how to survive in the horrifying reality of the Holocaust. Based on the inspiring true story, Resistance follows the revolutionary tale of a selfless act that would forever change countless lives.
120 minutes - English - Biography/Drama (2020)
Baltic Truth
Sunday, March 19, 2023 at 4PM
Hosted by award-winning Israeli performer Dudu Fisher (Les Misérables), "Baltic Truth" exposes the tragic events of the first months of WW2 in the Baltic States and how almost the entire Jewish community of the occupied Baltic Nations was eliminated by face to face executions, one bullet at a time with assistance of local population, before the Final Solution, before Auschwitz, and before gas chambers. The film reflects the need for accuracy of Holocaust history, and does not allow the shifting of blame simply onto Nazis, and the exculpation of Latvian and Lithuanian perpetrators. Lithuania is the most egregious historical revisionist today. That government’s well-organized and systematic campaign to rewrite the history of Holocaust criminals seriously jeopardizes the international community's efforts to preserve the truth of this dark period in history and thereby undermines efforts to prevent future genocide around the world. This film reveals the truth about the collaboration with the Nazi regime in the Baltic States; how neighbor turned on neighbor without hesitation, prompting a massacre of great proportions. Baltic Truth exposes how some national heroes involved in Holocaust crimes are being celebrated by their fellow countrymen to this very day.
90 minutes - English - Documentary (2022)
SHTTL
Sunday, March 26, 2023 at 4PM
This ambitious and technically astonishing film tells the expansive, multi-character story of a Jewish village in Ukraine on the border with Poland 24 hours before Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union. Shot in a single take in Ukraine, the film unspools with our knowledge of imminent terror and destruction looming, while at the same time focusing on the vitality of lives about to be destroyed. Featuring a remarkable cast that includes Moshe Lobel (who appeared in Broadway’s Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof revival) and Yiddish-fluent actor Saul Rubinek, this is a ruminative, philosophical work of naturalism that insightfully depicts a place brimming with vibrancy and the romance, politics, and intrigue of everyday life.
114 minutes - Yiddish & Ukrainian with English Subtitles - Drama (2022)
Reckonings: The First Reparations
Sunday, April 30 at 4PM
They met in secret to negotiate the unthinkable — compensation for the survivors of the largest mass genocide in history. Survivors were in urgent need of help, but how could reparations be determined for the unprecedented destruction and suffering of a people? Reckonings explores this untold true story set in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Roberta Grossman, Reckonings recounts the tense negotiations between Jewish and German leaders. Under the constant threat of violence, they forged ahead, knowing it would never be enough but hoping it could at least be an acknowledgement and a step towards healing.
84 minutes -- English/ German with English subtitles -- Documentary (2022)
Presenting sponsor for this film series is:
The Joyce and Tony Singh Family Foundation (FYI - Lloyd Burstein was Tony Singh's mentor)
Additional sponsors include:
**Rauch Family Foundation II, Inc.
** Wheelan-Pressley Funeral Homes
**Quad City Bank & Trust
**Stanley and Bernice Harris Memorial Endowment Fund
**Bernard and Irene Goldstein Memorial Endowment Fund
**Louis & Ida-Fox Rich Fund
**Gary and Randi Segal Family
**Marlyne and David Weiner Family
**Glenn Peterson
**Friendship Manor, Rock Island, IL