All films are screened on the last Sunday of each month in the HMLC Theatre at 2:00 p.m. unless otherwise noted and are free of charge.

No Film in April due to Passover Holiday and May due to Memorial Day Holiday Weekend

June 29

Escape from Sobibor
Directed by Jack Gold

Yugoslavia/UK, 1991;

English 120 minutes

Alan Arkin and Rutger Hauer star in this fictionalized but powerful recreation of the historical incident of the daring escape in October, 1943, from Sobibor, the notorious Nazi death camp in Poland.  The horrifice conditions of the camp, as well as the intense and complex development of a plan of action, are vividly portrayed.

July 27

The Man in The Glass Booth

Directed by Arthur Hiller
United States, 1975
117 minutes

Maximilian Schell gives a bravura performance in this intense drama regarding Arthur Goldman, a Jewish entrepreneur whose family was murdered by the Nazis.  He is accused of being an infamous Naza commandant of the concentration camp where Goldman's family was supposedly murdered.

August 31

Mendel

Directed by Alexander Rosler
Norway, 1997

Norwegian with English subtitles,
85 minutes

"Poignant", "warm," "thoughtful," and "funny" are the words critics have used to describe this story of Jewish family's relocation in Norway, after surviving the Holocaust, as viewed through the eyes of 9-year-old Mendel.

September 28

Steel Toes
Directed by Mark Adam and David Gow

Canada, 2006

90 minutes - Rated R for violent content

David Strathairn and Danny Dunkelman give stirring performances as a Jewish liberal humanist ant the court appointed lawyer representing a Neo-Nazi skinhead on trial for the racially motivated murder of an East Indian immigrant.  This highlight of last year's Jewish Film Festival and filmed version of a theatrical piece in this year's New Jewish Theater schedule, takes us into the intense and fiery relationship that develops between these two character as they explore their emotional and intellectual differences.

October 26

A Trial in Prague

Directed by Zuzana Justman

USA/Czech Republic; 2000; 84 minutes

English and Czech with English subtitles

In 1952, at the height of the Cold War, an infamous political show trial was held in Czechoslavakia at which 14 leading Communists, including 11 Jews, were charged with high treason and espionage.  Despite their innocence, they confessed and were convicted and sentenced to charges ranging from hanging to life in prison.  This film tells the story of the trial and the paranoia of the period through testimonies, trial footage, archival films and extensive documentation.  Justman explores what led these men to confess to crimes they did not commit, the motives for the trial and its anti-Semitic thrust.

November 30
East of War

Directed by Ruth Beckermann

West German, 1985; 101 minutes

German with English subtitles,

This provacative documentary, filmed against the backdrop of a traveling exhibition entitled the "War of Extinction," records former Wehrmacht soldiers talking about their experiences beyond the bound of "normal" warfare.  With a mixture of helplessness, shame and undiminished fanaticism, witnesses from that time tell of atrocities such as shooting Russian prisoners of war, the murder of Jews and the rape and abuse of women.  The differing accounts of theses events demonstrate how selective perception was-even in this most brutal of environments.

December 28

The Last Butterfly

Directed by Karel Kachyna

Czech/France/UK; 106 minutes

English with some subtitled Czech

Tom Courtney portrays the (fictional) acclaimed French mime, Antoine Moreau, imprisoned in Terezin, and ordered by the Nazis to perform an elaborate show in order to mislead a Red Cross delegation sent to investigate the camp's conditions.  Moreau is torn between performing as ordered or taking a risky opportunity to expose the Nazis' lies to the world.

For information call the Museum, (314) 442-3714.
The 2007 Sunday Afternoon Film Series is generously sponsored by Sandra and Mendel Rosenberg