Films

There have been thousands of films and documentaries made about the Holocaust. An increasing number of films are being produced which have later genocides as their subject.

A film showing can stimulate debate and assist with Holocaust education as it can often be easier to empathise with characters (both historical and fictional) on screen rather than in a book. Film showings, followed by a survivor testimony or discussion, can be an appealing method of marking Holocaust Memorial Day.

It is important if showing a film (rather than a documentary) to remember that it is unlikely to be fully historically accurate for reasons of artistic and time constraints. The showing of a feature film should only form part of any Holocaust remembrance or education programme and should not become a substitute for further learning.

It is also important, if showing a film to an audience, to obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information on how to do this contact the Motion Picture Licensing Corporation or Filmbank

Aside from the HMDT films, others you may be interested in showing include:

The Counterfeiters
Academy Award winner in 2008 for Best Foreign Language Film.

This powerful and challenging film tells the story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, which was established by the Nazis with the intention of flooding the British and American economies with fake currency. Enlisted to assist were any concentration camp inmates with skills in the right department – among them master forger, gambler and playboy Salomon Sorowitsch, ‘Sally’ is a charismatic rogue who is at first energised by his new task (and by the superior quarters and treatment that his status affords him). But as the war grinds on, the moral frailty of Sally’s position becomes more and more apparent, and he must choose which side he’s on.
Certificate 15.

Dear Kitty. Remembering Anne Frank
If it hadn’t been for Miep Gies the diary of Anne Frank would have been lost. This documentary follows the story of how Anne Frank’s diary came to mean so much to young people today. Suitable for school use. For more information about this film, please visit Eureka Entertainment

Hotel Rwanda

Leben Fur Leben: Life for Life : Maximilian Kolbe
When Jan escapes from Auschwitz concentration camp to freedom in July 1941 the camp commandant, Fritsch, sentences ten men to starvation as revenge. When one of them collapses under this sentence of death, the franciscan priest, Maximilian Maria Kolbe, sacrifices his own life so that his fellow inmates may live.
Certificate 15
For more information about this film, please visit Eureka Entertainment

Paper Clips
Paper Clips, the moving and inspiring documentary film about the Holocaust told from the perspective of students and teachers of a small school in Tennessee will be available to buy on DVD from 22nd January 2007. Paper Clips captures how students responded to lessons about the Holocaust-with a promise to honour every lost soul by collecting one paper clip for each individual exterminated by the Nazis.

Refugee Voices: Moments and Memories: Produced by the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) as part of its Refugee Voices video testimony archive, Moments & Memories, a film by Bea Lewkowicz, tells the stories of Jewish refugees who fled Nazism and how they rebuilt their lives in Great Britain. Exploring the lives of refugees in pre-war Europe, their escape and arrival in a new country, Moments and Memories highlights the contribution made by these Continental Britons. Further information about the film and Refugee Voices is available at www.ajr.org.uk/education and to order a copy of Moments and Memories, £7.50 including postage and packing, please email enquiries@ajr.org.uk

Schindler’s List

Shoah
Shoah is Claude Lanzmann’s landmark documentary meditation on the Holocaust. Assembled from footage shot by the filmmaker during the 1970s and 1980s, it investigates the genocide at the level of experience:the geographical layout of the camps and the ghettos; the daily routines of imprisonment; the inexorable trauma of humiliation, punishment, extermination; and the fascinating insights of those who experienced these events first hand.
For more information on this film, please visit Eureka Entertainment

Shooting Dogs

The Power of Goodness (The story of Sir Nicholas Winton). The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust can provide copies of this documentary, free of charge, to local activity organisers upon request, by kind permission of the producer, Minac Matej.

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