Films on the Jewish Experience

“My Italian Secret” tells the story of courageous Italians who rescued Jews, partisans, and refugees from Nazi-occupied Italy.

Presented by the Southampton Cultural Center in partnership with the Chabad Southampton Jewish Center

Jul. 7, 2016

Mark Segal

The second annual Southampton Jewish Film Festival has brought together seven documentaries and one narrative feature that explore different aspects of the Jewish experience. Presented by the Southampton Cultural Center in partnership with the Chabad Southampton Jewish Center, the weekly screenings will begin Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. with a showing of “I Have Never Forgotten You,” a 2006 documentary about Simon Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor, and his work with the American War Crimes Unit, which tracked down more than 1,000 Nazi war criminals.

The dramatic rescue of the sixth Lubavitch Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, from war-torn Poland in 1939 is the subject of “Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers,” a documentary by Larry Price that will be shown on July 19. Rabbi Eliezer Zaklikovsky, who specializes in Jewish educational programming, will speak after the screening.

Carole Basri, director of “The Last Jews of Baghdad: End of an Exile, Beginning of a Journey,” will attend the Aug. 9 showing of her film, which provides a historical and personal view of the persecution, torture, escape, and flight of over 160,000 Jews from Iraq between 1940 and 2003.

“Escape to the Rising Sun,” which will be shown Aug. 23, is another story of flight, in this case of Jews to Shanghai, the one place in the world that didn’t require an exit visa in 1939. “Forbidden Films (Nazi Propaganda),” a 2005 film by Felix Moeller, analyzes 40 Nazi-produced movies still banned in Germany, except in a scholarly context, because they are considered too offensive. It will be screened on Aug. 16.

Several of the films address less harrowing themes. “The Midnight Orchestra,” set for July 26, is a Moroccan narrative feature about a father and son that breaks down stereotypes about Jewish-Muslim relationships. “Raise the Roof” (Aug. 2) is a documentary about two artists and their 10-year reconstruction of the elaborate roof and painted ceiling of the Gwozdziec Synagogue in Poland.

The festival will conclude on Aug. 30 with “My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes,” the little-known story of Gino Bartali, an Italian sports idol, and other Italians who carried out ingenious schemes to rescue Jews. More than 80 percent of Italian Jews survived the war.

All films will be shown at the Southampton Arts Center at 25 Job’s Lane and take place Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15, $7.50 for students, except for the opening and closing films, which are free.