The Ongoing Relevance of the Film Kaddish Forty Years Later (Webinar)

Filmmaker Steve Brand’s Kaddish is a documentary about growing up as a child of a Holocaust survivor; a film about the psychological ramifications of history. Laced with humor and tenderness, it is the story of the stormy yet loving relationship between Jewish writer and activist Yossi Klein and his father Zoltan, who survived the Holocaust while his parents perished at Auschwitz. The stories of Zoltan’s survival and of his parents’ murder became his children’s bedtime stories. Kaddish originally premiered at Lincoln Center’s New Directors/New Films in 1984, won a Special Jury Award at Sundance and was named one of the 10 Best Films of 1985 by David Edelstein in the Village Voice. The film’s 4K Restoration had its World Premiere at the 2022 New York Jewish Film Festival. The webinar will be a dialogue among filmmaker, the protagonists, and the moderator, who served as Chief Humanities Adviser to the film.

Speakers:

Steve Brand (Filmmaker) https://kaddishdocumentary.com

An Emmy Award-winning film and television producer, he has written and produced for ABC News’ 20/20, Now on PBS and Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. He produced the documentary A Search for Solid Ground, about the 1st Intifada, for PBS. Steve’s independent work has been shown in theaters throughout the United States and abroad. He is currently working on a documentary feature about religious thinker and human rights activist Abraham Joshua Heschel. Steve is married to journalist Nancy Ramsey and is the father of two sons, Lee and Caleb.

Yossi Klein Halevi

A senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, he co-directs the Muslim Leadership Initiative. His 2018 book, “Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor” was a New York Times bestseller. His 2013 book, “Like Dreamers,” won the Jewish Book Council’s Everett Book of the Year Award. Yossi is a prolific, thoughtful, empathic and much-in-demand thinker and speaker across North America with a devoted Twitter following. He moved to Israel with his wife Sarah in 1982. They have three children.

Moderator:

Dr. Yael Danieli

Founder and Executive Director, International Center for MultiGenerational Legacies of Trauma; Director, Group Project for Holocaust Survivors and their Children.