The Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Soul Witness Project will present a special International Holocaust Remembrance Day program on Monday, January 27, at 12 noon, featuring two-panel discussions on the relevance of Holocaust remembrance today. This special program will be available on January 27 at Coolidge.org.
As part of the commemoration, the documentary film, “Soul Witness, The Brookline Holocaust Witness Project“ will be available for streaming from January 27 at noon through February 1 for a minimum nonprofit donation of $1.
Special International Holocaust Remembrance Day program on Coolidge.org.
“Why is Holocaust Remembrance Relevant Now”
Moderator: Paris Alston, Producer, Radio Boston on WBUR
Panelists
Peggy Shukur, Deputy Regional Director, Anti-Defamation League
Janet Bloom, Daughter of Rose Murra, featured in “Soul Witness”
Dena Salzberg, , Daughter of Hyman Laufer, featured in “Soul Witness”
R. Harvey Bravman, Producer/Director, “Soul Witness”
“Anti-Semitism Today”
Moderator: Lauren Bairnsfather, director of the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh
Panelists:
Stephen Naron, Director of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
Marc Baker, President, Combined Jewish Philanthropies
Robert Trestan, Regional Director, Anti-Defamation League
R. Harvey Bravman, Producer/Director, Soul Witness
More about “Soul Witness”
Soul Witness is based on more than 80 hours of Holocaust video testimony, conducted approximately 30 years ago in the town of Brookline. Interviews ranged from 45 minutes to 7 hours. The goal of the effort was to memorialize the Holocaust through video testimony interviews.
Holocaust survivor Regina Barshak and Holocaust liberator Leon Satenstein spearheaded the project; which included Stephen Bressler, then Brookline’s human relations director, and world-renowned Holocaust testimony expert Lawrence Langer
Due to reasons that are as yet mostly unknown, the tapes ended up in a metal closet for more than 20 years.
In October 2019 Dearing conducted an in-depth interview with Bravman for Radio Boston. Bravman, commenting on the interview, “It took me a couple of years, but with Tiziana’s help I was able to find my own voice on what it was like to live inside over 80 hours of survivor testimony and how that affected my life moving forward.”
Boston Globe film critic, Peter Keough on the film, “R. Harvey Bravman’s Soul Witness is a quietly devastating oral history. This film is a tribute to the survivor’s courage, resiliency, and an all too timely reminder that it always can happen again.”
Soul Witness director R. Harvey Bravman commenting on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day special program hosted by the Coolidge, “There isn’t anything we can do about the Holocaust, it happened before most of us were born. I believe we can do something about how we treat each other. My hope is that screenings and discussions like this will play a small part in helping to remind ourselves of the consequences of not being present and vigilant in the face of all forms of intolerance and unjustifiable hate.”
The film is intended for a general audience with an advisory for children under 13.
After January 27, the International Holocaust Remembrance Day special panel discussions can be found online on Soul Witness YouTube, BrooklineHub.com, and Brookline Interactive Group YouTube.
