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holocaust

Films of the Holocaust and non-Jews

Two documentary films, each touching the Holocaust era and celebrating the courage and devotion of non-Jews, are screening in Los Angeles. The first is about Leopold Engleitner, bright-eyed and lucid at 107, who spent 11 years in and out of prisons and Nazi concentration camps, and, after a flight from Vienna to Los Angeles, is ready for his personal appearance tour.

‘Superman’ Director Lives Out His Dream

Bryan Singer\’s first real understanding of evil came when, as a boy of 9 or 10, he dressed up as a Nazi one day while playing a World War II game with his German neighbors in Princeton Junction, N.J. He came home wearing a swastika.

Singer\’s mother admonished him, but it wasn\’t until a few years later, when his junior high school teacher, Miss Fiscarelli, taught an entire unit in social studies on the Holocaust, that he gained a greater understanding as to why his mother had been so troubled. That class changed Singer\’s \”whole perception of what people are capable of anywhere,\” he said.

Two Dark Tales Illuminated at Sundance

Martin Scorsese has famously influenced a whole generation of American filmmakers, from Abel Ferrara and Quentin Tarantino to Rob Weiss and Nick Gomez. But his influence is not limited to filmmakers in this country.

Stanley Kubrick’s Unrealized Vision

When Stanley Kubrick died in March 1999 during the post-production of his final film, \”Eyes Wide Shut,\” he left behind several pet projects he had been working on for decades. These included a science-fiction riff on \”Pinocchio\” (later finished by Steven Spielberg as \”A.I.\”), a historical biopic of the life of Napoleon and a Holocaust project with the working title \”Aryan Papers.\”

Todd Solondz, Provoking Again

>\”People call me a provocateur,\” filmmaker Todd Solondz said. \”I\’d say that\’s fair.\” Peering out from his oversized thick green glasses, dressed in rose-colored pants, a nubbly gray sweater and yellow sneakers, Solondz looks the part of independent cinema\’s presiding nerd incendiary.

Polish Director Honors Legacy With Classic Tale

Before her Jewish father died in Polish police custody in 1961, director Agnieszka Holland saw the legendary 1937 Yiddish film, \”The Dybbuk,\” based on S. Ansky\’s play.

Hollywood, History and the Holocaust

The process of changing Nazi history in films and television actually began some time ago in films and television. From Chaplin\’s \”The Great Dictator\” to \”Hogan\’s Heroes,\” from Ernst Lubitsch\’s \”To Be or Not to Be\” to \”The Grey Zone,\” World War II and the Holocaust have been told almost solely from the point of view of the victors and the victims.

Incidental Intelligence

British actor Ben Kingsley has played a number of Jewish characters with such authenticity that questions frequently pop up about his possible Jewish background.

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