Alabama Holocaust Education Center is hosting its annual Film Series. The center’s mission is to keep the history and lessons of that time alive. This year’s theme is rescue and how one person can make a difference. Four films are being featured during the series.
The next upcoming event includes an exclusive screening of the fourth film “One Life”.
Lisa Bachman is the executive director of the Alabama Holocaust Education Center. She says the upcoming event shows the film before it hits theaters.
“We are getting a special preview of the film “One Life”, which is the true story of Sir Nicholas Winton, who was able to save more than 600 children that he put on the Kindertransport which saved them from Czechoslovakia and sent them to safety in England,” Bachman said.
Guests can engage in a conversation with Nicholas Winton’s son-in-law and the daughter of a survivor who was on Kindertransport.
The first film in this year’s series was “Vishniac”, which looked at life before the war. The second film was “The Zone of Interest” and is currently playing in theaters now. It is currently nominated for five Oscars, including Best Picture. That film focuses on the man who ran Auschwitz, and how he was living a normal life with his house right next to the concentration camp.
The third film was “Rescue in the Philippines,” which highlighted how many countries were not able to take Jewish people into their countries to help them escape, but how the Philippines was a nation that opened its doors.
Bachman says some studies show that students who study the Holocaust become more compassionate and pluralistic learners.
“We take what we know from the Holocaust, and we create a more empathetic society that recognizes dignity for everyone,” Bachman said. “We learn about the Holocaust so that we can become more human, more gentle, more compassionate, valuing every person as a being of infinite worth. So precious that we know such atrocities will never happen again. That was said by Desmond Tutu. And it truly encapsulates why it is so important to learn about the Holocaust.”
The “One Life” film will be shown at Sidewalk Cinema in downtown Birmingham on March 12th at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are sold online and are currently $10.
