The Upside Down Book at the Lenore Marwil Jewish Film Festival

Monday, April 28, 2014
5:00 PM
Berman Center for the Performing Arts

Please join us as we sponsor The Upside Down Book at the 16th Annual Lenore Marwil Jewish Film Festival!

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayV5ByvEE_o

USA, 2013, 51 minutes, English

Imagine a book so toxic that rigorous hand-washing is required after coming into contact with it. The book in question is a 1938 copy of Mein Kampf, which Karen and Fred Mandell, parents of filmmaker Hinda Mandell, have for decades kept displayed upside down on their bookshelves.

Fred’s uncle—a Jewish-American soldier—brought the book home from Germany at the end of World War II. With nothing but a bare-bones inscription on the inside cover, filmmaker Hinda Mandell investigates the power of family lore as she tracks down the original owners of the Mein Kampf.

The Upside Down Book will be preceded by the short film, Reporting on The Times: The New York Times and the Holocaust:

httpvh://vimeo.com/34566570

USA, 2013, 18 minutes, English

Inspired by Laurel Leff’s award-winning book Buried by The Times. The New York Times was a Jewish-owned newspaper, but it gave little attention to the Nazi persecution of Jews in the 1930s and ‘40s and ultimately, ownership at The Times decided to place articles about the Holocaust only on its back pages.

Through interviews with historians and The New York Times journalists, Reporting on the Times encourages audiences to carefully consider the role of journalism, anti-Semitism and America’s place as the “Great Liberator.”