[MGSA-L] Vassilis Loules will be in the US for the screening of "Kisses to the Children" and other documentaries

[Eleni Bastea]

Dear colleagues,

As the director of theInternational Studies Institute 
<http://isi.unm.edu/> at the U. of New Mexico, I am honored to announce 
that we will be screening two documentaries by Vassilis Loules. The 
director, Vassilis, will be present at the screenings and at the Q&A 
sessions after each documentary. He will also participate in a 
round-table discussion on Resistance and Human Rights (details below).


Vassilis will be in New York on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, April 26th 
through the 28th. /Kisses to the Children/ will be shown at the 
Manhattan Jewish Community Center on April 27, 2014. And he will be in 
Boston/Cambridge on April 29th and 30th, where he will be present for 
the screening of his work at Harvard University. I am indebted to 
Vassiliki Rapti at Harvard for working with us to make this possible.


*For MGSA colleagues in the New York/Washington, DC area: Vassilis 
Loules is actively looking for more venues to screen his work on April 
26th--28th. Please contact him directly, as I don't think he is a member 
of this list.****(VASSILIS LOULES <vassilisloules at yahoo.gr>) *


*Wednesday, April 23rd, 7:00 pm: **Screening of **/Lela Karayannis, the 
Fragrance of a Heroine/**(29 minutes; Greek with English subtitles; 
2005) Woodward Hall Auditorium. **A documentary film by***Vassilis 
Loules*. Followed by **Q & A with director Vassilis Loules
*The film is focused on the struggle and personality of Lela Karayannis, 
the legendary heroine of the Greek Resistance, through the tender look 
of her son Giorgos. Persecuted during the German occupation, he was 
meeting his mother in secrecy for the needs of the struggle 
[Resistance]. But even in those hard conditions, he had the chance to 
enjoy the heroine's tenderness and affection, as she never ceased to be 
a mother. Illegally shot footage provide us some rare images of occupied 
Athens, while the fragments of Giorgos' memories still bear the 
fragrance of "Violetta di Parma", Lela Karayannis' favorite perfume.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ5LNU0Ar3k
http://www.greeknewsonline.com/heroine-of-the-underground-lela-karagianni/
http://www.thejc.com/news/world-news/78556/greek-resistance-heroine-made-righteous-gentile*

Thursday, April 24th, 5:30 pm: Screening of /Kisses to the 
Children/***(115 minutes; Greek with English subtitles; 2012) **Woodward 
Hall Auditorium. A documentary film by***Vassilis Loules*. Followed by 
**Q & A with director Vassilis Loules**
Documentary on the experience of 5 Greek-Jewish children during WWII who 
were hidden by Christian families and "missed the train to Auschwitz". 
Five survivors, now in their 80s or so, relate their experiences of the 
war, the German occupation of Greece (1940--44), and of their years in 
hiding. One of them had kept a diary and reads from it. In some ways, it 
is an Anne Frank story with a happy ending, though we all come to 
realize that personal survival still came at an unspeakable cost, as 
these children were often left without family. When they did return to 
their original homes, the surrounding Jewish community had already 
perished. This is not as familiar a Holocaust story, as these children 
never experienced the horrors of Auschwitz or other camps, and, while 
young, knew little of what was going on. The story is interspersed with 
rare archival footage that helps place it in a historical context for 
the adult audience. Trailer: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiRK5dN0Wv8&feature=youtu.be
http://www.mcf.gr/en/whats_on/?ev=tin_polibrabeimeni_tainia_ntokimanter_toi_basili_loile_filia_eis_ta_paidia
The film has been shown in several venues in London, in Paris, as part 
of the UNESCO International Day of Commemoration in memory of the 
victims of the Holocaust, in Berlin, at the International Auschwitz 
Committee, and in New York.
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/events/all-events/?tx_browser_pi1[showUid]=27855&cHash=964d3e0740
http://www.auschwitz.info/en/welcome/announcements/artikel/lesen/documentary-film-kisses-to-the-children-tells-the-stories-of-five-jewish-children-saved-by-christi.html
http://www.jccmanhattan.org/film?page=cat-content

*Friday, April 25th, 12:00--2:00 pm; location TBA:* *Human Rights and 
the Politics of Remembering the Holocaust: Round-table discussion*. 
Participants: Grisella Gori, European Union Delegation, Washington, DC 
(via skype or teleconferencing); Vassilis Loules, documentary director; 
and UNM Faculty. Also present: Felicia Martinez, Executive Director, 
Colorado European Union Center of Excellence <http://ceuce.colorado.edu/>.

As a historian, I am keen on hosting this event, and especially the 
post-film round-table discussion, in part because of the alarming 
examples of anti-semitism in several European countries today (including 
Greece), often attributed to the economic crisis. That, of course, is 
only part of the story. There are always heroic examples of resistance 
and support for all people, which is what the film highlights.

*All events are free and open to students, faculty, and the greater New 
Mexico community. Please spread the word far and wide!
*



Many thanks,
Eleni
-- 
-- 

Eleni Bastéa, M.Arch., Ph.D.
Director, International Studies Institute
http://isi.unm.edu/
Regents' Professor, School of Architecture + Planning
University of New Mexico
MSC042530, 2401 Central Avenue NE
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, USA
http://www.elenibastea.com

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