The Kristallnacht Film Forum will screen “Finding Manny”

The March of the Living, Southern Region and the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, in commemoration of the 84th anniversary of Kristallnacht, will present “Finding Manny”, a documentary about 16-year-old Manny Drukier, who narrowly escaped to the atrocities of World War II by jumping off a death train.

The 21st Annual Kristallnacht Film Forum (KFF) presents a film that highlights a story of triumph, courage, perseverance and humanity and the filmmaker behind the project for the enjoyment and education of the public. As the flagship event of the March of the Living, Southern Region, a program of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County that educates and enlightens others about the Holocaust, KFF is a much-anticipated forum for historical learning. . The film forum raises scholarships to enable students in the community to participate in the March of the Living.

The March of the Living is an annual educational program that brings students from around the world to Poland, to become witnesses to the atrocities of the Holocaust. On Holocaust Memorial Day observed in the Jewish calendar (Yom HaShoah), thousands of participants march silently from Auschwitz to Birkenau, the largest Nazi concentration camp complex built during World War II.

KFF will be held on Sunday, November 6, 2022 at Zinman Hall, located on the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County campus. There are 2 performances. The first is at 1 p.m., the second at 4:30 p.m. There will be a donor reception at 3 p.m. for KFF donors of $180 and more. The forum will also pay tribute to Holocaust survivor Norman Fragman, 94, of Boynton Beach. Frajman, a March of the Living alumnus, is a local Holocaust survivor who shares his testimony with Jewish and non-Jewish students in the community.

The film forum will include a Q&A at the end of each screening with writer/director/producer Kacey Cox, a Toronto-based filmmaker whose work evokes narratives that explore and celebrate the virtues of experience. human. Co-producer Jan Jekielek, son-in-law of Drukier, will also be on hand to answer questions.

The chance discovery of an article online sends Drukier on a journey to the places of his darkest memories, to reconcile the past that has haunted him for 70 years. Drukier narrowly escaped imprisonment in a concentration camp by jumping off a death train and found refuge in a home for orphans and displaced children. More than seven decades later, Drukier, who was living in Toronto, is found by a German researcher who was looking for the surviving children of the Second World War. She invites him to return to the old orphanage to share his story with the next generation of students.

“‘Finding Manny’ is a story of optimism, one of many unexpected discoveries that inspired me to tell this story,” Cox said. “The film offers viewers a ‘fly on the wall’ experience, following Manny, retracing his steps and reliving painful moments from his past. As it bears witness to this dark chapter in history, we learn that he is a living symbol of hope and the ability to overcome…a survivor in the truest sense.

Tickets are ($15) and film forum details are available at: https://jewishboca.org/engage/events/rsvp/kff-2022. Two screenings will be presented at 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. For more information and to purchase tickets, call 561-852-6041 or email KFF@bocafed.org.

For more information on the Living Region March of the South, visit www.molsouth.org To learn more about the film, click here: www.findingmanny.com