Yom HaShoah Service & Film: Once in a Lifetime (directed by Marie-Castille Schaar)
Wednesday, May 4 at 7:00 P.M.
The 105-minute film, in French with English subtitles, follows a 30-minute service
Free and Open to the Public
Our brief service in honor and memory of those who died in the Holocaust is followed by the film "Once in a Lifetime, which attests to the lasting ability of the Holocaust to teach about human nature, history, and the world we live in now.
Winner - Audience Award, Best Narrative Feature: Washington Jewish Film Festival 2016, Boston Jewish Film Festival 2015, Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2015
French students from the rough Paris suburbs find their lives upended by confronting the Holocaust confront the Holocaust in Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar's inspirational docudrama, based on a true story
A teacher with 20 years of experience, Anne Gueguen (portrayed with no-nonsense schoolmarm pluck by Ariane Ascaride) is determined to give the best education she can to her underprivileged inner-city pupils. Overcoming their apathy, however, is proving to be more difficult than expected. Frustrated but undaunted, Anne tests her multicultural classroom with a unique assignment: a national competition on the theme of child victims of the Nazi concentration camps. The project is initially met with extreme resistance, until a face-to-face encounter with a Holocaust survivor changes the class’s attitude dramatically. Despite their long-shot odds of winning, these once-rebellious teens soon begin to see one another – and themselves – in a whole new light.
A potent and moving antidote to the devaluation of education in an age of ignorance, Once in a Lifetime demonstrates the enduring impact of the Holocaust in transforming future generations.
Read more and view a trailer at www.menemshafilms.com.