A couple of interesting films coming right up.
For those who are living in an Asian Jewish family you are aware that these films are about European Jews who fled the Holocaust by going to China. Being a Chinese Jew in California do not mean tracing your ancestry to Shanghai.
A Place to Save Your Life
11:00 am
Juxtaposing interviews with survivors with archival photographs,
this film recounts the days when Jews lived in China under Japanese rule.
(Directed by Karen Shopsowitz. DVD, 1994, 52 minutes, English)
Shanghai Ghetto
2:00 pm
The film tells the story of the Jewish refugees in Shanghai, their relationships with the local Chinese and with the occupying Japanese army, the rich cultural life they constructed under great hardship, and the tragedy of their relatives who stayed behind in Europe.
(Directed by Dana Janklowicz-Mann and Amir Mann. DVD, 2002, 95 minutes, English, German, and Mandarin with English subtitles. Narrated by Academy Award Winner Martin Landau)