News Release
Filmmaker to host showing of Emmy Award-winning documentary
February 4, 2009
Filmmaker Lisa Gossels will host a public showing of her Emmy Award-winning documentary, Children of Chabannes, Thursday, Feb. 26 at Penn State Harrisburg.
An installment in the college’s series of Holocaust and Jewish studies presentations and its International Film Festival, Gossel’s appearance is free and open to the public at 7 p.m. in the Olmsted Building Auditorium with a kosher reception to precede the presentation. For information, phone 717-948-6715.
Children of Chabannes tells the touching story of the lives of unsung heroes of Chabannes, a small French town that saved over 400 Jewish refugee children during World War II. Among the survivors were Gossel’s father and uncle. “My films are about the power we have individuals to change the world,” Gossels states. “I don’t believe in making films with political agendas. Children of Chabannes is not just about the Holocaust; it is a celebratory film about people who chose to save lives because it was the right thing to do.”
In the documentary, Gossels returns to Chabannes with her father and uncle. Through intimate interviews with her father and other “children” of Chabannes, the filmmaker recreates the joys and fears of daily life during the war in that village.
The highly honored film was the recipient of a number of prestigious honors in addition to the 2001 Emmy. They include: Best Feature Film (Audience Award), The Nantucket Film Festival; Special Jury Prize, The Avignon Film Festival; Best Documentary Film, The Hollywood Film Festival; Best Documentary Film, The Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival; Best Feature Film, (Audience Award), The Hartford Jewish Film Festival; and the Human Rights Award, The River Run Film Festival.
The presentation is hosted by the Penn State Harrisburg Center for Holocaust and Jewish Studies, committed to preserving and sharing the legacy of Jewish experience and Holocaust survivor generations in the region.
Through generous public support and involvement, the center extends its resources, expertise, and facilities to bring Holocaust and Jewish studies to audiences ranging from school students and their teachers to college students and researchers to the community at large. The Schwab Family Holocaust Reading Room, made possible through a gift to the college from Linda and the late Morris Schwab, serves as the center’s focal point. The effort has also received substantial support from Nancy and Irwin Aronson who established a permanent endowment to support Holocaust education.