News & Events

January 2012

The Last Flight of Petr Ginz Takes Off

After three years in production, The Last Flight of Petr Ginz rolled off the assembly line in 2011. First stop—Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center. Though largely a Wake Forest event, the screening gave co-directors Sandy Dickson and Churchill Roberts a chance to recognize the support of UF graduates Stephen Cypen and Amy Goldberger and former dean of the College of Journalism and Communications, Terry Hynes. Stephen, trustee of the Jerome A. Yavitz Charitable Foundation, served as the film’s executive producer. Amy hosted a fund-raising reception at her lovely terraced apartment on the Upper East Side. A few years before, she hosted a reception for the Documentary Institute’s previous film, Angel of Ahlem. Terry Hynes brought the Documentary Institute to UF and was its staunchest supporter.

Next stop—Israel. Yad Vashem hosted a screening and reception at its world center in Jerusalem. The featured speaker for the occasion was Avner Shalev, Chairman of the Yad Vashem directorate. Other speakers included representatives of the Czech Republic and Petr Ginz’s sister, Chava Pressburger. Much of the screening’s success can be attributed to Niv Goldberg, manager of the Holocaust Art Archive & Art Collection Database. Niv and senior arts curator Yehudit Shendar were instrumental in the production of the film.

And then, it was on to Prague for a screening at the Spanish Synagogue.

The public benefit corporation OPONA in cooperation with the European Shoah Legacy Institute and the Jewish Museum in Prague hosted a special screening of the film on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Terezin Ghetto establishment on November 23 in the Spanish Synagogue.

Present were:

  • First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg
  • Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs of the State of Israel
    Moshe Yaalon
  • Ambassador of the State of Israel Yaakov Levy
  • Ambassador of the United States of America Norman L. Eisen
  • Chava Pressburger, sister of Petr Ginz
  • Leo Pavlát, the Director of the Jewish Museum in Prague
  • Sandy Dickson and Churchill Roberts, Co-Directors, The Last Flight of Petr Ginz
    and Randall Rogan, Associate Dean, The Undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences, Wake Forest University

The screening took place under the auspices of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg and thanks to the generous support of the Embassy of the United States, the Embassy of the State of Israel and the Jewish Community in Prague.

There’s more to come. In January 2012 the United Nations Holocaust and Outreach Programme will host a screening at UN headquarters in New York City. The UN is producing a study guide for the film, translated in the six official languages of the United Nations. Copies of the film and study guide will be placed at UN centers around the world.

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