The premier screening of the new documentary, “The Resort,” hosted by the World Forum of Russian Jewry (WFRJ) took place Wednesday evening, November 28, at a screening room in New York’s Times Square. The audience included Ambassador Ido Aharoni, Consul General of Israel in New York, Dr. Igor Branovan, Vice President of the American Forum of Russian Jewry, Mr. Ron Meier, Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) – New York Region, and Mrs. Svetlana Portnyansky, Producer of “The Resort.”
“The Resort” is an award-winning film about the Theresienstadt internment camp during World War II. Theresienstadt was used by the Nazis as a propaganda tool to dispel rumors of extermination camps by giving the false impression that Jews were being held in resort-like conditions. The representation of Theresienstadt as a resort couldn’t be further from the truth. By the end of the war only 19,000 of the camp Jews survived, out of 160,000.
“The Resort is a very important film that tells the unique story of the exceptional Jews of Theresienstadt who refused to allow the Nazis to break their communal spirit,” said Alexander Levin, President of the World Forum of Russian Jewry (WFRJ). “This is a story everyone should know about, and WFRJ is proud to sponsor this important event to help share the story of these special Jews, who even when facing Nazi atrocities, maintained their hope and courage.”
The movie reveals an unexpected story of a congregation of the brightest minds, and the most well-regarded intellectuals and artists of the European Jewish World. Collectively refusing to accept their likely tragic fate, and collaborating even under the harshest of circumstances, these artists, poets, writers, philosophers and composers left behind colossal evidence of the cultural grandeur experienced at Theresienstadt.
“The Resort” has already received its first award at the Houston International Film Festival, and has been chosen to show at the Montreal World Film Festival. Click to watch the trailer.