The Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation Announces 2023 Gala 'Inspire! Fighting Antisemitism: The Legacy Of Defiance'

The Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation (JPEF) announces its 2023 Gala, Inspire! Fighting Antisemitism: The Legacy of Defiance, Monday, November 13, 5:30-8:30 pm EST, 583 Park Avenue, New York City.

The 2023 Gala event commemorates the 15th anniversary of Defiance, the 2008 film that introduced the partisan story of resistance to global audiences, and honors the Bielski brothers. Highlights of the Gala event include:

An introduction by Clay Frohman, the critically acclaimed screenwriter of Defiance. Frohman is also the screenwriter for The Delinquents and Under Fire, and has been nominated for the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay and a David di Donatello for Best Foreign Screenplay.

Keynote speaker Edward Zwick, Academy Award winning filmmaker, and the director, producer, and writer of Defiance. Zwick's film credits include Shakespeare in Love, Blood Diamond, Traffic, Legends of the Fall, and the television series thirtysomething.

Master of ceremonies Mark Feuerstein, an actor, writer, producer, and director who portrayed Jewish partisan Isaac Malbin in the film. Feature credits include Nancy Meyers' film What Women Want, In Her Shoes, among others. TV credits include Royal Pains, The West Wing, and of course Ed Zwick's brilliant series Once and Again. He can be seen soon in the new Chris Brancato series Hotel Cocaine for MGM+, the upcoming Apple limited series The Lady in the Lake with Natalie Portman, and starring in Man in the Long Coat , where he plays a gun-toting rabbi.

• 3G (third generation) keynote speaker Brendon Rennert, the grandson of Tuvia Bielski, honors his family's legacy by teaching the life lessons of the Bielski brothers to the next generation through speaking engagements and teacher trainings. Rennert is a resident of Tampa, FL, who helped spearhead an exhibit at the Florida Holocaust Museum entitled Courage & Compassion: The Legacy of the Bielski Brothers.

Defiance is an American war film set during the occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany. The screenplay by Clayton Frohman and Ed Zwick was based on Nechama Tec's 1993 book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans, an account of the group led by Polish Jewish brothers who saved and recruited Jews in Belarus during World War II. The film stars Daniel Craig as Tuvia Bielski, Liev Schreiber as Zus Bielski, Jamie Bell as Asael Biekski, and George McKay as Aaron Bielski. Frohman and Zwick made the film to show the world that Jews fought back against antisemitism during the Holocaust and to present young people with lasting role models to emulate for generations to come.

While the Jewish partisans' fight against antisemitism was more than 80 years ago, antisemitism is still very much alive today. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that in 2022 there was a 36% rise in antisemitic incidents in North America, with campus and school incidents up 50%. This dangerous increase is exacerbated by

mainstream society's acceptance of the world's oldest hatred. JPEF's 2023 Gala event honors the legacy of the Jewish partisans who fought back, sends a reminder that antisemitism is never acceptable, and empowers younger generations to champion the fight.