On the latest episode, the young filmmakers reflect on the Holocaust and lessons to be learned about anti-semitism, racism and more.
The Holocaust survivors somehow got through one of the darkest periods in human history. Six million Jewish people were killed. GenZ are the last generation with the privilege to meet survivors. Young filmmakers Eva Suissa, Hank Schoen and Ian Kim joined Planet Classroom's virtual host, Orb, to speak about lessons learned while making their film, Hold the Sun in Your Hands: The Erika Jacoby Story. The film, which won the Best Student Documentary at The American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival, is now screening on the Planet Classroom Network YouTube Channel.
Filmmaker Eva Suissa struggles with how anyone could have let the Holocaust actually happen, and believes that only art has "the unique capability" to express this "traumatic and horrible" chapter in human history. Her Co-Director, Hank Schoen, says the rise of white supremacists and politicians who support them scares him because people "still haven't learned the lessons about anti-semitism and racism, about scapegoating and dehumanizing people of different races, religions or sexual identities." Schoen believes however that their film offers "hope" and "a belief in people's ability to change and redeem themselves."
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