"Children of Chabannes" Screening and Discussion

In the spirit of Louis Malle’s Au Revoir les Enfants and Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, the Emmy® Award-winning documentary The Children of Chabannes has been called “a moving record of the unassuming, uncompromising heroism of ordinary people” (New York Times) and “one of the most heartening Holocaust films ever made: splendid, informative and emotionally involving.” (Los Angeles Times).
 
The Children of Chabannes is the story of how the people in  a tiny village in unoccupied France chose action over indifference, and risked their lives and livelihoods to save the lives of 400 Jewish refugee children during World War II. Inspired by a reunion more than 50 years after the war, Lisa Gossels (My So-Called Enemy), and co-director Dean Wetherell, travel to Chabannes with Lisa’s father Peter and uncle Werner (two of the saved children). The film tells the story of how the teachers and townspeople – who believed in the French Revolutionary values of “liberty,  equality, and fraternity” – worked with the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants), a Jewish child welfare organization, to shelter, nurture, and educate the children. The Children of Chabannes is not just a story about the past; it is an exploration of moral courage and goodness in the face of evil – of what motivates individuals to take a stand against injustice, bigotry and extremism.

Following the screening, there will be a discussion with Gossels and Wetherell.