‘Humor as Resistance in Holocaust Cinema’ at Beth El

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — On Saturday, Feb. 3, at 7:30 p.m., filmmaker Stuart Weinstock, a Beth El member, will present a special talk at Congregation Beth El, “Humor as Resistance in Holocaust Cinema.”

The lecture and discussion will explore when comedy serves a higher purpose than entertainment. In the case of film as an act of resistance, Weinstock noted, “Jewish responses to Nazism and the Holocaust have utilized humor to attack the perceived power of totalitarianism and assert the dignity and humanity of those who survive to tell the jokes.”

This lecture and discussion will include clips from “The Three Stooges,” “The Great Dictator,” “The Producers,” “Life Is Beautiful” and other films.

Weinstock is a filmmaker and a professor of film at Columbia University and Ramapo College. He is also the film programmer for Columbia’s Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. His short films have screened at festivals around the world.

The event is free and open to the public. For further information, contact [email protected]

  Congregation Beth El, Holocaust