Last year the University of Macau (UM), in cooperation with the Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival, screened the Holocaust-related film, Inside Hana’s Suitcase, an event attended by over 1,200 Macao school and university students as well as the wider Macao public; this year the University will offer three films, including the first Chinese Jewish-themed film, the animated A Jewish Girl in Shanghai.

This is a story of a young Jewish girl and her brother who manage to escape the Nazis and find refuge in Shanghai, where they are befriended by a Chinese boy and his mother, and it is, ultimately, a powerful tale of friendship between two persecuted peoples in time of war.
This animated Chinese-language film (with English subtitles) makes use of the not-sufficiently-well-known historical fact that Shanghai was one of the very few places where Jewish refugees, fleeing Nazi persecution in Europe, could find shelter during the period we now call the Holocaust. During the years 1938 – 1945, nearly 30,000 Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria came to Shanghai, where they lived with the Chinese, under Japanese occupation, and so survived Nazi attempts to murder all the Jews of Europe.

A Jewish Girl in Shanghai was premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival in July this year and apart from that single screening this will be its first presentation outside the Chinese mainland. It will also be shown in Hong Kong on 21 November 2010 and at the London Jewish Film Festival later this month. We are particularly delighted that this first screening will be held in Macao and the team involved in its production – director, producer and writer (all from Shanghai) – will be present and this will be an ideal opportunity for the Macao public to talk to these Chinese film makers in Putonghua about their special project. Translation will be provided for non-Chinese speakers.

This film is appropriate for all ages from about eight onwards and is sure to be enjoyed by young children, teenagers, and adults alike!

The screening of A Jewish Girl in Shanghai will be held on Thursday (18 November) at 12.30pm and again 4.00pm in the University of Macau Cultural Centre.

In addition, we will also be showing Shanghai Ghetto, an award-winning documentary about the Jews in Shanghai, the inspiration for the story of A Jewish Girl in Shanghai, on Monday, (22 November) at 6.00pm in the University of Macau STDM Auditorium. We hope that these two films, one a fictional story and the other a documentary, will be fitting tribute to the city of Shanghai and its role in saving the lives of thousands of Jews, and it is only appropriate that we should show them in this year of the Shanghai World Expo.

Also on Monday, 22 November, at 12.30pm, we will be screening a documentary, Forgotten Transports to Estonia, about a group of Czech Jewish women who were sent to work camps in the Baltic region and through strong mutual support and determination managed to survive while their families all perished in Auschwitz and other death camps. Please note this film is not suitable for children younger than fourteen as it does contain a number of disturbing images.

These three films are all part of the Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival in Macao and it is very much hoped that the Macao public will be able to attend some or all of these films. All are powerful and sobering works on the Holocaust and so deserve to be seen by as many people as possible.

Admission to all films is free of charge but those wishing to reserve seats should please send their details by e-mail to LChan@um.edu.mo or call 8397 8357. Other seats will be given on a first-come-first-served basis.

In summary:

A Jewish Girl in Shanghai (2010), [80 minutes, in Chinese (Putonghua) with English and Chinese subtitles], followed by Q & A session with the writer, producer and director: Thursday 18 November at 12.30pm and 4.00pm in the University of Macau Cultural Centre.

Shanghai Ghetto (2005), [95 minutes, in English with Chinese subtitles], Monday 22 November at 6.00pm in the STDM Auditorium, University of Macau Library, University of Macau.

Forgotten Transports to Estonia (2008), [85 minutes, in English with Chinese subtitles], 22 November at 12.30pm in the STDM Auditorium, University of Macau Library, University of Macau.

Those wishing to find out more about these films can also go to the Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival website – www.hkjff.org – and there is also extensive information about both documentaries on the Internet. Copies of the book, A Jewish Girl in Shanghai, will be on sale (MOP$120) at the screenings, where the author, Wu Lin, will be available to sign copies as well.
 

16/11/2010