The Light of Hope

THE LIGHT OF HOPE / La llum d’Elna

MASSACHUSETTS PREMIERE
CELEBRATE MOTHER’S DAY

Introduction by Sabine von Mering, Director, Center for German & European Studies, Brandeis University (May 12)

This stirring, award-winning Spanish drama tells the true story of Elisabeth Eidenbenz (Noémie Schmidt), founder of the Mothers of Elne, a maternity home in the south of France on the Spanish border. Realizing that refugees fleeing Franco’s regime in Spain and Vichy refugee camps were physically vulnerable, Eidenbenz transforms an old villa into a birth clinic. Remarkably, despite the surrounding hardship, the villa becomes a safe haven for mothers and children. But when French authorities demand she turn over the Jewish refugees, Eidenbenz must make a decision that could endanger everyone in the maternity. By the end of the war, Elisabeth and her female staff had saved the lives of hundreds of mothers and children. After the war, Eidenbenz was honored by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among Nations.

Dir: Silvia Quer | Spain | 2018 | 96m | Spanish, Catalan & French w/ English subtitles

CO-PRESENTED BY: Center for German & European Studies at Brandeis University;
Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry at Brandeis University
PARTNER: Facing History & Ourselves

Sunday, May 12, 3:00 pm
Museum of Fine Arts (Remis)

SCREENING COMPLETED

Friday, May 17, 7:30 pm
Museum of Fine Arts (Alfond)

SCREENING COMPLETED