This talk examines the formative role played by Polish Holocaust survivors in establishing the Israeli film industry during the 1950s and 1960s. Drawing on archival materials, early film texts, and production histories, it traces how émigré filmmakers used their experiences and networks in Europe to create a new cinema in Israel.

Dr. Rachel S. Harris holds the Elaine and Herbert Gimelstob Eminent Scholar Chair in Judaic Studies and is Director of the Jewish Studies Program at Florida Atlantic University, where she is also Professor of Film and Multimedia Studies. Her research focuses on Israeli cinema, literature, and culture, with particular attention to gender, national identity, and transnational film production. She is the author of An Ideological Death: Suicide in Israeli Literature and Warriors, Witches, Whores: Women in Israeli Cinema, and co-editor of Casting a Giant Shadow: The Transnational Shaping of Israeli Cinema.

Co-sponsors: College of Arts and Letters, James Madison College, College of Social Science, Residential College of Arts and Humanities, International Studies and Programs, the Center for European and Eurasian Studies