Film Series: The Synagogue at Babyn Yar

Countless stories of armed conflict and the Holocaust have been told through film. Koffler Arts will present a series of four film screenings – including four documentaries and two films of choreographed dance performances – to complement the exhibition The Synagogue at Babyn Yar: Turning the Nightmare of Evil into a Shared Dream of Good. Each film dives deeply into the horrifying events at Babyn Yar, the broader context of the Holocaust, post-Holocaust renewal, or the current war of cultural genocide by Russia against Ukraine.

Children of the Storm and ​Tribute/Promise
Wednesday, September 6, 2023

Children of the Storm: This video centres on interviews with dozens of the 1100 Jewish refugee orphans who came to Canada under the postwar Canadian Jewish Congress War Orphans Project. Their stories describe survival of the Holocaust and the difficult transition to establish new lives in foster homes. Historian Irving Abella relates the sorry Canadian wartime record, including Ottawa’s rejection of 5000 Jewish refugee children, all of whom subsequently perished. These survivors reflect the endurance and determination that allowed them to succeed at last in a Canada that was slowly becoming an open and inclusive society.

​Tribute/Promise: This dance film plunges us into the world of Eastern European immigrants arriving at Halifax’s Pier 21 in the 1920s. A single mother, her sister and child along with scores of others leave their home amid penury and persecution hoping for safety, landing in  a new world without language, place or family to greet them. While set in the early part of the 20th century, with tens of millions of refugees and immigrants on the move world-wide seeking a safe haven, Tribute/Promise is as relevant today as one hundred years ago.