J’Accuse! A Film and Community Event

Sunday November 5, 10:00 Am
David & Dorothea Garfield Theatre

J’Accuse! Explores not only Lithuania’s role in the brutal decimation of over 220,000 Lithuanian Jews but also their celebration of Lithuanian nationalist Jonas Noreika who was a key player in the massacre and today is upheld as a hero in the country. In this galvanizing documentary, we follow the experiences of two dissident campaigners: Grant Gochin, whose family was murdered by Noreika; and Silvia Foti, a brave Lithuanian woman fighting for the truth, whose grandfather was Jonas Noreika. Together the two push against Lithuania’s systemic Holocaust denial in an attempt to bring justice to victims and insist the truth be told.

In this special community event, we join together Michael Kretzmer, director of the award-winning film J’Accuse!, and a conversation between the film’s two main subjects - Silvia Foti, author of The Nazi's Granddaughter: How I Discovered My Grandfather was a War Criminal, and Grant Gochin, an American philanthropist, journalist, politician, and activist of Jewish South African descent. 

THE PEOPLE BEHIND J’ACCUSE!

MICHAEL KRETZMER
Michael D. Kretzmer, the creator and filmmaker for J'Accuse!, was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. While a journalist and filmmaker in the UK, he wrote for the Sunday Times as well as other newspapers, and produced several documentary films for the BBC. In addition to his film and journalism work, he is an avid gardener, a student of the Torah and a proud dad and grandad.

SILVIA FOTI
Silvia Foti, author of the memoir Storm in the Land of Rain: A Mother’s Dying Wish Becomes Her Daughter’s Nightmare and The Nazi's Granddaughter: How I Discovered My Grandfather was a War Criminal, is an award-winning investigative journalist in Chicago and a high school literature teacher. She holds master’s degrees in journalism, education, and creative nonfiction.

GRANT GOCHIN
Grant Gochin, MBA, CFP, an American philanthropist, journalist, politician, and activist of Jewish South African descent was forced to leave South Africa after being detained for his anti-Apartheid activities. Now in California, Gochin works as CEO/Wealth Advisor and Certified Financial Planner. He is Honorary Consul for the Republic of Togo and serves on the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles Consular Corps, where he has been Vice Dean since 2017.

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