WMJFF March 1968 - A tough and beautiful film

Aug 21

Guest speaker Guest Speaker Evan Czyzowski, Humanities and Holocaust Studies teacher, and director of theatre, at Bedford High School, New Hampshire with WMJFF Directors Dorothy and David Goldstone

The WMJFF film goers are not faint of heart. "March 1968," the WMJFF’s third 2023 season film was a beautifully filmed, exquisitely acted, creatively assembled, IMPORTANT, heartbreaking, gut wrenching, haunting work of art.

Guest Speaker Evan Czyzowski, Humanities and Holocaust Studies teacher, and director of theatre, at Bedford High School, New Hampshire, set up the historical context: a time when, around the world, young people were demanding liberties and a political voice. In Poland, the young idealists ran headlong into the machinations of a politburo using every Soviet control technique in the book, including virulent anti-semitism.

The film, a semi-autobiographical, semi-documentary that integrates surveillance footage of the time, gave an intimate, frank look at the lives of Poles across the political spectrum, focusing on a pair of young Polish students caught up in the events of the day. Though filmmaker Krzysztof Lang is not Jewish, the expulsion of the Jewish family to Israel read as symbolic of his generation’s losses.

In the post-film Q&A, Czyzowski examined the conflict NH teachers face when trying to address the state's holocaust education mandate while being subject to the contradictory "divisive concepts" legislation, a 2021 NH state law that bars public school teachers from advocating certain positions having to do with race, gender and some other hot-button subjects. Czyzowski advocates for advanced training to help teachers learn to address this difficult material.

Czyzowski was clear that he felt that today's Poles are welcoming of Jewish visitors, and that his students are open-minded and curious about genocide history.

“Hi David,

I want to thank you for inviting me to speak about “March 68” at the White Mountain Jewish Film Festival. It was an honor to introduce the film and share the work I do as an educator.

I also really enjoyed arriving early enough to speak with (almost) everyone who attended in person before film began. You have a fantastic film festival, a great location, and a wonderful group of people involved. It was truly such a pleasure to mingle and chat with folks.

This is a very thought-provoking film and I have been thinking about the very intriguing questions folks asked at the end of the film. This is a topic I will definitely be adding to my class curriculum this fall.

Enjoy the rest of the festival and the summer. Please pass along my sincere thanks for being invited to all involved.
”

— Thanks again, Evan

WMJFF reception "March 68" — A lively patio party preceded the guest speaker presentation and film

Lucy Goodhart and Gordon Bennett hosted the patio reception, with Sharon Heyman and Barry Zitzer backing up on the bar. The event was well-attended, with many new faces in the crowd.

In the weekly Torah study following “March 1968,” the discussion included a comparison between the arch of Psalm 27 and the film: from the vibrant student confidence in their democratic values, to suffering under repression, to cautious hope for the Jewish family emigrating to Israel and the Polish students continuing their protests in the absence of friends and lovers.

The introduction of this film at the start of Elul was timely and added to our rich communal discussions.