Film Screening in Key West, Florida

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                  

KEY WEST, FL (December 1, 2018) – Community members are invited to a film screening of the award-winning docudrama Disobedience: The Sousa Mendes Story on Monday, December 17, at 7:30 p.m. at Congregation B’nai Zion, 750 United Street, Key West, FL as a part of its 2018-19 Film Series M3M in cooperation with the Sousa Mendes Foundation.

Attendance is free and light refreshments will be served.

The film tells the dramatic true story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese consul stationed in Bordeaux, France during World War II. When the Nazis invaded in 1940, Sousa Mendes granted Portuguese visas to thousands of refugees, against the strict orders of his government, in a feat described by historian Yehuda Bauer as “perhaps the largest rescue action by a single individual during the Holocaust.”  As a result of his act of conscience, Sousa Mendes was punished by his government for “disobedience,” stripped of his position, and blacklisted.  He died in 1954 in poverty and disgrace.

The film screening will be followed by a question and answer period facilitated by Florida resident Robert Jacobvitz, chairman of the Sousa Mendes Foundation International Advisory Council and a 32-year activist dedicated to sharing the Sousa Mendes story worldwide.

In 1966, Sousa Mendes was posthumously recognized as a “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust authority.  The Portuguese government eventually honored Sousa Mendes in the 1980s, as a result of pressure from the U.S. government.

Congregation B’nai Zion is the oldest established Jewish congregation in South Florida, founded in 1887. Its many activities are listed on its website: http://www.bnaizionkw.org/

The Sousa Mendes Foundation, founded in 2010, is dedicated to honoring the memory of Aristides de Sousa Mendes and to teaching the importance of moral courage in a civilized world.  Named “Organization of the Year” in 2012 by The Portuguese Tribune, the Foundation is engaged in a worldwide search for families who escaped the Holocaust through Portugal. www.sousamendesfoundation.org

For more information about the Foundation, please contact: Robert Jacobvitz, (877) 797-9759 or robert@sousamendesfoundation.org.

Maxine Makover, founder and coordinator of the M3M Film Series, may be reached at (404) 274-3217 or Maxinemakover@gmail.com.