With God Against Man

a film by Semyon Pinkhasov – Executive Producer: Roger Yager

For public performance rights or other distribution questions, contact Robert Jacobvitz.

static1.squarespace vudu-logo_v2


In June 1940, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul-General in Bordeaux, France, issued life-saving visas to thousands of Holocaust refugees in defiance of his government’s direct orders – an action for which he paid a heavy personal price. In June 2013, filmmaker Semyon Pinkhasov followed a group of visa recipient families, along with members of the Sousa Mendes family, as they embarked on a pilgrimage retracing their families’ footsteps of 73 years earlier. They were “searching for Sousa Mendes” – looking for traces and clues of a lost history in an effort to understand their personal pasts. Pinkhasov interweaves the testimonies of the “searchers” with compelling documentary footage and insights from experts to tell this little-known story.


Semyon at Casa do Passal In “…With God Against Man…” Semyon Pinkhasov, award-winning documentary filmmaker, whose films have been shown worldwide at festivals and on television, has turned his focus from sports – He is a former coach of the U.S. Olympic and Maccabiah fencing teams – and the arts to spotlight the heroic acts of Aristides de Sousa Mendes.Past Awards: Sports and Peace Best Documentary – 2012 – New York International Independent Film and Video Festival – Los Angeles Edition What If? The Helene Mayer Story Official Selection – 2010 – 18th Toronto Jewish Film Festival, Toronto, Canada Best Screenplay – 2009 – International Festival of Sport Films, Krasnogorski, Russia Official Selection – 2009 – 27th Milano International FICTS (Sports Movies & TV) Festival, Milan, Italy Official Selection – 2008 – Santa Fe Film Festival, Santa Fe, USA I am not Giordano Bruno Official Selection – 2007 – Festival de Cine de Granada

  • Sheila Abranches-Pierce (US)
  • Marc and Gisèle d’Aout (Belgium)
  • Monica Barzilay (Switzerland)
  • Neely Bruce (US)
  • Manuel Dias Vaz (Portugal and France)
  • Vicky Fabry (US)
  • Marie-Rose and Guy Faure (France)
  • Jane Friedman (US)
  • Barbara and Duncan Gee (UK)
  • Joan and Itzhak Halperin (US)
  • Arthur Hartog (UK)
  • Jennifer Hartog (Canada)
  • Hellen Kaufmann (France)
  • Bernard Lhoumeau (France)
  • Andrée Lotey (Canada)
  • Adrienne de Macedo (France)
  • Jean-Luc de Macedo (France)
  • Olivia Mattis (US)
  • Gerald Mendes and Patricia Stenger (Canada and France)
  • Linda Mendes and André Campeau (Canada)
  • Eric Moed (US)
  • Leon Moed (US)
  • Adriano Nagelschmidt Rodrigues (Brazil and UK)
  • Yara Nagelschmidt Rodrigues (Brazil)
  • Harry Oesterreicher (US)
  • Della Peretti (US and Switzerland)
  • Inge Pikielny (France)
  • Semyon Pinkhasov (US)
  • Kathleen Rand and Ruben Oliva (US)
  • Jackie Schwarz (UK and Belgium)
  • Yvonne Sherrington (UK)
  • Aristides and Teresa Sousa Mendes (Portugal)
  • Lee and Lynn Sterling (US)
  • Daniel and Rose Subotnik (US)
  • Charles Teschner (US)
  • Dominique Torrès (France)
  • Rudolph and Janet de Winter (US)
  • Matthew Youner (US)


  • Manuela Franco, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lisbon
  • Avraham Milgram, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
  • Baron Eric de Rothschild, Shoah Memorial, Paris
  • Irena Steinfeldt, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem
  • Richard Weisberg, Cardozo Law School, New York