Behind Enemy Lines — The Marthe Cohn Story
December 7
| tickets by donationEvent Navigation
4 PM LOS ANGELES • 7 PM NEW YORK
Chichinette: The Accidental Spy is an inspiring documentary about Marthe Hofnung Cohn, a feisty French Jewish woman who joined the French Army during WWII after Hitler’s rise to power. After remaining silent for nearly 60 years, Marthe began sharing her extraordinary story of resistance — how she used her language skills and blonde hair to pose as a German nurse, slipping behind enemy lines to gather critical intelligence that helped the Allies to win the war.
VIEW THE TRAILER
xxxxx
THE SCHEDULE
⇒ December 5-December 8, watch the film Chichinette: The Accidental Spy on your home device. A link will be provided to all who register.
⇒ Sunday, December 7 at 7:00 p.m. US Eastern Time, tune into the program with our distinguished panel of speakers. A link will be provided to all who register.
MEET THE SPEAKERS
Nicola Hens studied at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin, the Bauhaus-University Weimar, Germany, and the Academy of Fine Arts in Toulouse, France. Since 2015 she has been a lecturer in media and filmmaking in the International Masters programme for Art & Design at Bauhaus-University. As director of photography, her films include Death & the Maiden (prizes at DocAviv Israel and AmDocs Palm Springs), Elisa (Best Cinematography at Cambridge Film Festival and other prizes at other festivals) and In the Shade of the Apple Tree. Chichinette: The Accidental Spy is her debut feature-length documentary as director, and has been shown at international film festivals.
Stephan Cohn, right, is the eldest of Marthe and Major Cohn’s two sons; he is named after Marthe’s sister Stephanie who was killed in Auschwitz. He attended Pomona College and UCLA Medical School. He then moved to Chicago, where he is an associate professor of Clinical Anesthesiology at the University of Illinois and is the medical director of their outpatient surgery services. He is fluent in French and has frequently visited his mother’s family in France. When Steven Spielberg started his Shoah Foundation, Stephan helped convince his mother to finally share her amazing story.
Michael Potter, left, is a social impact innovator and a multi-award-winning documentary filmmaker who was a friend of Marthe Cohn for many years. He is the producer of Chichinette: The Accidental Spy. Other film projects include Tracks: Stumbling Stones Amsterdam and Space for Art, Orphans of Apollo, The University and Poet to the Stars. He is the founder of the Ilan Ramon Scholarship project. He is a co-founder of the nonprofit organization Geeks Without Frontiers and its initiative the N50 project. He serves on the Global Leadership Board of the Blanton Art Museum in Austin, Texas.
xxxxx
Registration is by donation of any amount ($18 suggested, tax-deductible).
2026 Season Ticket is also available, including this program plus a whole year of great films and speakers, plus a free thank-you gift! Become a Season Ticket holder today!
