Note to Correspondents

UNITED NATIONS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INFORMATION, ANNE FRANK CENTER USA TO SCREEN

 

‘STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME’ ON 16 APRIL, AS PART OF HOLOCAUST OUTREACH PROGRAMME

The United Nations Department of Public Information and the Anne Frank Center USA will jointly screen Steal a Pencil for Me, presented by Red Envelope Entertainment, in connection with the Holocaust and the United Nations outreach programme.  The screening will take place at 6 p.m. on Monday, 16 April, at United Nations Headquarters in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium.  Raymond Sommereyns, Director of the Outreach Division, Department of Public Information, will make opening remarks, followed by Yvonne Simons, Executive Director, Anne Frank Center USA and Michèle Ohayon, filmmaker.

Directed by Academy Award® nominee Michèle Ohayon, Steal a Pencil for Me is a compelling documentary feature film about the power of love and the ability of humankind to rise above unimaginable suffering.  Based on the book of the same name by Jack and Ina Polak, the film tells how Jack, his wife and his new love, Ina Soep, find themselves in the same concentration camp.  When Jack’s wife objects to his romantic wandering, in spite of their unhappy marriage, Jack and Ina resort to secretly writing love letters on whatever scraps of paper are available to them in Westerbork and later Bergen-Belsen.  The letters, saved and translated from Dutch, bear witness to tenacious optimism and a powerful faith in the future.  For more information on the movie, please visit www.stealapencil.com.

The Holocaust and the United Nations outreach programme, as mandated by General Assembly resolution 60/7, aims to mobilize civil society for Holocaust remembrance and education, in order to help to prevent future acts of genocide.  The film will be screened as part of the programme’s film series.  More information on the outreach programme can be found at www.un.org/holocaustremembrance.

The Anne Frank Center USA, founded in 1977, is a non-sectarian educational organization, which concerns itself with preserving freedom and maintaining human rights in a pluralistic and democratic society.  The mission of the Anne Frank Center USA is to advance the legacy of Anne Frank and teach the lessons of her life to young people and communities, in order to educate within a contemporary context about the consequences of intolerance and the need to identify and challenge prejudice.  Jack Polak is Chairman Emeritus of the Anne Frank Center.  More information on the Anne Frank Center USA can be found at www.annefrank.com.

Red Envelope Entertainment is a wholly owned subsidiary of Netflix, Inc., focused on acquiring new and original content for distribution through the company’s online subscription service and other distribution channels that may be of interest (including theatrical, sell-through, rental, online and international).  Through the distribution rights it acquires, Red Envelope Entertainment’s mission is to expand Netflix’s deep catalogue of filmed entertainment and offer its subscribers eclectic and high quality content to which they wouldn’t otherwise have access, while offering an alternative, national channel of distribution for independent films and entertainment programming.  The Red Envelope Entertainment name was inspired by the company’s trademark red mailers.

Following the presentation of the film, there will be a question-and-answer session with Director Michèle Ohayon and Ina and Jack Polak.  A reception will follow.

Tickets for the special screening are by invitation only.  Guests should arrive at 5:30 p.m. and must present photo identification at the visitors’ entrance at 46^th Street and 1^st Avenue.  Doors close at 6 p.m.  For information on the film screening, please contact martina@emagroupllc.com.  For inquiries about the Holocaust and the United Nations outreach programme, contact Dalai Fazio at 917 367 5841 or write to holocaustremembrance@un.org. 

For media accreditation, please visit www.un.org/media/accreditation.  Gary Fowlie, Chief, Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit, United Nations Department of Public Information, tel: 212 963 6937, fax: 212 963 4642.

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For information media • not an official record