Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria

Australia , 2014, 50mins (Documentary)

Directors Carol Gordon and Natalie Cunningham

Straight out of production is this World Premiere documentary uncovering the thriving Jewish communities of Greece prior to World War II.

More than 60,000 Greek Jews perished in the Nazi concentration camps, and yet the experiences of Greece's Jewish population during the Holocaust have remained relatively unknown until now. In the post-war years, fear, suspicion, economic hardship and civil war relegated the sad history of the Greek Jews to the horrors of a time people preferred to forget.

Interviews with Greek-Jewish Holocaust survivors, as well as second and third generation survivors, offer insights into these now extinct communities, and their much smaller modern-day descendants determined to keep culture and traditions alive — especially in the face of anti-Semitism.

Shot on location in Greece in September 2013, this fascinating documentary is the labour of love of Carol Gordon and Natalie Cunningham (Cunningham's short film, Ror, also appears in this year's program, and her other short student film, You Know What? I Love You, appeared last year).

Written by: Carol Gordon

Produced by: Carol Gordon

About the Directors: Carol Gordon and Natalie Cunningham are both Melbourne-based filmmakers.

Greek Synopsis:

Συνεντεύξεις με τους Ελληνοεβραίους επιζήσαντες του Ολοκαυτώματος, καθώς και με τους επιζώντες δεύτερης και τρίτης γενιάς, οι οποίοι δίνουν πληροφορίες για τις Ελληνοεβραϊκές κοινότητες μου χάθηκαν στα ναζιστικά στρατόπεδα συγκέντρωσης, και δείχνουν την αποφασιστικότητά τους να διατηρήσουν τον πολιτισμό και τις παραδόσεις τους ζωντανές.