Irvington Theater Honors The Resilience Of The Jewish People With Two Award-winning Films

Irvington Theater will continue its all-virtual season with Recognition, a double-feature film event to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Ahead of Time, a documentary that The Village Voice called a "truly fascinating yarn of proto-feminist achievement," and Reparations, an award-winning short from local filmmakers, will stream online from January 27-29.

From director and award-winning cinematographer Bob Richman (An Inconvenient Truth) and producer Zeva Oelbaum, Ahead of Time documents the astonishing life of Ruth Gruber, whose groundbreaking career as a journalist and photographer included coverage of the Nuremburg trials and, two years earlier, the secret escort of one thousand Holocaust refugees from Italy to New York on behalf of the Roosevelt administration. A trailblazer with an indomitable spirit, Gruber's reporting was internationally recognized for bringing visibility to the horrors perpetrated against the Jewish people.

Laurie Chock, Irvington Theater Commission Chairperson who first saw Ahead of Time at the Hamptons International Film Festival a decade ago, says the documentary has stuck with her: "I love the brilliance, gutsiness, and independence of Ruth Gruber. Her achievements would have blown us away in 2020 - but she did her work in the 1930s and 1940s. As a young journalist, Gruber profoundly impacted US foreign policy and dramatically enhanced public awareness of refugees from Nazi Germany. Her legacy of speaking truth to power has never been more relevant than now."

This double-feature event opens with Gregory G. Allen's Reparations, a short film connecting the experiences of a Holocaust survivor to the dialogue around financial restitution for slavery in the United States. An official selection at film festivals including the American Pavilion at Cannes, this fascinatingly human exploration of identity and the value of recompense stars Ed Delia and Nefertiti Warren. Allen and Chock produced the film.

Recognition will be available to stream on demand for 48 hours beginning on January 27 at 7:30pm EST. A live Zoom conversation with the filmmakers, open to all ticketholders, will follow this streaming premiere at 9:00pm EST on January 27. Purchase your per-household ticket ($12) to receive the viewing links and password at irvingtontheater.com/recognition.

Irvington Theater is home to a diverse range of innovate programming that entertains, enlightens, and inspires, establishing itself over its 118-year history as the cultural heart of the Rivertowns. The theater continues its tradition with unprecedented reach though its all-virtual season, #IrvingtonAnywhere.

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