Laurel F. Vlock, Filmmaker, Co-founder of the Video Archive
Laurel Fox Vlock grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. As a television journalist she produced many interviews for Channel 8 in New Haven including a documentary about the Yom Hashoah observance in 1978. Realizing the power of survivor testimony, Laurel Vlock initiated a meeting with Dr. Dori Laub, a child survivor and psychiatrist. It resulted in a taping session in Dr. Laub’s office that marked the beginning of the Holocaust Survivors Film Project. She participated in 187 taping sessions and produced several edited programs based on the testimonies including the Emmy award winning, “Forever Yesterday.”
In her honor, we have started a fellowship that supports filmmakers to produce as series of films based on testimonies from the Fortunoff Video Archive.
Film 1
I Am Free ... But Who Is Left?
A close-knit, happy family, thrives in Hrubieszów, Poland, a small town with a majority Jewish population, until the Nazi invasion in 1939. The destruction and murder of the family and the Jews is described... MoreFilm 2
A Valts (The Waltz)
"The Waltz" is based on the poem by Aaron Lutsky, pen name of the Yiddish poet Aaron Zucker (1894-1957). Aaron was born in Ukraine, immigrated to New York in the early 20s century... MoreFilm 3
Lawrence L. Langer: A Life in Testimony
For sixty years, Larry’s uncompromising warnings have served to protect the field of Holocaust study from deteriorating into a shallow view of history... MoreFilm 4
Invisible Years
The film will be based on my book, Invisible Years, about my extended Jewish family living in the German-occupied Netherlands. The experiences of the De Zoete, Geismar and Cohen families... MoreFilm 5
Julia Pirotte: Out of Frame
This film will tell the story of the photojournalist and activist Julia Pirotte. Her extraordinary life, the power of her photography, and the richness of her Fortunoff testimony... MoreFilm 6
The Listener
A Holocaust-surviving psychiatrist on a quest for total listening to bearers of traumatic memories. MoreNews
Upcoming Screenings: I Am Free -- But Who Is Left?
The first film produced as part of the Vlock Fellowship Film Series, I Am Free — But Who Is Left? is produced by the Fortunoff Video Archive’s former Archivist, Joanne W. Rudof, and Professor Emeritus Lawrence Langer. The film portrays a close-knit, happy family in Hrubieszów, Poland, a small town with a majority Jewish population, that is until the Nazi invasion in 1939. The destruction and murder of the family and the Jews is described through first person accounts, maps, personal photographs, and documents.
Upcoming screenings:
Upcoming Screenings: A Valts
The second film produced as part of the Vlock Fellowship Film Series, “A Valts” (“The Waltz”) is animated and directed by fellow Yulia Ruditskaya. The film is based on the poem by A. Lutzky, pen name of the Yiddish poet Aaron Zucker (1894-1957), set to music by D. Zisl Slepovitch and performed by Sasha Lurje and the Zisl Slepovitch Ensemble as part of the Songs from Testimonies project. Lutzky was born in Ukraine and immigrated to New York in the 1910s. In the poem, Lutzky raises themes of lost youth, lost hopes, lost lives, nostalgia for his homeland, and the fragility of life. Employing metaphorical language, the poet expresses themes of death and sorrow.