ANNE FRANK: THEN AND NOW

"A Clandestine Cultural Breakthrough."
- Deadline Hollywood

"Part Drama, Part Documentary And A
Unique Retelling Of Anne Frank’s Story."
- i24/The Daily Beat

"The Docudrama That Is Bringing
Anne Frank To The Arab World."
- Jewish Journal

The Ollendorff Center is proud to present the groundbreaking new film Anne Frank: Then And Now, which explores the lives of Palestinian teenage girls as they audition to be cast in a retelling of Frank's famed diary. The project was inspired by the hope that children living in the Arab world would learn about the Holocaust – and themselves – through Anne Frank's words and experiences. The production was shot on location in Gaza, Ramallah and Jaffa in July of 2014.

Co-producer Branko Lustig (l) and co-director Jakov Sedlar at the grave of Anne Frank and her older sister Margot.

The film was co-produced by Holocaust survivor and two-time Academy Award® winner Branko Lustig, producer of Schindler's List and Gladiator. Mr. Lustig also appears in the film and reveals that, at age 12, he was imprisoned just 150 meters from the Bergen-Belsen barracks where Anne Frank died. Co-director Jakov Sedlar has directed more than 60 documentaries, including the Ollendorff Center projects I Am A Jew, Quarter To Eight, The Brave Little Boat and the award-winning Fate Did Not Let Me Go, which has been shown in more than 22 countries and seen by over 50 million people around the world.

Anne Frank: Then And Now is already historic in several respects: In August 2016, the film's secret debut screening in Iran for a theater of film students and professors. The film was then clandestinely shown the following month in Gaza – amid extremely tight security to protect the attendees from Holocaust deniers among Hamas leadership – and at public screenings in Israel. Plans for national U.S. distribution will be announced in the coming months.

The docudrama, co-produced by The Ollendorff Center and approved by The Anne Frank Foundation, is dedicated to all the young girls in the world.

MEDIA & LINKS:

• Watch the trailer for 'Anne Frank: Then And Now'
• Stephen Ollendorff and Jakov Sedlar discuss 'Anne Frank: Then And Now' on PBS' 'Caucus: New Jersey'

  
  
• Jakov Sedlar discusses the film's secret Iran screening on i24's 'The Daily Beat'

  
  
• Coverage of the film's production in The Jewish Journal
• Coverage of the film's Iran screening in Deadline
• Coverage of the film's Iran screening in The Guardian