Testimonials
Harvey Bravman’s Soul Witness, The Brookline Holocaust Witness Project is a quietly devastating oral history. This film is a tribute to the survivor’s courage, resiliency, and an all too timely reminder that it always can happen again.
All of us at the Coolidge applaud Harvey Bravman for this extraordinary and essential film, which will resonate for generations. Soul Witness exemplifies the Coolidge’s mission to ‘entertain, inform and engage − building a vital community through film culture. We are honored to have screened this film.
Soul Witness is an important, devastating film. To hear the first-hand accounts of those who survived the horrors of the Holocaust is the responsibility of every generation. CJP believes in the critical importance of Soul Witness and other forms of art and culture in educating, enriching, and uplifting Jewish life and the broader community. We are proud to partner with R. Harvey Bravman to help promote this vital contribution to our understanding of Holocaust history through the words of those who lived through it
– Sophie Krentzman
Director, Arts and Culture
Combined Jewish Philanthropies
Soul Witness, The Brookline Holocaust Witness Project is an important and unique documentary film which helps increase awareness and understanding of the events and legacy of the Holocaust, as shared directly from survivor testimony. The varied survivor voices in this film effectively and poignantly illustrate the impossible dilemmas faced by individuals under Nazi terror, as well as the lifelong impact of those experiences on the survivors themselves, their family members, and the larger community.
This film is important both for the stories that survivors share, but also for the way their voices are presented. Although traumatic experiences are shared by the survivors, you also get a sense of their resilience, historical perspective, and individual dignity. The structure and tone of the film “humanizes” these individuals who might otherwise be perceived simply as victims.
Facing History and Ourselves was a co-sponsor of the premiere of Soul Witness at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline on January 26, 2017. The film was sold out, and the response from the attendees was very powerful. It is clear that this film has the ability to touch hearts and minds in a profound way, and that is should be made more widely available for education use.
We urge support for this important project, and its producer Harvey Bravman.
We offer this letter as an endorsement of the film, and in the hope that it will continue to be available to future generations of teachers, students and the general public. Please feel free to contact either of us if we can provide further information.
– Marc Skvirsky
Vice President and Chief Program Officer
Facing History and Ourselves
– Tracy O’Brien
Director, Library Services
Facing History and Ourselves
Support Soul Witness Project
All donations to the Soul Witness Project and revenue from special screenings will go toward producing more films we hope will resonate like Soul Witness, The Brookline Holocaust Witness Project.