Virtual
Cinema of the Holocaust at the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive
by
Chuck Chriss
President, JIA
Jack de Lowe
of Raanana, Israel pointed me to the website of the Virtual Cinema
at the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive. The Archive was founded
at Hebrew University in the late 1960s and is the world’s prime
location of documentary and artistic film about Israel and Jewish
life. Since 1987 the Archive has been named in honor of Steven Spielberg.
The Archive
website is a remarkable Internet resource that has emerged from
the desire to make the film holdings available to as large an audience
as possible. Even though film viewing across the Internet is somewhat
limited, this is still a tremendous advance in the availability
of priceless treasures of film such as those made by Zionist groups
in Palestine before the founding of the State of Israel and film
records of Jewish communities in Europe, communities that were destroyed
during World War II.
The Spielberg
Archive is the official depository for films made by Zionist organizations
in Palestine as they developed the country before 1948. Amateur
and professional films from Jewish communities around the world
dating back to the 19th century are now preserved there. The collection
includes many films from the Holocaust period and the post-war experiences
of survivors as well as official and unofficial films about Israel
since statehood in 1948.
Over 100 films
from this remarkable collection have been released for Internet
access via this starting page:
http://spielbergfilmarchive.org.il/kv/index.htm
Currently access
is set up for users of Microsoft Internet Explorer and the Microsoft
Media player. There is a troubleshooting guide on the website if
you have problems or questions about software for viewing the films.
More information
about the work of the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive can be
found by starting with their home page:
http://spielbergfilmarchive.org.il
In addition
to the Virtual Cinema, the site has a very interesting collection
of film posters. They also offer videos for sale.
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