Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire

Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire

This program is proudly sponsored by Dan Mendelson and Jennifer Loew Mendelson.

Told largely through his own words and eloquent voice, Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire seeks to penetrate the heart of the known and unknown Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) – his passions, conflicts, and legacy as one of the most public survivors of the Holocaust.

With unique access to personal archives, original interviews, and hand-painted animation, the film illuminates Wiesel’s biography as a survivor, writer, teacher and public figure.

Conversation with director Oren Rudavsky and co-producer Dr. Annette Insdorf, moderated by Edna Friedberg, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Historian following the screening.

Annette Insdorf is Professor of Film at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, and Moderator of the popular “Reel Pieces” series at the 92nd Street Y, where she has interviewed 300 film celebrities. She is the author of the landmark study, Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust (with a foreword by Elie Wiesel); Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski ; Francois Truffaut, a study of the French director’s work ; Philip Kaufman, and Intimations: The Cinema of Wojciech Has. Her latest book is Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes, currently in its fourth printing.

Oren Rudavsky’s first jobs in NYC after graduating from college were as the postproduction supervisor for the television shows Tales from the Darkside and Monsters and on the film unit of Saturday Night Live whenBilly Crystal, Martin Short, Eddie Murphy, Jim Belushi and Christopher Guest were there. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and several National Endowment for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts grants. Rudavsky co-wrote and directed the American Masters documentary: Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People. The film was nominated for an Emmy as part of the American Masters series as well as a Critics Choice Award. His film A Life Apart: Hasidism in America was short-listed for the Academy Awards and broadcast on PBS and his film Hiding and Seeking: Faith After the Holocaust was nominated for an Independent Spirit award and was chosen for the PBS POV series. Rudavsky was the producer of media for the permanent installations at the Russian Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow, which opened in 2013. In 2011, Rudavsky produced a series of profile documentaries for Bloomberg television called Risk Takers. In 2009 Rudavsky was Producer/Writer of the two-part series Time for School 3,a twelve-year longitudinal study examining the education of seven children in the developing world for the PBS series “Wide Angle.” In 2006, he completed his first fiction feature as Producer/Writer/Director: “The Treatment,” starring Chris Eigeman, Ian Holm and Famke Janssen. The film premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival where it was awarded Best Film, Made in New York. He recently completed Elie Wiesel: Soul On Fire, a feature documentary also with National Endowment for the Humanities funding in co-production with PBS American Masters. Oren also produced the film Todo Parecîa Posible (Everything Seemed Possible)which premiered at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2025