True stories rarely contain a historic mystery, a courtroom drama, a political murder, and a family saga, but all can be found in the documentary KILLING KASZTNER. In Nazi occupied Hungary, Kasztner dared to negotiate face to face with the architect of the Final Solution, Adolf Eichmann. While the Nazi killing machine was at its peak, Kasztner secured a rescue train for 1684 Jews from Budapest, and bargained for tens of thousands of more lives. It may have been the largest rescue of its kind during the Holocaust, more than were saved by Oskar Schindler. Yet Kasztner was condemned as a traitor in his adopted country of Israel; accused as a collaborator in a trial and verdict that divided a nation and forever stamped him as the "man who sold his soul to the devil." The judgment was overturned by the Supreme Court but too late. Kasztner was ultimately assassinated by Jewish right wing extremists in Tel Aviv in 1957. Photo: Kasztner in radio studio, Israel (courtesy Kasztner Family)
Receiving critical acclaim at the Toronto International Film Festival and playing to sold-out audiences in Israel and New York, American director Gaylen Ross investigates this tale of murder, intrigue, and heroism through accounts of the inflammatory political trial, startling revelations after 50 years by Kasztner's assassin, Ze'ev Eckstein, and a chilling meeting between the killer and Kasztner's only daughter, Zsuzsi. Winner of the Boston Jewish Film Festival Audience Award Best Documentary Feature. SJFF Special Guest:Director Gaylen Ross.
HEADY PRAISE AND CRITICAL ACCLAIM:
"I thought I knew the whole story, but after seeing the remarkable film, Killing Kasztner, I now realize how much I didn't know. See this film to understand the choices the Holocaust forced human beings to make and their struggle to be decent and humane" - ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN, National Director, Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and a Holocaust survivor
"Brilliant... I urge everyone, Jew and Gentile, to see this film" - FORMER MAYOR ED KOCH, THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY
"A gripping study of how a nation defines itself through its heroes" - TIME OUT NEW YORK