St. Paul JCC will host regional premiere of Blessed Is the Match on May 17
By ERIN ELLIOTT /Â Community News Editor
Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.
Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart.
Blessed is the heart with strength to stop its beating for honor’s sake.
Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame.
— “Blessed Is the Match” by Hannah Senesh
Filmmaker Roberta Grossman was fascinated by the story of Hannah Senesh (also spelled Szenes) since she first read Senesh’s diary in junior high school.
Described as a “modern-day Joan of Arc,” Hannah was just 22 years old when she was sent on a mission to rescue Hungary’s Jews during World War II. The poet and Haganah fighter parachuted behind enemy lines, was captured, tortured and ultimately executed by the Nazis.
“I was really struck by her strong sense of her Jewish identity, of her high-minded ideals and her sense of commitment to doing something powerful in the world, something good,” Grossman told the AJW. “Right out of college, I became a filmmaker and I started trying to make a film about Hannah Senesh.”
Decades later, and with more than 40 hours of documentary film and TV credits to her name, Grossman felt the time was right to produce and direct her film about “this iconic figure.” Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh will have its regional premiere on Sunday, May 17 at the St. Paul JCC as part of the JCC’s Spring Documentary Series.
Filmmaker Roberta Grossman directs a scene from Blessed Is the Match, a documentary based on the life of Hannah Senesh. The film will have its regional premiere on May 17 at the St. Paul JCC. (Photo: Courtesy of Katahdin Productions)
In her director’s statement, Grossman refers to the film as “a mother-daughter love story,” as Hannah’s mother, Catherine, was a witness to her daughter’s ordeal — first as a fellow prisoner and later as her advocate.
“By the time I was able to make the film, I was a mother and was closer in age to Catherine than to Hannah,” Grossman said. “The writer of the film, Sophie Sartain, suggested that we do the film as a mother-daughter story and tell the story from Catherine’s point of view. I think that made all the difference in the world in the making of the film, and it made it a much better and more powerful film.”
With the help of Hannah’s nephews, David and Eitan Senesh, Grossman was granted access to the family’s archives, including Hannah’s letters, diaries and poems, Catherine’s letters and memoir, and more than 1,300 family photographs. Grossman also interviewed people who knew her and scholars who are familiar with her story.
As a result, the film is told as a collection of first-person testimonies, accompanied by dramatic reenactments. Actress Joan Allen narrates.
It took four years to create the documentary, which was filmed in Hungary, Israel and the Czech Republic.
Blessed Is the Match was first screened at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival and had its U.S. premiere at the New York Museum of Jewish Heritage in June 2008. It has been recognized with the Best Documentary Award at 10 Jewish film festivals, won the Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis, Ind., and was short-listed by the Academy of Motion Pictures in the category of Best Feature Documentary.
“Most importantly, [the film] tells Hannah’s story, it gets her story in front of a new generation and an audience who probably wouldn’t be exposed to it,” Grossman said. “At least she’ll be more known than she would have been if we had not made the film.”
***
Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh will be screened 4 p.m. Sunday, May 17 at the St. Paul JCC, 1375 St. Paul Ave. The cost is $5. For information, contact the JCC at 651-698-0751.
For information on the film, visit: www.blessedisthematch.com.
