The world could use Elie Wiesel right now. A voice with the moral integrity and courage to speak truth to power—no matter the cost.
Whether it was challenging Ronald Reagan over his decision to visit the Bitburg Cemetery, where SS soldiers were buried, or confronting Bill Clinton about America’s inaction during the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, Wiesel never wavered in his fight against injustice and his relentless pursuit of a world free of the kind of genocide that scarred his youth.
Wiesel is no longer here to provide that kind of prophetic guidance. But in Oren Rudavsky’s film, ELIE WIESEL: SOUL ON FIRE, we do have the rare opportunity to spend time with Wiesel, with his wife and children, and with the teachers and students who continue to carry on his work.
Told in his own words and eloquent voice, the film captures Wiesel’s conflicts, memories, and enduring legacy as one of the most public survivors to the Holocaust.
Whether you know Wiesel’s story or are discovering it for the first time, ELIE WIESEL: SOUL ON FIRE is a moving, deeply inspirational portrait. We hope our conversation with the filmmaker encourages you to seek out this remarkable film.
Join us for our conversation with director Oren Rudavsky on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, starting now.
“Sometimes I’m afraid the tale might be forgotten. Sometimes I’m afraid it is forgotten already.” Eighty years after his family’s deportation and the wholesale slaughter of the mass of European Jewry, we seek to understand the man behind Elie Wiesel’s searing and widely read memoir Night. Told largely through his own words and eloquent voice, Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire seeks to penetrate to the heart of the known and unknown Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) – his passions, his conflicts and his legacy as one of the most public survivors of the trauma of the Holocaust. With unique access to personal archives, original interviews and employing hand painted animation, the film illuminates Wiesel’s biography as a survivor, writer, teacher and public figure.