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Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire
Tuesday, February 5 | 7:00pm | Mandell JCC
Running Time: 87 min
Followed by a Reel Talk with Avinoam Patt, Maurice Greenberg Professor of Holocaust Studies, New York University Director, Center for the Study of Antisemitism, NYU and Romana Strochlitz Primus, family friend of Elie Wiesel and descendant of Holocaust survivors (mentioned in the film).
Wednesday, February 11 | 2:00pm (Senior Matinee) | Mandell JCC
Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire is an intimate, deeply moving portrait of one of the most influential moral voices of the 20th century. Blending rare archival footage, illuminating interviews, and Wiesel’s own words, the film traces his journey from the trauma of Auschwitz to his unwavering commitment to memory, justice, and the sacred responsibility of bearing witness. Rather than presenting Wiesel as an icon carved in stone, the documentary shows us a vulnerable, searching, and conflicted human. We watch as his life becomes a dialogue between the past he cannot escape and the future he insists must be better. This is not a story of a survivor but of a man who transformed his personal grief into a global call for empathy and action.
Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire has been widely celebrated on the festival circuit, earning multiple top honors. It won the Torchbearer Award at the Miami Jewish Film Festival, the Best Documentary Award at the JFilm Festival in Pittsburgh, and the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Rochester Jewish Film Festival. Director Oren Rudavsky also received the prestigious Yad Vashem Award at DocAviv for his work on the film.
EPHI’S TAKE: Of all the films I brought to the committee, this was the one everyone instantly agreed was a must-have. Not just because it captures one of the giants of Jewish literature, but because it refuses to simply place him on a pedestal. Instead, we meet the man behind the myth—brilliant, but also complicated and flawed. And it’s precisely those imperfections that make him so fascinating, and his creativity so extraordinary.
Sponsored by the Families of Alan Lazowksi and Peter Fishman on behalf of Voices of Hope
 
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