The Parkes Lecture 2014 Event

A Jew in the Cathedral

A lecture based on excerpts from his films on Jewish themes by Rex Bloomstein

'A Jew in the Cathedral' is how Rex Bloomstein describes being a secular Jewish filmmaker confronting the often troubled relationship between Judaism and Christianity, particularly in The Longest Hatred, a trilogy charting the historical development of Anti-Semitism and its manifestation in modern society. This is the starting point for his lecture, a critical examination of other films of Jewish content that he has made over the past thirty years.   At the centre of this body of work is the Holocaust, with films such as Auschwitz And The Allies, The Gathering,  Liberation and ‘KZ’, an award winning film described as ‘the first post-modern Holocaust documentary’ based on Austria’s Mauthausen concentration camp and its impact on visitors and residents today.

This lecture will be chaired by Dr James Jordan .

Speakers biography

Rex Bloomstein’s films on human rights, crime and punishment and the Holocaust have been major themes in his work. He has exposed the hidden realities of prison life with documentaries such as The Sentence, Release, Prisoners’ Wives, Parole and ‘Strangeways’, which won two British Academy Awards and  ‘Lifers’ all made in the seventies and eighties. He returned to the subject twenty years later with Strangeways Revisited, then in 2003  Lifer, Living with Murder and in 2005, Kids Behind Bars.  He pioneered 11 years of human rights appeals for the BBC with the series ‘Prisoners of Conscience’ and ‘Human Rights, Human Wrongs’. As well as producing and directing ‘Auschwitz and the Allies’, and a three-part history of anti-Semitism, ‘The Longest Hatred’, his most recent film  ‘KZ’ has been described as the ‘first post-modern Holocaust documentary’. In 2008, his second feature documentary, ‘An Independent Mind’, examined the fundamental right of freedom of expression and featured eight stories from around the world. This led in 2010 to ‘This Prison Where I Live’, a film which campaigned against the unjust imprisonment of Zarganar, Burma’s greatest living comedian. Zarganar is now free.

Please note : If you wish to attend this popular lecture please ensure you register asap by emailing [email protected] to reserve a place.

Please follow this link to watch the recorded lecture (please note this recording is only available to University staff and students as per the speakers request)