DVD | 2004 | Ivy Meeropol | United States | 99 minutes | English
Free admission. No registration required.
On June 19th, 1953, the US government executed Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for “conspiracy to commit espionage.” The world looked on that day as their names were smeared into history as both martyrs and spies. When the Rosenbergs died, they left two sons and an extended family of siblings, one of whom, David Greenglass, testified against his sister and brother-in-law. His testimony was the evidence the government had to convict them. Now, fifty years later, the Rosenbergs’s granddaughter, Ivy Meeropol, embarks on a quest to understand who her grandparents were and the choices they made. Along the way, she discovers startling new information about the case and what happened to her family.
Followed by a post-screening discussion with the director, Michael Meeropol, Professor Thomas Allen Harris, and Laura Wexler, Charles H. Farnam Professor of American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
This screening is a part of the Family Narratives/Cultural Shifts film series. This film series features deeply personal films by documentarians, artists, activists, and agents of change who are united in their use of the film/media to speak truth to power. These filmmakers use media to build community, family, and ultimately, family albums and archives that future generations can use to build their own practices. Just as the family album traditionally sought to unite folks across time, space, and difference, the films in these series are journeys that culminate in linkages, helping us understand nuances of identity and redefine ideas around family while illuminating personal relationships with larger cultural, social, and historical movements.
Presented by Yale Black Studies, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Film and Media Studies, and the Family Pictures Institute for Inclusive Storytelling.