19th Portland Jewish Film Festival
SARAH’S KEY
DIRECTOR: GILLES PAQUET-BRENNER
FRANCE, 2010
Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is taken with her family by the French police to the Vel’ d’Hiv’ stadium—one Jewish family among thousands rounded up to be sent to the camps. Desperate to protect her younger brother, she locks him in a secret cupboard in the family’s apartment, thinking that they will all be back soon. Paris, May 2002: On Vel’ d’Hiv’s 60th anniversary, journalist Julia Jarmond is asked to write an article about this black day in France’s past. Through her investigation, she stumbles onto a trail of long-hidden family secrets that connect her to Sarah. Julia finds herself compelled to retrace the girl’s ordeal, from that terrible term in the Vel’ d’Hiv’, to the camps, and beyond. As she probes into Sarah’s past, she begins to question her own place in France and to reevaluate her marriage, her adopted nation, and her life. (113 mins.)
Sponsored by Oregon Holocaust Resource Center.