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THE SPY BEHIND HOME PLATE
Sunday, October 25, 7:30 PM
USA, 2019, 101 min., English
In this first ever feature-length documentary, Award-winning filmmaker Aviva Kempner hits another home run by focusing her camera on enigmatic Morris “Moe” Berg. From the streets of Newark to five major league teams, including five years with the Red Sox, during baseball’s Golden Age to his secret life spying for the OSS during WWII. Berg’s extraordinary story is told with rare historical footage and revealing interviews with family and an All-Star roster from the worlds of history, sports and espionage.
Discussion led by Film Director Aviva Kempner
Aviva Kempner is a child of Holocaust survivor Helen Ciesla and Harold Kempner, a US Army officer. She was born in Germany after World War II. Her family history inspired her to produce her first documentary, Partisans of Vilna (1986), focusing on a story of Jewish resistance to the Nazis. Since then, Kempner went on to write, direct and produce more films about under-known Jewish heroes: The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, Rosenwald, and collaborated on other films. She regularly writes film criticism and articles for numerous publications, including The Boston Globe, Moment, The Forward, The Washington Post, and Washington Jewish Week. Kempner is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the DC Mayor’s Art Award, WIFV Women of Vision Award and a Media Arts Award from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.
Sponsor: Jewish Federation of NENY