The final rough-cut screening of Penn State assistant professor Boaz Dvir’s post-Holocaust film, “Cojot,” will be conducted at 6 p.m. April 29 at New York University.
The event, which is free and open to the public, concludes an 18-month process during which Dvir screened the rough cut of his latest documentary to more than 1,500 people in Pennsylvania, Florida, Maryland, Virginia and France.
“I’ve greatly appreciated the opportunity to watch the evolving rough cut through the eyes of engaged audience members,” said Dvir, the filmmaker of such award-winning documentaries as “Jessie’s Dad” and “A Wing and a Prayer.” “Every screening has helped me sharpen this story. I look forward to having a face-to-face conversation with NYU students and faculty about ‘Cojot.’ ”
A suspenseful character study, “Cojot” tells the virtually unknown story of a Holocaust survivor who set out to kill his father’s Nazi executioner and ended up playing a key role in one of history’s most daring rescue operations.
The NYU screening, which is sponsored by the School of Professional Studies Center for Applied Liberal Arts, will take place at Woolworth 430, also known as the Public Assembly Room (15 Barclay St.). Registration is required: https://tinyurl.com/CALA-COJOT
“Cojot” is written, directed and produced by Dvir, who teaches writing and production in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State. Narrated by actor Judd Nelson (“The Breakfast Club,” “St. Elmo’s Fire”), the feature documentary has been generating a buzz. The Guardian’s Hadley Freeman wrote: “It wasn’t until I saw Boaz Dvir’s very moving forthcoming documentary about him, Cojot, that I truly understood Michel’s life, and perhaps the message of it.”
Penn State’s National Public Radio station, WPSU, recently devoted an episode of its “Take Note” to Cojot.
NYU faculty member Frederic J.A. Richter served as an associate producer on “Cojot.” The other producers include Matthew Einstein, CEO of Tradition Pictures in Los Angeles; Penn State associate professor Richie Sherman, who also served as a director of photography; and University of Florida associate professor Gayle Zachmann, who also served as the historical consultant.