UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Two final screenings — one on campus and one in Wyomissing — will offer audiences a last chance to critique a rough cut of a documentary directed and produced by a Penn State faculty member.
The rough-cut screenings of “Cojot,” which are open to the public, are hosted by Penn State’s Social Studies Education program and the Reading Jewish Film Series, respectively. They are scheduled for 6:20 p.m. Nov. 5 at Paterno Library’s Foster Auditorium on Penn State's University Park campus and 3 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Fox Berkshire Theater in Wyomissing. Reading’s Trinity Lutheran Church is co-sponsoring the Nov. 10 event.
Both events will feature post-screening discussions with the film’s award-winning director, Boaz Dvir, an assistant professor who teaches journalism at the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications.
The feature documentary tells the little-known story of Michel Cojot, a Holocaust survivor who felt he blew his opportunity to take heroic action but received a second chance as a hostage in Entebbe, Uganda.
Narrated by iconic actor Judd Nelson — John Bender in "The Breakfast Club" — the film has been generating a buzz. After watching an early rough cut last year, 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, devoted an episode of its “Take Note” series to the film.
Dvir’s “Cojot” co-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 historical consultant.
“I look forward to engaging with audiences at University Park and Wyomissing about this late-stage rough cut,” said Dvir, who also directed and produced “Jessie’s Dad” and “A Wing and a Prayer.” “I always gain a great deal of insight from viewers. I greatly appreciate their candor and thoughtfulness.”