Above the Drowning Sea - Screening and Discussion

5-7 pm, February 1, 2018

 

UCLA James Bridges Theatre

 

 

 

Above the Drowning Sea tells the story of the dramatic escape of European Jews from Nazi-controlled Europe to Shanghai on the eve of World War Two. As Hitler’s forces sought to expel the Jews from Europe, no other country would open its doors to the refugees. Their lives at stake, the refugees desperately looked for an escape from the coming Holocaust. Then, a door opened on the east coast of far-away China, in Shanghai, an “open city” itself in chaos from foreign invasion and civil war. But getting there required a “golden” document to get out of Nazi Europe – a visa from China.

More about the film:  http://abovethedrowningsea.com/

 

 

Post-screening discussion panel: 

René Balcer – Executive Producer, co-director and writer of Above the Drowning Sea

Robert Chi – Asian Languages and Cultures, UCLA

Lothar von Falkenhausen – Art History, UCLA

Peter Loewenberg – History (Emeritus), UCLA

[Moderator] Andrea Goldman – History, UCLA

 

René Balcer is well known as the showrunner, head writer and executive producer of the iconic television series Law & Order, and as the co-creator and showrunner of its hit spin-off series Law & Order Criminal Intent. In addition, he created the international hit series Jo starring Jean Reno. He has won an Emmy, the Peabody Award, a Writers Guild of America Award and four Edgar Awards for his television work. René has also written and produced award-winning documentaries on art and China. Earlier in his career, he was a front-line cameraman during the 1973 Yom Kippur War and a journalist in Montréal. René has lectured widely about writing, art and the duties of artists in free societies, notably at Harvard, Columbia, NYU, UPenn, the Sorbonne (Paris), the Central Academy of Fine Art (Beijing), and the Journalists Club (Moscow).

 

 

 

Earlier discussion: http://china.usc.edu/video-panelists-discuss-film-above-drowning-sea