How a Bunch of Nobodies Changed the World
The letters and home movies of Bill Bernstein
A 40-minute illustrated talk from the filmmaker behind the PBS documentary Exodus 1947.
About the talk
What do you do when people are in trouble and nobody in charge is coming to help?
Bill Bernstein and his friends had no experience, no money, and no orders. What they did have was a rusting ferry, 4,515 Holocaust survivors who had nowhere to go, and the stubborn belief that somebody should do something.
Told through Bill’s letters and home movies by the filmmaker who has spent 35 years with his story, this is a talk about what happens when ordinary people decide to show up.
What audiences say
“Her research is meticulous, but what strikes me most is how she turns scholarship into intimacy, rendering history not as dates and events, but as human flesh, breath, and choice. A rare talk—the kind that doesn’t just inform you, but changes how you carry the past.”
“Her dynamic presentation offered us new information, insights, and a deeper understanding of an important chapter in history. … We left not only better informed, but also inspired by the difference individuals can make in the world.”
Avocet senior living community
About the speaker
Elizabeth Rodgers is an award-winning filmmaker, novelist and screenwriter. She co-wrote, co-produced and co-directed Exodus 1947, the PBS documentary narrated by Morley Safer, and has spent 35 years with Bill Bernstein’s story.
She has developed screenplays and teleplays for Showtime, Carsey-Werner and Paramount Pictures, and is finishing a Young Adult novel inspired by Exodus 1947.
At a glance
- Length
- 40 minutes
- Format
- In person, illustrated throughout with archival photographs and film
- Drawn from
- Bill Bernstein’s letters and home movies, and the research behind the PBS documentary Exodus 1947
- For
- Congregations and churches, schools and libraries, museums, senior communities and Holocaust education programs
Book a talk
Tell Elizabeth a little about your group, your audience and the date you have in mind.
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