WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
Survival & Memory: What Decent People do in Times of Crisis; Three films by award winning director Jacky Comforty
How were 50,000 Bulgarian Jews saved from the Holocaust despite the intense efforts of their government to deport them? The Optimists tells the dramatic story of how people of all ethnic backgrounds and religions at the eleventh hour, secured the safety of their Jewish neighbors.
“The Optimists is a wonderful film. The title refers not only to a Bulgarian jazz band, but to how the audience feels after watching such a moving testament to human decency.” – Annette Insdorf, author of Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust
Jacky Comforty has created documentary films and videos in the United States, Germany, Israel, and Bulgaria. He commands a range of genres, from documentaries to comedies. He is known for the effective, sensitive, interviewing techniques he has developed for oral histories and other projects requiring on-camera discussions that are genuine, meaningful, and in-depth.
Over the last 30 years, Jacky Comforty has specialized in two main subjects. His work has been groundbreaking in the fields of Inclusive Education and Holocaust Studies. He is particularly known for his work on the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust. He is curator and owner of a large photographic, film, and audio archives of historical and scholarly significance to Holocaust Studies and of smaller collections about early childhood education, peace education, and history.
Jacky Comforty is the creator/producer and distributor of the best-selling Inclusion Series that helped implement inclusive practices in U.S. school districts and is used in hundreds of universities around the country. He currently lives in Bloomington.
