After Rain, Comes Sunshine

All holocaust stories are essential to our history and future. A recent Holocaust study (Claims Conference, 2020), revealed a shocking lack of basic knowledge about the Holocaust among Millennials and Gen Z.

63% didn't know that 6 million Jews were murdered and even though there were more than 40,000 camps and ghettos in Europe during the Holocaust, 48% couldn't name a single one.

The Holocaust is a devastating lesson in the extremes of what racial based violence can lead to. We need to keep the memory alive to act as a warning and to create a more tolerant society.

As the number of Holocaust survivors dwindle, this is a pertinent time to share Olga’s inspirational message.

But this is not just a story about the Holocaust – it’s a message about resilience. In a world full of uncertainty and fear, Olga’s story is a testament to enduring resilience and a reminder that we
are all stronger than we might believe.

“Crisis comes, crisis goes, after rain comes sunshine” – Olga Horak

There are 3 main areas of impact:

1. To inspire resilience and strength in a challenging time of world-wide fear and uncertainty.

2. To create empathy and a curiosity for a younger generation to seek out more information about the Holocaust

3. To keep the memory of the Holocaust alive to foster tolerance, and act as an ever-present warning of the extreme, devastating consequences of what racial prejudice can lead to.

A younger audience may also have a better understanding of the Holocaust and be curious to look up other historical facts surrounding that time.

Olga’s story inspires hope, strength, and resilience. We hope a younger audience will also come away from the film with a renewed sense of their own ability to weather adverse conditions, especially during these current challenging times.

Medium-term, we hope Olga’s story lingers in the back of the audience’s mind and cultivates a curiosity and tolerance of other points of view and cultures. It may even inspire them to trace their own cultural heritage.

Long-term, we hope to contribute to the creation of an inclusive generation and cultivate future leaders who appreciate and welcome diverse human experiences and contributions for a better and safer future for all humankind.

In our own small way, we are contributing to the ongoing necessary discourse of religious and cultural tolerance.

After an initial film festival run and broadcast window, the film will be distributed through Jewish museums, community screenings with Jewish and multi-cultural organisations and an educational tour through high schools, before finding a home on an online platform, including Kanopy.

We will partner with Jewish organisations for the community screenings and create a screening toolkit to facilitate discussion after the screenings.

An ATOM guide will be created to align with the high school curriculum. This will include educational material to assist with facts about the Holocaust as well as focus cultivating understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of other cultures. The ATOM guide will also focus on the theme of resilience, inner strength, and hope.

Lastly we will approach other organisations who work in the same space to foster possible collaborations in how we can amplify their message, and how they can use our film as part of their campaign arsenal.

The expert and story adviser is Olga Horak, Author and Renowned Holocaust Survivor. The story is her own and the dialogue is drawn directly from interviews with the filmmakers.

The film has also been endorsed by the following organisations who will help in spreading the message of the film and promote it within their own networks.

- Aviva Wolff, Sydney Jewish Museum
- Cedric Geffen, President of March of the Living Australia
- Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

1. Change attitudes and behaviours towards those who have different religious and cultural backgrounds, by being more inclusive and welcoming.

2. Request a community screening in their local area.

3. Donate to help with touring the project.

Surveys immediately post-screening will gain quantitative information about changes in knowledge about the Holocaust, changes in attitudes and behaviour towards other people who different cultural backgrounds to their own, and changes in self-awareness, self-belief, inner strength, and resilience.

Small focus groups/interviews will be conducted with schools a few months after the screening and curriculum based activity to ascertain if their original reactions to the film and subsequent learning have changed their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours.