Besa: The Promise Selected for Dallas Jewish Film Festival

WASHINGTON - Aug. 18, 2013 - PRLog -- BESA: The Promise, the internationally acclaimed and award-winning documentary, will have its North Texas premiere on September 8, 2013 at 2pm. Selected for the Dallas Jewish Film Festival, the film is co-sponsored by the Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education and Tolerance. The screening will take place in the Zale Auditorium at the Aaron Family Jewish Community Center in Dallas.

Producer/Editor Christine S. Romero will be on hand for Q&A after the film, and describes what attracted her to the story: "A persecuted family on the run... Sacred texts hidden for protection... A 60 year old promise, never forgotten but still unfulfilled... These sound like the ingredients for an action film, but they describe an inspiring real-life story of heroism and compassion."

BESA: The Promise follows the parallel journeys of two men: American photographer Norman H. Gershman and Albanian toyshop owner Rexhep Hoxha. Their modern-day quests reveal the nearly unknown WWII story of thousands of Jews rescued in Albania, a majority Muslim country. The Albanian moral code of besa requires a promise of protection to anyone requesting it, and carries across generations. Rexhep Hoxha's Muslim father sheltered a Jewish family who left behind three precious Hebrew books. Kept hidden during the nearly half-century of repressive communism following the war, Rexhep must now fulfill his father's besa and return the books - if he can find the family. When Rexhep meets Norman, an unexpected drama is set in motion, uniting fathers and sons, Muslims and Jews.

Produced by JWM Productions, LLC, and supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Bridging Cultures through Film grant, BESA: The Promise boasts an original score by one of the world's greatest living composers, Philip Glass. Directed by Rachel Goslins, the film features portraits by renowned fine art photographer Norman H. Gershman are blended with animation, rare archival film, poignant interviews with witnesses and extraordinary vérité lensed by the award-winning Neil Barrett.


For more information go to besathepromise.com.