17 December 2009
Marking the 50th anniversary of the release of the film, "The Diary of Anne Frank" (Directed by George Stevens, 1959) actress Millie Perkins, who played Anne in the film, visited Yad Vashem's Visual Center and the Holocaust History Museum. Ms. Perkins was able to see her film at the Visual Center where it is part of Yad Vashem's digizited film collection of more than 3,400 films available for viewing.
After her visit to Yad Vashem she attended a special symposium held at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival at the Jerusalem Cinamatheque, in conjunction with Yad Vashem. The Symposium, "Anne Frank: The Diary and its Aftermath" featured Dr Robert Rozett, Director of the Yad Vashem Libraries who discussed the idea of "icons in Holocaust representation", Gabriel Levin, a poet and son of Meyer Levin, who brought the diary to the US; Prof Sidra Ezrahi, who spoke wbout the "evolution of the cinematic representation of the Holocaust"; and Dr Foster Hirsch, Prof of Film from Brooklyn College, CUNY, and the biographer of George Stevens, addressed "the adaptation of the diary to conform to notions of "good taste" of American culture of the time"; Liat Benhabib, Director of the Yad Vashem Visual Center moderated the event. This is Ms Perkins first visit to Yad Vashem. The symposium was followed by the screening of the film, and a discussion between Dr Hirsch and Ms Perkins.