Return to Calais / U.S.A. / U.S. Premiere

In May 1940, the Nazis invaded Belgium and Paulette Szafran, age twelve, immediately became a refugee. She and her family, including an infant and elderly grandmother, fled Brussels by train, taxi and then on foot, walking across northern France with 1000s of other “runaways,” as Paulette wrote in her diary, “all of us who had put the key under the door and run away.”

After Paulette’s death at age 88, her daughter Edith found her wartime diaries and went to Calais to honor Marie-Louise Ducatel, who harbored the family during the 1940 bombings. Return to Calais chronicles Paulette’s refugee journey and Edith’s pilgrimage, drawing on historical footage and the diary’s vivid tales. Calais is again a destination for people fleeing conflict and chaos in the Middle East, Africa, and Afghanistan. Meeting with refugees and volunteers from Care4Calais, Edith finds that empathy connects the dots of displacement across generations and geography.

Director/writer Edith Goldenhar will attend the film screening.