MY ITALIAN SECRET: The Forgotten Heroes

MY ITALIAN SECRET: The Forgotten Heroes was written, produced and directed by Oscar nominee Oren Jacoby.

MY ITALIAN SECRET tells the story of brave Italians, including Gino Bartali - the famous cycling champion, who defied the Nazis and Fascists to hide, rescue and protect thousands of innocent Jewish people and others in Italy during the Holocaust. The film, which will be in theaters in March 2015, is narrated by Isabella Rossellini with Robert Loggia as the voice of Gino Bartali.

MY ITALIAN SECRET tells the personal accounts that reflect this little known piece of history. Through these witnesses' stories, viewers revisit a time when an entire continent was engulfed in genocide. They will learn how approximately 80% of Jewish people living in Italy, including foreign Jews, survived the Holocaust. On September 8, 1943 the Nazi's invaded Northern Italy and the deportation of thousands of Jewish people and others to Auschwitz began. This film asks: Why would someone risk his or her own life and put their family in jeopardy to ‘do the right thing’ and protect the life of another person... a stranger?

MY ITALIAN SECRET personifies the actions of individual Italians -- from everyday citizens to clergy and government officials and famous people such as Gino Bartali -- who rescued thousands of Jews from deportation and death, hiding and protecting them, despite risks to their own lives and those of their families.

UPCOMING SCREENINGS

• TBD DocsDF International Documentary Film Festival of Mexico City

PAST SCREENINGS

• October 2014 Hamptons International Film Festival
• October 2014 Rome International Film Festival
• February 2015 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival
• February 2015 Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art
• March 2015 Charlotte Jewish Film Festival
• March 2015 Laemmle NoHo 7 - LA
• March 2015 Cinema Village - New York City
• April 2015 DBS Network in Israel
• April 2015 Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival
• May 2015 Toronto Jewish Film Festival
• May 2015 The National Center for Jewish Film's Film Festival
• June 2015 Toronto Contemporary Italian Film Festival
• June 2015 Museum of Tolerance: A Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum
• July 2015 Mandel Jewish Community Center: The Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival
• August 2015 El Paso Holocaust Museum
• October 2015 New York City’s 92nd Street (Film Screening and panel discussion with Joy Behar, moderator)
• October 2015 The West Boca Branch Library in Boca Raton, FL
• October 2015 Foundation for Jewish Studies in Rockville, MD
• October 2015 Time Warner screening room at Columbus Circle in New York City (sponsored by United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Council on Foreign Relations)
• October 2015 Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA
• November 2015 Orange County Jewish Film Festival
• November 2015 Nashville Jewish Film Festival
• November 2015 The Holocaust Survivors & Friends Education Center in Albany, NY
• November 2015 The Houston Jewish Book & Arts Fair
• November 2015 Vancouver Jewish Film Festival
• November 2015 Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival
• January 2016 The Westport Library in Westport, CT
• January 2016 The Vancouver Jewish Film Festival (reprisal screening)
• January 2016 UJA Federation's Toronto Chapter
• January 2016 Atlantic Jewish Council in Halifax, Nova Scotia
• February 2016 Screening sponsored by the AMIT Jerusalem Film Festival in Israel
• February 2016 The Farthest North Jewish Film Festival in Fairbanks, Alaska
• February 2016 Italian Embassy in Bogota, Colombia
• February 2016 Denver Jewish Film Festival in Denver, Colorado
• February 2016 IJ and Jeanne Wagner JCC in Salt Lake City, Utah
• March 2016 Huntington Jewish Center in Huntington, NY
• March 2016 JCC of Charlotte, NC
• April 2016 JCC of Greater Washington
• April 2016 Jewish Film Festival of Zagreb, Croatia
• May 2016 Jewish International Film Festival in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia
• May 2016 Lenore Marwil Jewish Film Festival in Detroit, MI
• May 2016 The Kimball Theater at Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, VA
• July 2016 Aired on the Bike Channel in the United Kingdom
• August 2016 The Carlebach Shul in New York, NY
• August 2016 Wilmington Jewish Film Festival in Wilmington, DE
• August 2016 Southampton Jewish Film Festival in Southampton, NY
• September 2016 Congregation Beth Israel in Hempstead, NY
• October 2016 Sons of Italy Columbus Day Screening: 4pm at Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, NY
• October 2016 Theatre in the Court at Valley Stream Village Hall in Valley Stream, NY
• October 2016 Wagner College International Film Festival in Staten Island, NY
• October 2016 Holocaust Memorial & Tolerance Center's Reel Upstanders in Glen Cove, NY
• November 2016 Columbia JCC in Columbia, MO
• November 2016 Kristallnacht Commemoration-Linda Kelly Theatre New Rochelle High School in New Rochelle, NY
• November 2016 East Meadow Public Library in East Meadow, NY
• November 2016 Long Beach Public Library in Long Beach, NY
• December 2016 Long Beach Public Library in Long Beach, NY
• December 2016 GenShoah of Southwest Florida & Naples Italian American Foundation in Naples, FL
• January 2017 UJA-Federation of New York in New York, NY
• January 2017 Cineforum at the Auditorium Biblioteca Civica in Alassio, Italy
• January 2017 Westchester Italian Cultural Center in Tuckahoe, NY
• January 2017 Oceanside JCC in Oceanside, NY
• February 2017 Columbus Citizens Foundation in New York, NY
• February 2017 Columbian Lawyers Association of Nassau County in Westbury, NY
• February 2017 Connetquot High School in Bohemia, NY
• March 2017 New York State Council for the Social Studies Conference in Albany, NY
• April 2017 St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY
• April 2017 The Greens at Half Hollow in Melville, NY 
• May 2017 Jewish War Veterans of Long Island in Oceanside, NY
• May 2017 Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, NY
• June 2017 Italian American Museum in Little Italy in New York, NY
• June 2017 United Federation of Teachers Retiree Program in New York, NY
• June 2017 Second Generation at JCC in Oceanside, NY
• October 2017 Smithtown Public Library in Smithtown, NY
• November 2017 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) National Conference in San Francisco, CA
• November 2017 Brooklyn Brandeis Society, Columbian Lawyers Association of Brooklyn and Catholic Lawyers Guild of Kings County in Brooklyn, NY
• January 2018 UJA-Federation of New York in New York, NY
• January 2018 East Meadow Jewish Center in East Meadow, NY
• February 2018 Connetquot High School in Bohemia, NY
• March 2018 The Seasons at East Meadow in East Meadow, NY
• March 2018 New York State Council for the Social Studies Conference in Albany, NY
• April 22, 2018 Temple B'nai Sholom-Beth David in Rockville Centre, NY
• April 23, 2018 Loreto Theater at the Sheen Center in New York, NY
• April 26, 2018 Nazareth College in Rochester, NY
• April 29, 2018 Riverhead Public Library in Riverhead, NY
• May 3, 2018 SUNY at Old Westbury in Old Westbury, NY
• May 4, 2018 Birchwood at Spring Lake in Middle Island, NY
• May 8, 2018 Northshore Jewish Center in Port Jefferson, NY

NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD

• Click Here To Buy

NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON VIDEO

• My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes is now available on Amazon Video
  

NOW AVAILABLE ON iTUNES

• My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes is now available on iTunes
  

FORMERLY ON NETFLIX

• June 26, 2015 Release on Netflix in US, Canada and Italy