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Screening of the film “Nicholas Winton: The Power of Good“ in Copenhagen

On 11 June 2009 the film “Nicholas Winton: The Power of Good” – a gripping documentary about a young English stockbroker, who saved the lives of 669 children, most of them Jewish, from Nazi concentration camps – was shown at the Danish Film Institute (Cinemateket).

The Power of Good by the Slovak director Matej Mináč, the author of the film All My Loved Ones (1999), tells via archive recordings, photographs and testimonies by some of the so‑called „Winton“ children and by Nicholas Winton himself thestory of an individual whose courage and determination helped to save many human lives. Nicholas Winton, who turned 100 years on 19 May 2009, received a knighthood and was awarded the Order of the British Empire and the Order of T.G.Masaryk for his deeds.

Matej Mináč (in the middle) together with Simon Hayman (on the left) and the Czech Ambassador Zdeněk Lyčka (on the right)

The film was awarded an Emmy for the Best Documentary in 2002. The director Matej Mináč was present and together with the Israeli Ambassador Mr. Arthur Avnon, the British Ambassador Nicholas Archer and the Czech Ambassador Zdeněk Lyčka participated in a discussion with the audience. The screening was also attended by Mr. Simon Hayman, whose mother is one of the saved “Winton´s children” currently living in New Zealand. The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Copenhagen offered a glass of Czech wine and beer at the end of the evening.

On 12 June 2009 the film was hown at Rygaards International School in Copenhagen. Mr. Mináč discussed the film with the students and recorded their authentic reactions to the film. In the accompaniment of the director of the international section of the school, Mr. Ken Rushe, Mr. Mináč was shown the areal of the school that became a women monastery during World War II. The nuns together with an English priest managed to hide Jewish children in the underground corridors and helped them to escape to Sweden.

In front of the international private school - Rygaards School.

During his short stay in Copenhagen Mr. Mináč recorded an interview with the Danish Minister of Education, Mr. Bertel Haarder, about the importance of informing the young generation about holocaust.

The material recorded in Denmark will be used for the follow up on the documentary about Nicholas Winton. Mr. Mináč decided to make the new project due to the active reactions of the young generation all over the world to the outstanding documentary The Power of Good.

Mr. Mináč gave an interview also to the Czech News Agency´s correspondent in Sweden, Mr.Tomáš Sniegoň.

For more information please see:
The Power of Good