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World ORT Archive’s Film Collection

WOA’s film collection is a unique record of the organisation’s contribution to the development and advancement of Jewish education and vocational training in the 20th century. The films document ORT activities among Jewish communities worldwide. Many feature communities that have since dispersed and disappeared, specifically those of North Africa and Iran. They are a testament to the individual character and history of these communities and focus on a particular aspect of their lives, often neglected in other documentaries – education and learning.

World ORT Video Library

Silent footage from the British ORT-OSE dinner held at the Savoy Hotel on 28 October 1930. Other guests included George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Lord Rothschild and Rabbi Joseph Hertz. Silent footage of Einstein speaking, intercut with views of the audience. Includes a small selection from George Bernard Shaw's speech in honour of Einstein. Speaking with a heavy heart, Einstein said: "It is no easy task for me to overcome my inclination to a life of quiet contemplation. Nevertheless, to the cry of the ORT and OSE Societies I have been unable to tum a deaf ear. For it is at the same time to the cry of our heavily burdened people that I respond."
[Silent] Documentary film showing scenes at ORT schools for displaced persons (DPs) in post-WWII Belgium. Starts at the ORT Belgique Electrometal school in Brussels, showing students at work in classrooms and workshops. Then shows sewing and tailoring workshops in Antwerp. Ending is missing.
Scenes from the ORT vocational school in Montreuil, Paris, France, showing donors’ contributions to the school.
Narrated documentary about ORT's activities in Europe's displaced persons (DP) camps after the Second World War. The film begins with an introduction showing scenes from the liberation of the concentration camps and views of DP camps and their inhabitants. It then discusses ORT's work within the camps, providing education and vocational skills in numerous professions. Scenes from various camps show students engaged in work. Jacob Oleiski is seen outside the ORT Landsberg Mechanical Center. The ORT central warehouse, where equipment and supplies were sent from around the world is shown. Scenes from a number of courses are intercut with displays of student work. This includes workshops and classrooms in sewing, nursing, technical dental work, carpentry and upholstery, typewriter repair, art and design, watch making, movie projection, car mechanics, building and agriculture and more. An emphasis is placed on providing skills that will enable students to emigrate to Palestine and support the new Jewish nation. A special unit for recovering TB patients which allows them to improve their health while gaining work skills is also shown. Finally students are shown receiving their ORT graduation diploma - their passport to freedom. The film concludes by stating that ORT is moving towards providing the same skills to non-Jewish communities in Europe as well as to Jewish communities outside Europe in places such as North Africa. Filmed by ORT cameramen in Europe and produced by Lester Koenig.
Narrated film focusing on the student experience at the ORT Central Training Institute in Anieres, Switzerland. Follows Jack, a student at the school, from the moment of arrival through learning, socialising, and graduating, until his departure from the school.
Women's American ORT documentary style film which follows a young ORT student from the Mellah - the Jewish quarter - of Casablanca through his schooling at ORT. Shows the impact of ORT on the lives of poverty-stricken Moroccan Jews in the 1950s. The film is narrated by an English-speaking voice, as if from the boy's perspective. It is very much of its time: extremely patronising in tone and style. However, it provides documentary evidence of the ORT school in Casablanca, its various classes, workshops and activities.
The story of ORT in Iran, described by an Iranian student who has been trained at the Central ORT Institute in Anieres, Switzerland to become a teacher in his native Iran. Yusuf tells his story of growing up in Shiraz, attending the ORT Teheran school and being sent for teacher training in Anieres.
Produced and directed by Stephen L. Sharff; supervised by Jack Rader; narration written by Edmund Pennant.
Women's American ORT (WAO) narrated documentary-style fundraising film. Describes ORT's activities during its early years in Morocco, focusing on Casablanca and its suburbs. Stresses WAO's contribution to making a significant change in the lives of Casablanca's Mellah Jews.
Narrated film showing Women's American ORT's contribution to ORT's work in the new State of Israel. Shows activities in a number of schools, including, woodwork, hairdressing and beauty, sewing and cutting, rug making and academic subjects. Also shows Dr Syngalowski visiting ORT programmes.
Produced by Women's American ORT (WAO) .
Illustrates the challenges faced by ORT in Israel in providing an education to underprivileged students. Shows two examples: an Arab boy and a Jewish boy from a North African family. Both students come from poor families but receive the skills that will ensure their future as bread winners.
A Mithras production for ORT. Production: Monica Menell; music by Carl Davis; narration: David de Keyser; editor: Dai Vaughan, assisted by Martin Smith. Produced and directed by Maurice Hatton.
Women's American ORT (WAO) fundraising film. Follows the path of two Jewish boys from Tunis to Paris. The protagonist, Shali Ibrahim Tabib, is a 16-year-old Jewish orphan, who leaves Tunis aboard a ship to Marseilles with 600 francs in his pocket. He receives a train ticket and the address of ORT Paris at the Marseilles synagogue and travels to Paris, where he meets his friend Luc. The film is narrated from Shali's point of view, voicing his thoughts through the narrator's voice. Luc and Shali follow different paths to try and survive as immigrants in Paris. Shali is torn between the temptations of making a quick, illegal living selling cigarettes on the street and the more fulfilling, slower path to riches that an ORT vocational course offers. Eventually he chooses ORT and the film ends in the hope that his friend Luc will follow.
Executive producer: Nathan Gould for WAO. Written by Millard Lampell. Produced and directed by Stephen L. Sharff; assistant director: Alexander Goitein; narrator: Theodor Bikel; solo music improvised by Kenneth Schmidt.
Women's American ORT (WAO) film following several students from poor backgrounds and their journey through education at ORT Teheran. Gives a brief history of the Jewish community in Iran and focuses on two families: one from Arak [Soltan Abad], a town 260km away from Teheran with a tiny Jewish minority [today an industrial city]; the other from a poor quarter (“Mahallah”) of Teheran. The film shows both families' homes, destitute parents and siblings and demonstrates how the opportunity of getting an ORT education has helped the children embark on a new life.
Shows scenes at the Teheran ORT campus, classes in different disciplines, leisure activities, the canteen and dormitory.
Focuses on two brothers, Hushan and Avram from Arak, attending the ORT school in Teheran. Hushan, the eldest, is a top student in his year and is likely to be sent to the ORT Anieres Central (teacher training) Institute in Switzerland. 14-year-old Avram has yet to have had his Bar Mitzvah and the film ends with the ceremony for him and two of his classmates with his family present.
Produced by Women's American ORT; produced and directed by Harold Mayer; music performed by ORT Iran students; narrated by Michael Tolan; written by Lynne Rhodes Mayer; edited by Morton Rosenfeld; cameraman: Paul Goldsmith; unit manager: Donald Buchsbaum; assistant producer: Victor Chitayat.
Narrated documentary about the ORT-AIU (Alliance Israelite Universelle) school for deaf children in Casablanca, Morocco.
Director: Alexandre Magat; editor: Jeanne-Marie Favier; scenario and photography: Alexandre Magat; script: Jean-Paul Darmsteter; narrator: Robin Gilbert. Music: Jewish folk song: 'A flame is burning the old fireplace'; orchestra and chorus conducted by Benedict Silberman; musical arrangement: Eric Bujard; musical advisors: Niouta and Soussia Goldmann. Made with the collaboration and participation of Jacob Sadoun, Director of the ORT-AIU Institute for the Deaf, Casablanca, Rachele Sultan, Samuel Sultan, Zari Levy, Simone Bensoussan, Raymonde Borros, Sylvia Lezmi and Georgette Benayoun.
Narrated film about ORT's efforts to provide vocational education for Israel's growing immigrant community. Uses the term Organisation for Rehabilitation through Training to explain the O.R.T acronym.
Follows a number of schools and individual students to illustrate the challenges to ORT and the benefits to students. Workshop and classroom scenes are intercut with travelling shots of towns and cities in Israel. Includes an interview with Mrs Elstein, a student from Vilna who speaks of her Holocaust experience. Shows activities in Ashkelon, Jaffa, Nazareth, Netanya, Shafir, Tel Aviv and Yavne.
A Mithras Films production for ORT. Production: Monica Menell; written by Naomi Shepherd; music by Carl Davis; editor: Dai Vaughan, assisted by Martin Smith; commentary spoken by Sir John Gielgud; produced and directed by Maurice Hatton.
French narrated film about the ORT Institute in Anieres, Switzerland. Includes interviews with students, staff and other ORT personnel. Shows a graduation ceremony, views of the institute inside and out, classroom and recreation scenes. Features (among others) Michel Bigart, André Chavanne, Vladimir Halperin, Alexandre Magat, Jacqueline Maus, Daniel Mayer, Hannah Pirenne-Syngalowski, Jean Kases Professor, Grand Rabbin Alexandre Safran.
Le Consistoire Central & Le Consistoire Israelite de Paris; Asnieres s/Monde. Film by Rabbi Josy Eisenberg. Assistant: Nicole Barmat; collaboration: Danielle Elkaim; editor: Jean Vilain.
Women's American ORT (WAO) publicity film about ORT Israel. Focuses on WAO's contribution and the affects of the projects they support on Israel's youth and the state's future. Begins at ORT Syngalowski, where student Dov talks about his studies and plans for the future. The film follows him into the machinery workshop, classroom, recreation and sport activities. It then shows another student, Oded, specialising in electronics and computer technology. He describes his final project and his examination is shown. The film concludes with scenes from an ORT school at Kibbutz Ein Harod. WAO production. Executive Producer: Chayym Zelsis; script by Stephan Chodorov; narrated by Lon Clark; directed and produced by Stefan Sharff.
Women's Canadian ORT narrated film which uses sources previously used in other ORT films (film footage and stills) to showcase ORT's work around the globe. Shows activities in Iran, North Africa, France, Israel, teacher training at Anieres, Switzerland and work by ORT International Cooperation.
Produced by Toronto Women's ORT. Narrator: Paul Kligman; sound: Patrick Spence-Thomas; music: Ron Nigrini; editor: Michael Ellis; written by Dorothy Shoichet & Esme Gotz.
Illustrates ORT's activities around the globe, through short films about various locations. Includes scenes from: Switzerland (Anieres); Iran; India (Thane); Morocco (Ain Sebaa, Val D'Anfa & the ORT school for the deaf); Tunisia (ORT-AIU); Paris (Montreuil); Rome; Argentina; Guinea; Kenya; and Israel (Shapiro Apprentice Centre; Levinson Comprehensive High School, Kiryat Bialik; Shafir; Beer Sheva; Syngalowski Centre; Netanya tourism and catering; Nazareth; & Jerusalem aeronautical mechanics).
Executive producer: Jack Rader. Produced and directed by Stefan Sharff. Written by Jerome Alden.
An ORT International Cooperation (IC) film. Shows IC projects supporting different communities in both rural and urban settings in Africa. Includes fishing, construction, secretarial skills, technical drawing. Produced by World ORT Union; Camera: Mike Dodds, Ian McFarlane, assistant: Dixie Dean; Sound: Frank Minton, Mike McDuffie; Editor: Piers Jessop; dubbing editor: Martin Fulford; Written, produced and directed by Bob Gill.
A History of ORT and the world since the 19th Century using stills and footage. Outlines ORT's work through the prism of modern Jewish history. Includes a lot of general footage of Jewish people in Europe before and after WWII. Also has some good footage of ORT's post-war work with DPs.
Documentary on road construction and bridge building in Zaire [now Democratic Republic of Congo]. Shows tractors and heavy vehicles; construction workers; various stages of the construction process; opening ceremony and a warehouse of the office des routes.
World ORT International Cooperation Department [?] co-produced by Tele-Zaire & Office Des Routes, Zaire. Directed by Babindimina Mwamba Kashala; cinematography by Mtumba T.; sound by Pepa; edited by Bakili; sound mixing by Baeke; narrated by Mwamba Kashala.
Film focusing on ORT Israel. Begins with a subtitled statement by Director François Reichenbach explaining his choice of focusing on Israel. Proceeds to show Orson Welles talking about ORT. He continues to narrate the film as footage of activities in ORT Israel schools is shown, but his narration ends halfway through the film. In many of the scenes close-up shots of students' hands are prominent.
Activities shown include technical drawing; workshop work; language studies; recreation; home economics; hairdressing; electronics; typing; art and craft; welding; sports; sewing; woodwork; library work; aircraft mechanics; and scenes at the Rogozin marine school in Ashdod. The film concludes with a subtitled statement asking viewers for their support.
Produced by Les Films Du Prisme. Directed by François Reichenbach with collaboration of Jaqueline Maus. Written by Joseph Kessel; cameraman: Christian Odasso, assistant: Gerard Teverna; editors: Monique Lepeuve, Anne Belin; music: Eddie Vartan; narrated and presented by Orson Welles.
Documentary on ORT International Cooperation's school for road maintenance [the ORT Brigade Ecole - or the road maintenance training brigade] in Zaire [now Democratic Republic of Congo]. Follows the training and practical work of the Public Works Equipment Maintenance Service (SGMTP). Shows classroom scenes and work in the field.
Production: Sema7; Tele Zaire; directed by Antoine Hirsch; produced by Komba Kayoumba; cinematography by Xavier Quentin; sound by Yamba; sound mixing by Jacques Pietrobelli; edited by Gilles Signard; technical consultant: Robert Offner.
Film introducing World ORT Union's programme of English language teaching for Jewish Soviet immigrants awaiting their visas (mainly to the USA) in Rome. The following people are featured: Isaac Lumkis from Kiev talks about his experience and hope to emigrate to NY. WOU's Vladimir Halperin talks to students in Russian. Student Gregory Zinger, his wife Jane and their young son, who left Leningrad in 1976, talk about their experiences and hopes for the future. A classroom scene and interview with teacher Maria Thomas. Student Raya Dubrinskaya, a music graduate, is shown playing the piano and talks with a fellow student about her experience. World ORT Union production.
Produced and directed by Bert Cantor; commentary by Bert Cantor; sound by Sam Miesegaes; cinematography and editing by Nick Claxton.
Explains what ORT stands for and does using still images, statistics and graphics with no moving images. Shows schools, students and facilities in ORT schools around the world. Provides a brief history of the organisation, briefly focusing on the programme in Israel and in other countries, including technical assistance work in developing countries.
World ORT Union. Produced and directed by Bert Cantor; commentary: Peter Marinkler; graphic design: David Raitt; rostrum camera: Ken Morse; dubbing mixer: Peter Maxwell; music consultant: Laurence Aston; film editor: Jonathan Lewis.
Footage of the opening ceremony of ORT Braude, Karmiel, Israel, on 6 June 1989 and overview of the college and student life. Includes footage from the ground breaking ceremony in 1987 and coverage of the construction progress; speeches by Chaim Herzog, Ephraim Katzir, Itzhak Navon and Simcha Dinitz. Also shows Shelley Appleton, Chairman or WOU Executive Committee, paying tribute to Joseph Harmatz, Chaim Herzog and Max Braude.
Produced by the Audiovisual Department at Moshinsky Pedagogical Center, ORT Israel. Producer: Dvorah Aaron; director and photographer: Shemi Perry; editor: Simon Tamir; post-production: On-Line Arta Film.