Forest Hills Neighbor at Library of Congress

Aviva Kempner, our own neighborhood documentary filmmaker is out and about promoting her award winning film, “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg.” Her next stop is at the Library of Congress on May 13.

To mark Jewish American Heritage Month, the Library of Congress will present a talk by documentary filmmaker Aviva Kempner, featuring clips from the newly expanded 2-disc DVD edition of her 2001 Peabody Award-winning film, “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg.”

The event will be held at noon on Monday, May 13, in the Mary Pickford Theater, located on the third floor of the James Madison Building at 101 Independence Avenue S.E., Washington, D.C. Sponsored jointly by the Hebraic Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division and the Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation, the event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required but seating is limited. Scheduled for release on April 24, the new DVD package will be on sale for $30 at the event.

Kempner’s film depicts how America’s first Jewish baseball star — a rival of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig — helped break down the barriers of discrimination in American sports and society and became a beacon of hope to American Jews who faced bigotry during the Depression and World War II.