Center for German and European Studies

Film Screening and Discussion: HANNAH ARENDT: FACING TYRANNY

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*Co-sponsored by the Tauber Institute for the Study of European Jewry and Brandeis University Press*

About the Event

Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny is a feature documentary about one of the most influential and fearless political thinkers of the twentieth century. Through her bravery, judgement and unflinching capacity to demand attention to facts, Arendt's time as a political prisoner and refugee during World War II informed her groundbreaking insights into the human condition, the refugee crisis and totalitarianism that continue to resonate today.

Join speakers Jeff Bieber (Executive Producer, Co-Director and Co-Writer), Sabine Krayenbuhl (Editor), Chana Gazit (Co-Director and producer), and Salme Lopez (Lead Producer) for a discussion after the screening.

About the Speakers

Jeff Bieber, Executive Producer, Co-Writer, Co-Director is a 40-year veteran of public media. His films and social impact campaigns include Avoiding Armageddon (8-hours, 2003), My Journey Home (2-hours, 2004), America At A Crossroads (12-hours, 2007), The Jewish Americans (6-hours, 2008), Latino Americans (6-hours, 2013), Italian Americans (4-hours, 2015), The Pilgrims (2-hours, 2015), and Asian Americans (5-hours, 2020). He has earned two national Emmy Awards, a duPont-Columbia Award and three Peabody Awards. Jeff Bieber Productions was created in 2022. Projects include Dante, a 4-hour series directed by Ric Burns (April 2024), The Harvest, a 2-hour film for American Experience (September 2023); Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined (September 2024);Weaving Nature (April 2024). Projects currently in production for American Masters include Hannah Arendt – Facing Tyranny (slated for June 27, 2025); Projects in development include Liz Diller: Making Space for the Future for American Masters, slated for 2026.

Chana Gazit, Co-Director and Producer is an award-winning documentary producer, director and writer. Her work has been honored with multiple EMMY nominations and three EMMY Awards. Additionally, her work has been recognized by, among others, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism Awards, the Peabody Awards, the Writer’s Guild Awards, and the Sundance Film Festival.  Films include Franklin Roosevelt (4-hours) and Lyndon Johnson (4-hours). PBS series, American Experience: Chicago ‘68, Surviving the Dust Bowl, Meltdown at Three Mile Island, Fatal Flood, The Pill, Test Tube Babies, The Forgotten Plague, and The Codebreaker.   Healing and the Mind with Bill Moyers, Slavery & the Making of America, Destination America, This Emotional Life, Soundtracks, a look at the social movements of the last half-century through the lens of music. Ballerina Boys, and Big Pharma, (6-part series).

Salme M. López Sabina, Lead Producer, has led production for several groundbreaking, critically acclaimed films for Public Television including “Latin Music USA”, FRONTLINE and American Experience's co-production of “God in America” and most recently, the highly anticipated six-hour series “Latino Americans” which aired in the Fall of 2013. Honing her craft within news and documentaries over the last ten years Salme began her career in journalism where she worked for the most widely read newspaper in San Juan Puerto Rico “El Nuevo Día”. Salme was born in Havana, Cuba and emigrated to the United States in 1992.

Sabine Krayenbühl, Editor, is an award-winning filmmaker with over twenty theatrical documentaries and narrative features to her credit. She co-directed and edited Letters from Baghdad about Gertrude Bell, sometimes referred to as the female "Lawrence of Arabia."  Her editing work includes Oscar and Independent Spirit Award nominated My Architect for which she received an American Cinema Editors (ACE) Eddie Award nomination and the Emmy-winning The Hunt for Planet B. Additional credits include Mad Hot Ballroom, one of the top twenty highest grossing documentaries, The Bridge produced by IFC, Picasso and Braque go to the Movies, produced by Martin Scorsese, Virgin Tales, Ahead of Time, Jennifer Fox’s Emmy nominated My Reincarnation, Salinger on which she consulted and most recently HBO’s The Price of Everything. Krayenbühl has a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is a  member of NYWIFT and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.