Children of the Inquisition, a documentary in the making, follows descendants of the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions on their quest to determine and embrace their Sephardic Jewish roots. Many whose families fled the Inquisition 500 years ago were raised as traditional Jews, while others, whose ancestors were forced to convert, are just discovering their Jewish roots. Director Joseph Lovett will show film clips from this work-in-progress and present a fascinating re-evaluation of history and identity, exploring what happened to these people through the stories of their contemporary descendants.

Joseph Lovett is a Peabody award-winning filmmaker and veteran director/producer of ABC News 20/20. Children of the Inquisition is a production of Lovett Productions, which he founded in 1989. His many documentaries focus on social, cultural, and health-related issues. Lovett has been honored with numerous awards from advocacy organizations, including the Kitty Carlisle Hart Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts. Clips from Children of the Inquisition were shown in Israel last October at the Inaugural Session of the Knesset Caucus for the Reconnection with the Descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Communities.

Admission is free for members, $5 for non-members. Refreshments will be served.

Research Help

12:30 pm – come early to join the following discussion groups:

Bessarabia Special Interest Group
Litvak-Baltic Special Interest Group
Poland Special Interest Group

3:30 pm – stay after the lecture to join the following discussion groups:

Belarus Special Interest Group
Ukraine Special Interest Group

To view/download/print this year’s schedule, click here for the year at a glance.