“When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit” Film and Post Film Discussion with producer Jochen Laube in conversation with Dr. Natalia Aleksiun

Classrooms Without Borders, in partnership with Rodef Shalom Congregation, is excited to offer the opportunity to watch the film “When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit” and engage in a post-film discussion with the producer Jochen Laube in conversation with Dr. Natalia Aleksiun.
This program is generously sponsored by Ellen Beller in celebration of her and Tsipy Gur’s birthdays.

Based on the award-winning novel by Judith Kerr, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit tells the story of one family’s successful efforts of escaping Germany and living as refugees, first in Switzerland, then in Paris, and finally in London. Told through the eyes of the precocious nine-year-old Anna, the exquisitely rendered film allows us to observe her carefree nature evolve into a more mature outlook on life. Still, she and her brother Max look for adventure at every turn, and her relationship with her father (the famous German theatre critic Alfred Kerr) reveals a special bond. Directed by Academy-Award winning director Caroline Link, the film, like the book, is destined to become a classic.

Jochen Laube
image copyright Sommerhaus Filmproduktion / Frank Stolle

Jochen Laube, alumni of the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, completed his studies with the feature film URLAUB VOM LEBEN (2005, director, Neele Volmar). In 2006 he founded Sommerhaus Filmproduktion, with which he produced films such as NOVEMBERKIND (2008, director Christian Schwochow) and Grimme Prize-winning documentary, SONBOL. From 2008 to 2015, Jochen Laube was a producer for teamWorx, later UFA Fiction, and headed up its production office in Ludwigsburg. During this time he produced numerous award-winning cinema and television films, including Dietrich Brüggemann’s STATIONS OF THE CROSS, awarded the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay at the 2014 Berlinale, as well as the 2012 International Emmy-nominated mini-series, “BARON MÜNCHAUSEN”. He also produced Burhan Qurbani’s WE ARE YOUNG. WE ARE STRONG. for UFA Fiction, which was screened at the Rome and Tribeca international film festivals and nominated for a Lola at the 2016 German Film Awards 2016, Best Film category. Most recently he produced the German-Canadian coproduction COCONUT HERO (2014, directed by Florian Cossen) for UFA Fiction, as well as the documentary EAT THAT QUESTION – FRANK ZAPPA IN HIS OWN WORDS (2015, directed by Thorsten Schütte), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2015 Jochen Laube and Fabian Maubach resumed production activities together under the umbrella of Sommerhaus Filmproduktion GmbH.
Jochen Laube was appointed to the Producer on the Move programme in Cannes in 2013, and is a member of the German Film Academy – and part of its First Steps jury since 2017 – and teaches production at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy. He is also the initiator and curator of the Ludwigsburg film festival “Lichtspielliebe”.