I had a teacher who died this past March.  He was a survivor of the Holocaust and an artist who lived in the Boston area.  His name was Albert Alcalay, and he was a Serbian Jew who spent the years of World War II on the run until he was captured and held in a series of concentration camps.  In one of these camps, he learned how to paint, or rather he learned what art is. 

Perhaps even more importantly, he learned what an artist is.

A few years ago, some friends and I got together and made a film about Albert.  This year it is being broadcast on public broadcasting stations nationally.  WGBH in Boston broadcast it recently and I received this email from a woman in Quincy:

“I watched the second half of the documentary on WGBH last night. I was moved to tears and also inspired by the man and his wonderful paintings. I must have had my head in the sand for 55 years to not know of this wonderful man, but am so grateful to the film makers and WGBH for bringing it to me.” 

The film will be broadcast on KERA Monday night, November 24th at 8 p.m.  If you’re interested, the following link will take you to the great promo that KERA’s Brian Nickerson has made.

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