When the Night Falls

Actor and director Daniel Auteuil tells the story of a relatively unknown chapter in the German Occupation of France: the rescue of Jewish children from Vénissieux in August 1942.

The narrative follows Gilbert Lesage, a young civil servant at the Service Social des Étrangers, played by Antoine Reinartz, who is appointed to chair a committee tasked with deciding which Jews will be permitted to leave the internment camp in Vénissieux. A directive from the Vichy regime changes everything. It stipulates that non-accompanied children must not be deported. Certain committee members including Father Glasberg, played by Auteuil, then attempt to save as many children as
possible before their deportation.

While other films this year concentrated on such celebrated figures as De Gaulle or Jean Moulin, Auteuil (on his sixth directorial outing) chooses to tell the story of the unsung heroes. These men and women
took incredibly brave action, with no weapons and no desire for glory, simply because they refused to accept the unacceptable. At a time when the last remaining Holocaust victims are disappearing, the film
serves as an important reminder of our duty to remember.