Biographical Documentary
USA
English Language with limited subtitles
Tues., May 25, 7 p.m. — Harvard Exit
Thurs. May 27, 4:30 p.m. — SIFF Cinema
Rating: Excellent
One of the greatest benefits of attending the Seattle International Film Festival is the opportunity for exposure to educational documentaries profiling noteworthy people and human events. The biographical documentary Ahead of Time, profiling former New York Herald Tribune correspondent Ruth Gruber, is an excellent example.
Gruber came of age in the early 1930s, having been raised in almost an entirely Jewish culture and neighborhood in Queens. Over her mother’s strong objections, she became an American exchange student to Cologne University in Germany in 1931-32, during Hitler’s rise to power.