Featured Forum Guests:
Robert Meeropol
Robert Meeropol is the younger son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. In 1953, when he was six years old, the U.S. government executed his parents for “conspiring to steal the secret of the atomic bomb.”
For 40 years he has been a progressive activist, author, and public speaker. In the 1970s he and his brother, Michael, successfully sued the FBI and CIA to force the release of 300,000 previously secret documents about their parents. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in anthropology from the University of Michigan, graduated law school in 1985, and was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar.
In 1990, after leaving private practice, he founded the Rosenberg Fund for Children and now serves as its Executive Director. The RFC, which is in the midst celebrating its 20th anniversary with a series of 20-plus special events across the country, provides for the educational and emotional needs of both targeted activist youth and children in this country whose parents have been harassed, injured, jailed, lost jobs, or died in the course of their progressive activities. In its two decades, the fund has awarded $4 million in grants to benefit hundreds of children.
Robert’s memoir, An Execution in the Family, was published by St. Martin’s Press on the 50th anniversary of his parents’ executions. The book details his odyssey from Rosenberg son to political activist and leader of the Rosenberg Fund for Children.
Film Festival 2011
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Bob Balaban
Bob Balaban recently received an Emmy nomination for directing Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons in Georgia O’Keeffe (Lifetime). He received three 2008 Emmy Award nominations, two for directing and producing the HBO film Bernard and Doris, starring Susan Sarandon and Ralph Fiennes, the third for his performance in Recount. Other directing credits include The Last Good Time (starring Armin Mueller Stahl and Maureen Stapleton) and Parents (with Randy Quaid and Sandy Dennis). He produced and co-starred in the award-winning film Gosford Park. His acting career spans nearly 100 films including Howl, Capote, A Mighty Wind, Ghost World, Best in Show, Cradle Will Rock, Waiting for Guffman, For Your Consideration, Absence of Malice, Prince of the City, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Catch-22, Midnight Cowboy, and the upcoming The Convincer, with Greg Kinnear and Alan Arkin. His theatre appearances include Plaza Suite, The Inspector General (Tony Award nomination), Speed the Plow, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, Marie and Bruce, and Some Americans Abroad. He directed and produced the original hit off-Broadway production of The Exonerated (Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, New York Times #1 Play, Fringe First Award at Edinburgh Fringe Festival), as well as the television version starring Susan Sarandon and Danny Glover. His bestselling series of children’s books, McGrowl, sold over two million copies, and he is currently at work on another series of children's books for Viking.
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