LitFilm 2025: Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny
Documentary, dir. by Chana Gazit and Jeff Bieber
U.S., 2025, 102 min
Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny takes a closer look at one of the most fearless political writers of modern times. Arendt came of age in Germany as Hitler rose to power, before escaping to the United States as a Jewish refugee. Through her unflinching capacity to demand attention to facts and reality, Arendt’s time as a political prisoner, refugee and survivor in Europe informed her groundbreaking insights into the human condition, the refugee crisis and totalitarianism.
Her major works, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), The Human Condition (1958), Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963), On Revolution (1963) and Crises of the Republic (1972) remain among the most important and most-read treatises on the development and impact of totalitarianism and the fault lines in American democracy. Arendt’s reports on the trial of Adolph Eichmann also caused a firestorm of controversy, and its impact is still felt today.
All screenings are free but require reservations. Times subject to change. For the full LitFilm roster, go here.
LitFilm: A BPL Film Festival About Writers is made possible with support from BPL’s Fund for the Humanities. BPL Presents programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
