B’nai Sholom to Screen Documentary “Ahead of Time”

B’nai Sholom Reform Congregation in Albany will present a screening of “Ahead of Time: The Extraordinary Journey of Ruth Gruber,” a documentary exploring the life of the foreign correspondent and photojournalist who made the news and changed the world.

“Ahead of Time: The Extraordinary Journey of Ruth Gruber” will be shown Saturday, February 28, at 7:30 p.m. at B’nai Sholom, 420 Whitehall Road, Albany, N.Y. Refreshments will be available. Suggested contribution: $3.

The 73-minute film is in English and Hebrew with English subtitles.

Born in Brooklyn in 1911 to Russian Jewish immigrants, Gruber became the youngest Ph.D. in the world before going on to become an international foreign correspondent and photojournalist at age 24. For seven decades, she didn’t just report the news – she made it. Gruber reported from the Soviet Arctic, escorted Holocaust refugees on a secret war-time mission and changed the world with dispatches from the Palestine-bound ship “Exodus” in 1947.

Through her own words and images, the film follows Gruber’s incredible journey as a student, reporter, activist leader and prolific author. The film captures the drama of her life as she lent her camera lens – and her heart – to refugees of war. Gruber continues to travel all over the world re-connecting with many of the people who shared historic moments with her in Europe, in Israel, in the Arctic Tundra, in DP camps and refugee centers overseas and in the United States.

                 Directed and photographed by Bob Richman, “Ahead of Time: The Extraordinary Journey of Ruth Gruber” had its world premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. Accolades include four “Best Documentary” awards – 2011 Miami Jewish Film Festival, 2011 Denver Jewish Film Festival, 2010 Berkshire International Film Festival and 2010 Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival – and an invitation to participate in Project 20/20, a prestigious cultural exchange program sponsored by the President’s Council for the Arts and Humanities.