Houston Jewish Film Festival: Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara 

Drama | Directed by Marco Bellocchio | 2024 | Italy, France, Germany | Italian, Hebrew with English subtitles | 134 minutes | Kaplan Theatre

Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio delves into his country’s antisemitic past with the unsettling 1850s story of young Edgardo Mortara, who was controversially taken from his Jewish family in Bologna after a secret baptism by the family’s nanny. Bellochio’s somber but visually elegant style paints a vivid picture of Edgardo’s fractured identity and turn toward Catholicism, his parents’ desperate fight for his return and the corruption of Pope Pius IX’s Church that led to monumental changes in Italian history.

Moderated discussion follows film 

Patron Sponsors: Eve and Bobby Lapin; Elise Sheppard

Community Partners: Consulate General of Italy in Houston, The Rene and Jimmy Wisch Charitable Foundation