Illinois Holocaust Museum to show ‘First to Stand: The Cases and Causes of Irwin Cotler’

On Saturday, June 26, Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center will host a film screening and discussion on “First to Stand: The Cases and Causes of Irwin Cotler.” It will begin at 6 p.m. at the museum, 9603 Woods Drive, Skokie.

The documentary is by internationally acclaimed filmmakers Irene Lilienheim Angelico and Abbey Jack Neidik (“Dark Lullabies,” “The Cola Conquest,” and “Unbreakable Minds”).

“You don’t have to be a ‘hero’ to stand up for human rights — any one of us can do it,” said Iranian American journalist Masih Alinejad, who will attend the Chicago premiere of “First to Stand: The Cases and Causes of Irwin Cotler,” a captivating documentary that delves into the cases and causes championed by the tireless global human rights advocate, Irwin Cotler, a current Nobel Prize nominee.

Alinejad was born in a small Iranian village yet rose to prominence through her daring journalism, challenging the status quo with her fearless advocacy for women’s rights and freedoms in Iran. Alinejad is in this riveting film by Montreal’s documentary filmmakers, Irene Lilienheim Angelico and Abbey Jack Neidik.

Join this conversation in the post-film Q&A by international-award-winning director Irene Lilienheim Angelico with Masih Alinejad, talking about their fight for human rights in today’s world.

This event is free for the public; Reservations are required at ilholocaustmuseum.org.

This is an opportunity to engage with these empowering human rights’ activists in a post-film discussion.

First to Stand takes you “backstage” with Nobel Prize nominee Irwin Cotler in his legal defense of activists worldwide — including Nelson Mandela, Natan Sharansky, and Bill Browder — the stuff of legend.

In “First to Stand,” Cotler’s “cases and causes” are celebrated for their humanitarian accomplishments, including (in alphabetical order):

• Raif Badawi, Saudi blogger sentenced to 10 years and a thousand lashes for advocating freedom of expression, and his wife Ensaf Haidar, who fought relentlessly for his release from prison, and now from a travel ban by the Saudi regime

• Bill Browder, first to speak out against Russia’s notorious President Putin, and the creator of the greatest human rights tool of the century

• Amal Clooney, international human rights barrister fighting to protect journalists-at-risk

• Romeo Dallaire, Canadian officer and peacekeeper who heroically tried to stop the Rwandan genocide

• Nelson Mandela, South African anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa after being imprisoned for 28 years under Apartheid

• Esther Mujawayo, Rwandan Survivor and founder of the Association of Widows of the Rwandan Genocide

• Shaparak Shajarizadeh, Iranian imprisoned for waving her hijab on a stick on the streets of Iran, who escaped to Canada — named one of the BBC’s 100 most influential women

• Natan Sharansky, Ukrainian-born “refusenik,” Israeli politician and international human rights advocate, imprisoned for nine years in a Soviet prison

For information, visit firsttostand.com.