Can films reveal what a nation really believes about itself?

For decades, Dutch cinema told one story about its Jews. Then, slowly, that story began to change.

This week, Dr. Eyal Boers, head of Film and Television at Ariel University, takes us on a fascinating journey through more than a century of Dutch cinema, showing how films have reflected—and shaped—the Netherlands' evolving relationship with its Jewish community, the Holocaust, national identity, and Israel.

Why did Jewish characters move from being outsiders to symbols of national guilt? Why does Anne Frank loom so large over Dutch filmmaking? And what does today's portrayal of Israelis reveal about contemporary Europe?

It's a conversation about cinema—but even more, it's about memory, identity, and the stories societies tell themselves.

Check out Dr. Boers book, The Jew in Dutch Cinema: Images, Stereotypes and National Identity.

Upon the publication of Autocorrect, his latest collection of short stories, Etgar Keret joins us to discuss his favorite literary form, the impact of AI on storytelling and the power of literature post-Oct 7.

The episode is sponsored by the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at UCLA and co-hosted by Prof David N. Myers.

The major turning points in Iran's nuclear program were not the JCPOA or the latest wars, but the Shah's defiance of Henry Kissinger and the Iran-Iraq War, says Dr. Sina Azodi, Assistant Professor of Middle East Politics at George Washington University and author of Iran and the Bomb: The United States, Iran and the Nuclear Question.