JMA X JIFF Special: The Heroes of the Louvre

Join the Jewish Museum of Australia at the Classic Cinema for the Australian premiere of The Heroes of the Louvre (2026), directed by Élie Chouraqui. With a special introduction by historian Professor Julie Kalman, explore the historical context of the film and unpack the rich connections and tensions between French and Jewish identities across the 20th century.

About the film:

As a lover of the arts, Jewish man Babi Maklouf Benhamou has the best job in the world: he’s the night watchman at the Louvre Museum. When World War II breaks out and a German invasion looms, Jacques Jaujard, the museum’s curator, organises a secret operation to rescue the artworks before they fall into Nazi hands.

Entrusted with transporting the Louvre’s masterpieces out of Paris, Babi agrees on one condition: that he is allowed to bring his family with him. So begins an epic, perilous family journey across occupied France, one that will bind the fate of the Louvre’s treasures to Maklouf and his family.

Directed by Maklouf’s real-life grandson, Elie Chouraqui, this historical drama tells the extraordinary story of an ordinary man who put his life at risk to quietly and anonymously help preserve some of the world’s greatest works of art for generations to come.

Julie Kalman is professor of history at Monash University, in Melbourne, Australia. She has published widely on the history of French Jewry in the nineteenth century, and in the post-war period, as well as on the history of migration to Australia. Her most recent book is The Kings of Algiers: How Two Jewish Families Shaped the Mediterranean World during the Napoleonic Empire and Beyond (Princeton University Press, 2023).