My Underground Mother

Twenty years after her mother’s death, Marisa Fox-Bevilacqua unearths a family secret. She knew her mom as the infamous redheaded Israeli freedom fighter of family lore—but not as a survivor of a Czech women’s labor camp during the Holocaust. As Marisa delves deeper, she discovers a journal written by the camp’s teenage prisoners, some entries penned in her mother’s own hand. Following its clues across the globe, Marisa comes to understand the unbearable shame that fueled her mother’s defiance—and kept her silent. Riveting written and filmed testimonies, striking animation, and compelling vérité footage track a daughter’s search for an unknown mother, revealing a harrowing story of sisterhood and resistance. –Marcia Jarmel

2022 Filmmaker in Residence

World Premiere

Marisa Fox is a veteran journalist and first-time filmmaker whose work spans print, broadcast, and digital platforms. She has produced award-winning stories and social impact campaigns for Hearst, Time Inc., and others, and written for outlets including The New York Times, CNN, Ms., The Forward, and Ha’aretz. Her reporting often centers on gender, genocide, extremism, and sexual trauma. A “she source” for the Women’s Media Center, Fox made her directorial debut with My Underground Mother, which led to the unveiling of Holocaust memorials in Poland and the Czech Republic, and a digital exhibit with USC’s Shoah Foundation.