The Conspiracy

Sarasota Film Festival 2023

Narrated by Mayim Bialik and directed by Maxim Pozdorovkin, THE CONSPIRACY is an animated documentary that shows how a centuries-old myth has moved from the fringe to the mainstream, becoming a pillar of modern anti- Semitism. To tell this story, the film uses the first-hand accounts of three prominent Jewish families. We follow the Dreyfuses, Warburgs, and Bronsteins as the conspiracy develops and the lives of these families are woven further into its net. Alternating between the stories of a French soldier, a German banker, and a Russian revolutionary, the film spans centuries to show the recurrence of the same conspiracy theory. This conspiracy that ravages the lives of our characters is set against the backdrop of a larger story about the Jewish people. From Simonini’s letter blaming the French Revolution on a Jewish conspiracy to the poisonous Protocols of the Elders of Zion, conmen and forgers spin an elaborate web of lies blaming Jews for the ills of the world. Disaffected citizens conjure up alternative explanations for democratic progress, and delusional nationalists pin the failures of their country on Jewish residents. Antisemites attempt to justify their hate with pseudo-scientific race theory. All the way up to the present day. The Conspiracy ends by returning to Robert Bowers in his Pittsburgh apartment. Convinced that an aid society, with ties to the Warburg family, is conspiring to replace the white race by bringing in refugees, Bowers commits mass murder at the Tree of Life Synagogue.