This story was updated to include a link to the film.Â
Last Friday, as part of its MLK Shabbat Service, Temple Israel of Hollywood screened a three minute short film made by Sophie Hall-Mochkatel, a Hancock Park resident and USC student who grew up at Temple Israel. The video features rare and recently found archival footage of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech at Temple Israel of Hollywood on February 26, 1965.
King’s appearance at Temple Israel of Hollywood has always been a point of great pride. As we reported in 2019, the recorded speech was found and noted in the Los Angeles Jewish Journal before Martin Luther King Day in 2007. National Public Radio learned of it from the LAJJ article and requested permission to air it nationally that year. It was aired both in 2007 and 2008.
But this was the first time the video footage has been shown.
Originally tasked by temple member Michael Skloff  with creating a video highlighting the TIOH community service events celebrating the messages and work of Dr. King, Hall-Mochkatel was planning to feature still images of all the various programs undertaken by the Temple volunteers over the years. As she was sorting through images, Hall-Mochkatel received a file containing the footage of King’s speech on that February night.
“I became obsessed with the footage and decided to make it a central part of the video,” Hall-Mochkatel, a film student at USC, told the Buzz. Hall-Mochkatel told us she is a cinematography minor and is also studying Spanish, Los Angeles History and Culture. Her sort film combines all her interests and developing expertise.
Hall-Mochkatel is really pleased with how the film turned out. She hopes the legal rights and permissions for short three-minute film will be secured so it can be shared widely, until then, she was kind enough to share some screenshots from the film. We hope you enjoy them and MLK Day!
