JIFF26 The Heroes of the Louvre

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 2 breaks out and a German invasion looms, Jacques Jaujard, the museum’s curator, organizes 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 helped preserve some of the world’s greatest works of art for generations to come.