Joe Brown wants to bring the SIUC Jewish community together.

“It can be difficult to be a Jewish student here,” said Brown, director of the SIUC chapter of the Hillel Foundation for Jewish Campus Life.

Brown said the campus is physically distant from any large Jewish community and many students have never met a Jewish person before they arrive. The foundation works to make Jewish students more comfortable by sponsoring religious and social events, from karaoke to pizza parties, he said.

As part of its mission, the foundation hosted the first in a trial “Holocaust in Film” series in the Student Center.

The first film was “The Pianist”, which was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Three people showed up to watch the movie.

Brown said this miniature series is a precursor to a full 18-film series the foundation plans to host in November and December.

The films were chosen because they each touch on different aspects of Jewish life beyond the Holocaust, Brown said.

The foundation canceled two films earlier in the month because of other events such as the Relay for Life and the religious holiday Passover, which ended Sunday.

“We have a role in educating about Jewish issues on campus,” Brown said. The Hillel Foundation on the SIUC campus was established in the 1970s and has recently expanded to the SIU-Edwardsville campus.

“We’re planning programming (for the foundation) on that campus now, but fall is going to be a big semester,” Brown said.

Bryan Pumphrey said he enjoyed the event despite its low attendance.

“I like the film series because you can see history from different points of view from different filmmakers. You get to learn,” said Pumphrey, a sophomore from Chicago studying information systems and applied technology.

Pumphrey said the film series was a good idea and he hoped there would be a bigger turnout next year.

“It just wasn’t publicized or marketed to enough people,” Pumphrey said.

The next film, “Protocols of Zion”, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Ohio Room. It’s a 2005 documentary film about the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the United States in the wake of the Sept.11 attacks.