A few months after his release from Auschwitz and still in his striped jacket, Yechiel De-Nur sat down and started writing. After two weeks, he was reborn as Ka-Tzetnik, or “the man from the camps.” While the books that he wrote were translated into 32 languages and sold millions, the author himself hid behind the pseudonym. It wasn’t until the trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1961 that his true identity was revealed during his revelatory testimony where he described Auschwitz as “the other planet:” a place outside of human judgment. Years later, undergoing an experimental LSD treatment for trauma, he revisits his experience, imagining himself as an SS officer, and that changes everything. In this affecting documentary, the life of the mysterious and elusive author and his views on human behavior are examined in depth.
Recipient of a 2022 JFI Completion Grant
West Coast Premiere
Assaf Lapid is an Israeli screenwriter, director, and editor born in 1978. For the last 15 years, Assaf has been an editor for international projects, many of which were screened worldwide and won awards. Among his works are Cause of Death, in which Assaf was a co-writer and editor, premiered at IDFA, and Farewell Herr Schwartz, winner of the DEFA award at DOK Leipzig."