Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah

Claude Lanzmann’s 1985 documentary Shoah is considered by many to be the most important film ever made about the Holocaust and is arguably one of the greatest documentaries of all time. Director Adam Benzine gained exclusive access to Lanzmann, who sat at length to discusses at length the making of his masterwork, including the secret filming of former Nazis,; the lengthy process of convincing traumatized survivors to open up on camera; and the exhausting challenge of chronicling one of the greatest atrocities in history. Faced with financial troubles and death threats, the project almost drove him to suicide. In addition to Lanzmann’s testimony, the film features never-before-seen material shot by the director and his team. Marking the 30th anniversary of Shoah’s release, as well as the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War II, Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah is a fascinating portrait of this French master. Screening with the following shorts: Ischler - Evil comes from unexpected places, as three Jewish sisters seek shelter in the Budapest apartment of a highly regarded doctor, during the Holocaust. Zement – Aa haunting short documentary about a housing development built on the site of Ebensee, a former concentration camp. German Shepherd A– an animated short doc about a Jewish man who visits Berlin every year for 20 years despite the fact that his Holocaust survivor mother hates Germans. [221] —-Jay Rosenblatt