Appropriate for: High School College/University
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How can a person to survive the unspeakable, and then go on to make a new life? For fifty years the filmmaker's father has hidden his memories as a child survivor of the Holocaust, wishing to protect his own children and unwilling to open the door to a lost world. Still his trauma continues to reverberate through the next generation, affecting those around him in unexpected ways. Suddenly confronted by devastation of a different kind, the filmmaker must finally ask her father to tell the story he has carried so long in silence. Scenes of unforgettable power bear witness to the terrible inadequacy of words, and the triumph of the human spirit.
...Intense, moving, suggestive and understated...
Michael Berenbaum
Director, The Shoah Foundation
...Says more about World War II, displacement and pain than many films ten times longer...Very sensitive, personal and moving.
Jonas Mekas
Anthology Film Archive
...Stands outside our modern obsession with facts and explanations as it meditates on the mysteries of memory, family and history...A subtle film about the most poignant aspects of our humanity. It should be viewed and discussed in schools where in a maelstrom of information we have too few opportunities to educate the heart.
Thomas Moore, Author,Care of the Soul
andThe Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life
AWARDS & SCREENINGS:
- Best of Festival, Short Subject, Cleveland Int'l Film Festival
- Best Documentary Short, Chicago Int'l Film Festival
- Special Jury Award, International Documentary Association
- Best Documentary, Utah Short Film and Video Festival
- Award of Excellence, Ann Arbor Film Festival
- Best Student Documentary, Atlanta Film & Video Festival
Resource Web Sites
Visit the official website for This Unfamiliar Place
