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MOVIE
February 13, 2015
MOVIE | A complete screening of three Holocaust documentaries by director Claude Lanzmann
FILM | Claude Lanzmann's "Shoah," "Sobibor, October 14, 1943, 4 PM," and "The Last of the Unjust"
A Complete Retrospective of Three Documentaries by Claude Lanzmann
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp. A special screening of three seminal documentaries by Claude Lanzmann, who has long focused on the Holocaust, will be held. The films will be shown exclusively at Theatre Image Forum from Saturday, February 14th to Friday, March 6th.
Text by YANAKA Tomomi
The Epic "Shoah": 9 Hours and 27 Minutes of Runtime
© 2013 SYNECDOCHE - LE PACTE - DOR FILM - FRANCE 3 CINÉMA - LES FILMS ALEPH
Born in France in 1925, Claude Lanzmann turned 89 this year. After a career as a journalist, he directed his first film, "Why Israel," in 1973. Since then, he has created numerous documentaries, demonstrating an undiminished creative drive even in his advanced age.
To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the war, three documentaries by Lanzmann focusing on the "Holocaust"—the mass genocide perpetrated by the Nazis—will be screened together. Among them, particular attention is drawn to "Shoah," released in 1985. Its staggering 9-hour and 27-minute runtime and profound content garnered significant international acclaim.
The film "Shoah" constructs a comprehensive picture of the Holocaust solely through the testimonies of those involved. Lanzmann himself traveled to meet a vast number of witnesses—including Jewish survivors of Nazi camps, former SS officers, and Polish farmers living near the camps—and meticulously pieced together their firsthand accounts to create this monumental work.
© Les Films Aleph
© Les Films Aleph, Why Not Productions
© 2013 SYNECDOCHE - LE PACTE - DOR FILM - FRANCE 3 CINÉMA - LES FILMS ALEPH
"Sobibor, October 14, 1943, 4 PM": The "Lost Masterpiece" and "The Last of the Unjust": His Latest Work
"Sobibor, October 14, 1943, 4 PM" delves into the planned and ultimately failed uprising by Jewish prisoners at the Sobibor extermination camp, an event alluded to in the latter part of "Shoah." Based on the testimony of one of the survivors—a man who was 16 at the time and one of the fewer than 100 who escaped from nearly 400 prisoners—this documentary reconstructs the harrowing escape. It is Lanzmann's "lost masterpiece," revealing little-known truths.
His most recent film, "The Last of the Unjust," released in 2013, sheds light on the lesser-known personality of Adolf Eichmann, who played a leading role in the deportation of millions to concentration camps during the Holocaust. The film is considered to have contributed to the historical understanding of the Holocaust.
As the 70th anniversary of the war's end arrives and the number of living witnesses dwindles, these masterpieces of documentary filmmaking preserve the "memory" of the Holocaust as "record." How should we, living in this era, confront this tragedy and pass its lessons to future generations? These films offer a profound opportunity to reflect on war, life, and much more.
Three Masterpiece Documentaries Recording the Memory of the Holocaust
Exclusive Engagement: February 14th (Sat) - March 6th (Fri) at Theatre Image Forum
Director | Claude Lanzmann
Distributor | Mermaid Films
http://mermaidfilms.co.jp/70/
"Shoah"
1985 | France | 567 min (Part 1: 154 min, Part 2: 120 min, Part 3: 146 min, Part 4: 147 min)
"Sobibor, October 14, 1943, 4 PM"
2001 | France | 98 min
"The Last of the Unjust"
2013 | France, Austria | 218 min