Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies

 

A Film Unfinished

"After World War II, 60 minutes of raw film, shot by the Nazis propaganda machine, was discovered in an East German archive. Depicting everyday life in the Warsaw Ghetto, the footage quickly gained traction as an important historical document. The recent discovery of a missing reel, however, reveals an elaborate ruse. Shots were staged to suggest that some Jews lived the good life - multiple takes of luxuriously dressed residents thoughtlessly stepping over the bodies of fellow Jews, for example, as well as a choreographed dinner party. Beneath the furs were the emaciated bodies of 'actors' fearful for their lives. A Film Unfinished presents the entire film, carefully noting which sequences are fictionalized. Featuring firsthand accounts from residents used in the filming, an interview with the only cinematographer identified with the production, and scenes in which former residents of the Ghetto review footage, A Film Unfinished is a document of enormous import: it both chronicles some of the worst horrors of our time and reveals the lengths to which the perpetrators went to cast them in a different light." - Full Frame Documentary Film Festival (Dir. Yael Hersonski, 2009, 88 min.)

A post-show discussion will be led by Dr. Richard Levy, Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Levy is author of Antisemitism: Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution. He teaches German history and the history of the Holocaust.

Tickets available at the door for $8 | $7 Student and Seniors | $6 for Spertus members

A Film Unfinished opens theatrically in Chicago on October 1.

 

Spertus partnership made possible with support from the Bernard and Rochelle Zell Center for Holocaust Studies.