“Holocaust Cinema: How ‘A Film Unfinished’ Questions Archival Footage” with Annette Insdorf

4th programme in the series ‘The Holocaust as an Interdisciplinary Tapestry’

“The Holocaust as an Interdisciplinary Tapestry” is an 8 part series that will engage with scholars and experts who grapple with themes related to Holocaust studies. The series will explore the multifaceted discipline of Holocaust Studies through different lenses. Our experts will challenge us to understand the causes, impacts, and legacies of the Holocaust.

The growing genre of Holocaust Cinema includes films made by members of the third generation of survivors in Israel. Annette Insdorf will discuss two exemplary documentaries: “Numbered” (2012, Dana Doron & Uriel Sinai, Israel, 55 minutes) focuses on the tattoos of Auschwitz survivors – who view their numbers in unique ways – as well as the process of recording and representing survivors. “A Film Unfinished” is directed by Yael Hersonski (2010, Israel, 88 minutes). She juxtaposes archival footage of the Warsaw Ghetto – taken by Nazis throughout May 1942 – with a contemporary interrogation of whether images can be trusted.

Annette Insdorf is Professor of Film at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, and Moderator of the popular “Reel Pieces” series at Manhattan’s 92Y, where she has interviewed almost 300 film celebrities. She is the author of the landmark study, Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust (with a foreword by Elie Wiesel); Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski; Francois Truffaut, a study of the French director’s work; Philip Kaufman, and Intimations: The Cinema of Wojciech Has. Her latest book is Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes, currently in its fourth printing.

This programme is in partnership with Classrooms Without Borders, Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, the Ghetto Fighters’ House, Generations of the Shoah, and Liberation75.

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