The incredible story of a soldier of Tatar origin who was captured by the Nazis in World War II. Now, through his diaries and various personal and public archives and records, his daughter Sana is trying to retrace the trail of her silent father.
While accompanying Sana on her quest, director Aliona van der Horst (Love is potatoes) also digs out film archives to find traces of the millions of Soviet soldiers who were in the firing line of warring dictators; those who were there but were conveniently omitted from the narrative of global war.
Using mixed techniques such as double-pass, zooming and colouring to re-appropriate the archive material, the filmmaker seeks the soul of the image – the small, subtle remnants of a vast but casually erased human tragedy. Careful but determined, this history unfolds in a film that breaks 60 years of silence.
More Forum on European Culture
In Housewitz, daughter and filmmaker Oeke Hoogendijk investigates why her mother Lous has refused to leave her house for decades. Lous is a typical “Yiddish mum”, an eccentric, smart, compelling mother with a cutting sense of humour. In her own created isolation, she travels the world via her TVs and computers. At night, she watches
This programme is cancelled due to personal circumstances of one of our speakers. Ancient European myths and stories tell us about the history of Europe and its people. These stories have shaped our European identities. Together with classicist Nathalie Haynes and director Eline Arbo we talk about what these ancient stories can tell us about
Arnon Grunberg meets Auschwitz Museum-director Piotr Cywinski. European history is steeped in violence, war and genocide. How have these events shaped the Europe of today? And how should reflection on that brutal past play a role in shaping the future of Europe? During this programme Piotr Cywinski, historian and director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
