A Film Unfinished August 10, 2010

(Germany/Israel, 2010, 35mm, 88 min., German/Hebrew/Polish/Yiddish with English subtitles)
Directed by Yael Hersonski
Post-screening discussion with Yael Hersonski moderated by Museum archivist Bonnie Gurewitsch

At the end of WWII, 60 minutes of raw film was discovered in an East German archive. Filmed by the Nazis in Warsaw in May 1942, and labeled simply “Ghetto,” this footage quickly became a resource for historians seeking an authentic record of the Warsaw Ghetto. However, the later discovery of a reel that included staged scenes complicated earlier readings of the footage. The documentary A Film Unfinished presents the raw footage in its entirety, with expert commentary that carefully notes fictionalized scenes falsely showing “the good life” enjoyed by Jewish inhabitants of the ghetto, and illuminates the making of a now-infamous Nazi propaganda film.

Includes graphic film footage including some nudity.