Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah (2015)

  • RIP: Claude Lanzmann Director of Holocaust Documentary SHOAH Dead at 92

    Claude Lanzmann French film-maker and journalist Claude Lanzmann, best known for directing the Holocaust documentary Shoah, died today in Paris, he was 92. His first documentary Pourquoi Israel? (Why Israel?) was released in 1973, and he began filming Shoah, a year later in 1974, conducting a series of filmed interview with death camp survivors all over the world. Lanzmann was reportedly attacked while attempting a covert interview, and was hospitalized for a month. Over nine hours long and 11 years in the making, Shoah presents Lanzmann’s interviews with survivors, witnesses and perpetrators during visits to German Holocaust sites across Poland, including extermination camps. Released in Paris in April 1985, Shoah won critical acclaim and many prestigous awards, including the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Non-Fiction Film in 1985, a special citation at the 1985 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, and the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary in 1986. That year it also won the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Non-Fiction Film and Best Documentary at the International Documentary Association. Lanzmann has released four feature-length films based on unused material shot for Shoah. A Visitor from the Living (fr) (1997) about a Red Cross representative, Maurice Rossel, who in 1944 wrote a favourable report about the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Sobibor, October 14, 1943, 4 p.m. (2001) about Yehuda Lerner, who participated in an uprising against the camp guards and managed to escape. The Karski Report (fr) (2010) about Polish resistance fighter Jan Karski’s visit to Franklin Roosevelt in 1943. The Last of the Unjust (2013) about Benjamin Murmelstein, a controversial Jewish rabbi in the Theresienstadt ghetto during World War II. Previously unseen Shoah outtakes have also been featured in Adam Benzine’s HBO documentary Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah (2015), which examines Lanzmann’s life during 1973–1985, the years he spent making Shoah. Lanzmann’s final film, Napalm, which premiered at Cannes in 2017, drew on his earlier visits to North Korea as a young journalist, in which he revealed his brief affair with a North Korean nurse. Claude Lanzmann received a Honorary Golden Bear at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival, and was made Grand Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honor on July 14, 2011. Update: Berlinale issued a statement French director and author Claude Lanzmann has passed away. “Claude Lanzmann was one of the great documentarists. With his depictions of inhumanity and violence, of anti-Semitism and its consequences, he created a new kind of cinematic and ethical exploration. We mourn the loss of an important personality of the political-intellectual life of our time,” says Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick. Claude Lanzmann’s film Shoah (1985) made cinematic history as an unparalleled masterpiece of commemorative culture. The nine-and-a-halfhour documentary on the genocide of European Jews was screened in the Berlinale Forum in 1986 and received numerous international awards. Born in Paris in 1925 to Jewish parents, Claude Lanzmann fought in the Résistance, studied philosophy in France and Germany, and held a lectureship at the then newly founded Freie Universität Berlin in 1948/49. His exploration of the Shoah, anti-Semitism and political struggles for freedom infuse both his cinematic and journalistic work. His first film was made in 1972, the documentary Pourquoi Israël (Israel, Why; France 1973), in which he illustrates the necessity of Israel’s founding from the Jewish perspective. In the film Tsahal, which screened in the 1995 Berlinale Forum, he focuses on women and men who serve in the Israeli Army. Sobibor, 14 octobre 1943, 16 heures (France 2001), about the 1943 revolt in the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland, was also screened in the Berlinale Forum, in 2002. In 2013, the Berlinale honoured him with an Homage and awarded the Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIV7SYk9mWk

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  • CARTEL LAND, MERU Leads Nominations for 9th Cinema Eye Honors awards for Nonfiction Filmmaking

    Cartel Land Cartel Land, Matthew Heineman’s gripping account of violence and vigilantes on both sides of the US-Mexico border, led the nominations for 9th Cinema Eye Honors awards for Nonfiction Filmmaking, with five nominations, including Outstanding Nonfiction Feature. It is joined in the top category by Asif Kapadia’s Amy, Camilla Neilsson’s Democrats, Stevan Riley’s Listen to Me Marlon, Crystal Moselle’s The Wolfpack and Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence. The latter, which received four nominations, and Cartel Land were the only films nominated for Outstanding Feature, Direction, Production and Cinematography. Other films that received multiple nominations include the mountain climbing thriller Meru (4 nominations); Amy, Heart of a Dog, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck and The Wolfpack (3 nominations); Best of Enemies, Democrats, Listen to Me Marlon, The Nightmare, Uncertain and Western (2 nominations). Winners of the 9th Annual Cinema Eye Honors will be announced Wednesday, January 13, 2016 in New York at the Museum of the Moving Image. The complete list of nominations for 9th Cinema Eye Honors Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking “Amy” Directed by Asif Kapadia Produced by James Gay-Rees “Cartel Land” Directed by Matthew Heineman Produced by Tom Yellin “Democrats” Directed by Camilla Nielsson Produced by Henrik Veileborg “Listen to Me Marlon” Directed by Stevan Riley Produced by John Battsek, George Chignell and R.J. Cutler “The Look of Silence” Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer Produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen “The Wolfpack” Directed by Crystal Moselle Produced by Crystal Moselle and Izabella Tzenkova Outstanding Achievement in Direction Matthew Heineman, “Cartel Land” Kim Longinotto, “Dreamcatcher” Laurie Anderson, “Heart of a Dog” Frederick Wiseman, “In Jackson Heights” Albert Maysles, Lynn True, Nelson Walker, David Usui & Ben Wu, “In Transit” Joshua Oppenheimer, “The Look of Silence” Outstanding Achievement in Editing Chris King, “Amy” Aaron Wickenden and Eileen Meyer, “Best of Enemies” James Scott, “How to Change the World”Brett Morgen and Joe Neshenkovsky, “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” Stevan Riley, “Listen to Me Marlon” Outstanding Achievement in Production Tom Yellin, “Cartel Land” Henrik Veileborg, “Democrats” Alex Gibney, Lawrence Wright and Kristen Vaurio, “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief”Signe Byrge Sørensen, “The Look of Silence” Jimmy Chin, Chai Vasarhelyi and Shannon Etheridge, “Meru” Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography Matthew Heineman and Matt Porwoll, “Cartel Land” Lars Skree, “The Look of Silence” Renan Ozturk, “Meru” Ewan McNicol, “Uncertain” Bill Ross and Turner Ross, “Western” Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Films Made for Television “Deep Web” Directed by Alex Winter Produced by Marc Schiller, Alex Winter and Glen Zipper For EPIX: Executive Producers Jill Burkhart and Ross Bernard “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief” Directed by Alex Gibney Produced by Alex Gibney, Kristen Vaurio and Lawrence Wright For HBO Documentary Films: Supervising Producer Sara Bernstein and Executive Producer Sheila Nevins “Outbreak” Directed by Dan Edge Produced by Dan Edge and Sasha Joelle Achilli For Frontline/PBS: Coordinating Producer Carla Borras and Executive Producers Raney Aronson-Rath and David Fanning “Private Violence” Directed and Produced by Cynthia Hill For HBO Documentary Films: Senior Producer Nancy Abraham and Executive Producer Sheila Nevins “Whitey: The United States of America vs. James J. Bulger” Directed by Joe Berlinger Produced by Joe Berlinger and Caroline Suh For CNN Films: Supervising Producer Courtney Sexton and Executive Producers Vinnie Malhotra and Amy Entelis Audience Choice Prize “Amy” Directed by Asif Kapadia “Best of Enemies” Directed by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief” Directed by Alex Gibney “The Hunting Ground” Directed by Kirby Dick “Iris” Directed by Albert Maysles “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” Directed by Brett Morgen “Meru” Directed by Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi “What Happened, Miss Simone?” Directed by Liz Garbus “Where to Invade Next” Directed by Michael Moore “The Wolfpack” Directed by Crystal Moselle Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film “Kings of Nowhere” Directed by Betzabé Garcia “Peace Officer” Directed by Brad Barber and Scott Christopherson “Pervert Park” Directed by Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors “The Russian Woodpecker” Directed by Chad Gracia “Uncertain” Directed by Ewan McNicol and Anna Sandilands “The Wolfpack” Directed by Crystal Moselle Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score Jackson Greenberg and Scott Salinas, “Cartel Land” Laurie Anderson, “Heart of a Dog” J. Ralph, “Meru” Jonathan Snipes, “The Nightmare” Casey McAllister, “Western” Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation Nominees TBD, “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon” Laurie Anderson, “Heart of a Dog” Stefan Nadelman and Hisko Hulsin, “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” Syd Garon, “The Nightmare” Ryan Green and Josh Larson, “Thank You for Playing” Spotlight Award “Almost There” Directed by Dan Rybicky and Aaron Wickenden “Barge” Directed by Ben Powell “Field Niggas” Directed by Khalik Allah “Frame by Frame” Directed by Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli “(T)error” Directed by Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe “Toto and His Sisters” Directed by Alexandre Nanău Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking “The Breath” Directed by Fabian Kaiser “Buffalo Juggalos” Directed by Scott Cummings “Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah” Directed by Adam Benzine “The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul” Directed by Kitty Green “Hotel 22” Directed by Elizabeth Lo

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  • AMY, Listen To Me Marlon, Among Nominees for 2015 IDA Documentary Awards, Tig Notaro to Host Ceremony

    TIG documentary film Grammy-nominated comedian Tig Notaro will host the 2015 IDA Documentary Awards ceremony. Tig Notaro is the subject of Tig, the Netflix Original documentary chronicling her life after it famously fell apart. The 2015 edition of the Awards will highlight six films in Best Feature Documentary category. These films include AMY, Asif Kapadia’s moving film about six-time Grammy-winner Amy Winehouse; The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Stanley Nelson’s vibrant chronicle of the birth of the Black Panther Party; Listen To Me Marlon, Stevan Riley’s fascinating self-portrait of Marlon Brando culled from his vast archive of personal audio and visual materials; The Look of Silence, Joshua Oppenheimer’s powerful companion piece to the Oscar®-nominated The Act of Killing; The Russian Woodpecker, Chad Gracia’s riveting examination of eccentric Ukranian artist Fedor Alexandrovich’s obsession with a Soviet-constructed radio antenna near the Chernobyl site; and What Happened, Miss Simone?, Liz Garbus’s sensitive exploration of the legendary singer and activist Nina Simone. In addition to the awards, this year’s honorees include Matthew Heineman, recipient of the IDA’s Courage Under Fire Award in recognition of conspicuous bravery in the pursuit of truth. Heineman’s gripping film, Cartel Land, documents two modern-day vigilante movements – Dr. José Mireles’s citizen-led uprising against a violent drug cartel wreaking havoc in Mexico and the Arizona Border Recon led by Tim “Nailer” Foley, which is working to prevent Mexico’s drug wars from crossing into the United States. Previous recipients of the award include: Laura Poitras, Christiane Amanpour, Andrew Berends, Jonathan Stack and James Brabazon and Saira Shah. In addition to Heineman, the 2015 IDA Documentary Awards will honor Gordon Quinn with its Career Achievement Award. Tony Tabatznik and the Bertha Foundation (berthafoundation.org) will receive the IDA Amicus Award, and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos will receive IDA’s Pioneer Award. (T)ERROR directors Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe will share the Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award sponsored by the Archibald Family Foundation. The recipients of this year’s IDA Creative Recognition Awards include The Russian Woodpecker (cinematography by Artem Ryzhykov) will be recognized with the award for Best Cinematography; Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (edited by Joe Beshenkovsky and Brett Morgen) will receive the Best Editing award; Best of Enemies (original score by Jonathan Kirkscey) will be presented with the Best Music award, and Listen To Me Marlon (written by Stevan Riley, co-writer Peter Ettedgui) will receive the Best Writing award. The 31st Annual IDA Documentary Awards will take place on Saturday, December 5th at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles, CA 31st Annual IDA Awards Nominees Best Feature Award Amy Director: Asif Kapadia Producer: James Gay-Rees A24 The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution Director: Stanley Nelson Producer: Laurens Grant PBS DISTRIBUTION Listen to Me Marlon Director: Stevan Riley Producer: John Battsek SHOWTIME DOCUMENTARY FILMS The Look of Silence Director: Joshua Oppenheimer Producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen DRAFTHOUSE FILMS AND PARTICIPANT MEDIA The Russian Woodpecker Director: Chad Gracia Producer: Ram Devineni and Mike Lerner FILMBUFF What Happened, Miss Simone? Director: Liz Garbus NETFLIX Best Short Award Body Team 12 Director: David Darg Producer: Bryn Mooser RYOT FILMS AND VULCAN PRODUCTIONS Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah Director: Adam Benzine HBO The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul Director: Kitty Green Producer: Philippa Campey KURZFILMAGENTUR HAMBURG (GERMANY) Last Day of Freedom Directors: Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman Object Director: Paulina Skibińska MUNK STUDIO AND POLISH FILMMAKERS ASSOCIATION Best Curated Series Award 30 for 30 Executive Producers John Dahl and Connor Schell ESPN America ReFramed Executive Producers: Chris Hastings and Simon Kilmurry WORLD CHANNEL Independent Lens Executive Producers: Sally Jo Fifer and Lois Vossen ITVS/PBS POV Executive Producers: Simon Kilmurry and Chris White POV, PBS Storyville Series Editor: Nick Fraser Executive Producer: Kate Townsend BBC TV, BBC WORLD NEWS Best Limited Series Award Blood Brothers Executive Producers: Kees Schaap and Anja van Oostrom VARA TELEVISION (THE NETHERLANDS) Hard Earned Executive Producers: Steve James, Justine Nagan, and Gordon Quinn Series Producer: Maggie Bowman AL JAZEERA AMERICA AND KARTEMQUIN FILMS The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst Executive Producer: Jason Blum Co-Executive Producer: Zac Stuart-Pontier Produced by: Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling HBO Life Story Executive Producer: Mike Gunton DISCOVERY Rebel Architecture Executive Producer: Fiona Lawson-Baker AL JAZEERA ENGLISH Best Episodic Series Award Chef’s Table Executive Producers: David Gelb, Andrew Fried, and Brian McGinn NETFLIX Morgan Spurlock Inside Man Executive Producers: Jeremy Chilnick, Matthew Galkin, and Morgan Spurlock CNN AND WARRIOR POETS NOVA Senior Executive Producer: Paula Apsell Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Cort PBS The Seventies Executive Producers: Gary Goetzman, Tom Hanks, and Mark Herzog CNN, PLAYTONE, AND HERZOG & COMPANY This is Life with Lisa Ling Executive Producers: Amy Bucher, Lisa Ling, and David Shadrack Smith CNN AND PART2 PICTURES Best Short Form Series Award Do Not Track Executive Producer: Hugues Sweeney NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA, UPIAN, ARTE, AND BR Highrise: Universe Within Executive Producers: Anita Lee and Silva Basmajian NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA The New York Times Op-Docs Executive Producer: Jason Spingarn-Koff THE NEW YORK TIMES POV Interactive Documentaries Executive Producer: Simon Kilmurry and Adnaan Wasey POV AND PBS WE THE ECONOMY: 20 Short Films You Can’t Afford to Miss Executive Producer: Paul G. Allen and Morgan Spurlock VULCAN PRODUCTIONS AND CINELAN David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award This award recognizes exceptional achievement in non-fiction film and video production at the university level and brings greater public and industry awareness to the work of students in the documentary field. The Archipelago Director: Benjamin Huguet THE NATIONAL FILM AND TELEVISION SCHOOL The Blue Wall Director: Michael Milano UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY El Cacao Director: Michelle Aguilar University of California Santa Cruz In Attla’s Tracks Director: Catharine Axley STANFORD UNIVERSITY Looking at the Stars Director: Alexandre Peralta UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Pare Lorentz Award The Pare Lorentz Award recognizes films that demonstrate exemplary filmmaking while focusing on the appropriate use of the natural environment, justice for all and the illumination of pressing social problems. How to Change the World Director: Jerry Rothwell ABC News VideoSource Award This award is given each year for the best use of news footage as an integral component in a documentary. (T)ERROR Directors: Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe INDEPENDENT LENS ALONG WITH BBC Best of Enemies Directors: Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville MAGNOLIA PICTURES AND INDEPENDENT LENS Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll Director: John Pirozzi ARGOT PICTURES Night Will Fall Director: André Singer HBO What Happened, Miss Simone? Director: Liz Garbus NETFLIX Creative Recognition Award Winners The Creative Recognition category recognizes special achievement in cinematography, editing, music and writing in films entered in the Feature Category. Best Cinematography The Russian Woodpecker Cinematography by: Artem Ryzhykov Best Editing Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck Edited by: Joe Beshenkovsky and Brett Morgen Best Writing Listen to Me Marlon Written by: Stevan Riley Co-Writer: Peter Ettedgui Best Music Best of Enemies Original Score by: Jonathan Kirkscey

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  • 10 Documentary Shorts on 2015 Oscar’s Shortlist | TRAILERS

    Body Team 12 Directed by David Darg The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that the field of Documentary Short Subject contenders for the 88th Academy Awards® has been narrowed to 10 films, of which five will earn Oscar® nominations. Voters from the Academy’s Documentary Branch viewed this year’s 74 eligible entries and submitted their ballots to PricewaterhouseCoopers for tabulation. The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies: “Body Team 12,” RYOT Films and Vulcan Productions (pictured above) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2eT2P1TfB8 “Chau, beyond the Lines,” Cynasty Films “Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah,” Jet Black Iris America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJPWP3udqE8 “50 Feet from Syria,” Spin Film https://vimeo.com/141567000 “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness,” SOC Films “Last Day of Freedom,” Living Condition https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5diBuNHV75U “Minerita,” Kanaki Films https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY5mbbmN0V4 “My Enemy, My Brother,” Fathom Film Group https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42YFUwCnWzE “Starting Point,” Munk Studio – Polish Filmmakers Association https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAUTn6q2TVo “The Testimony,” Atria Film in association with Escape Artists THE TESTIMONY The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The 88th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

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  • 2016 Cinema Eye Shorts List Revealed for 9th Cinema Eye Honors Awards

    Body Team 12 Directed by David Darg Ten nonfiction short films were announced today as finalists for the 2016 Cinema Eye Honors, the 9th edition of the largest annual celebration for and recognition of the nonfiction film artform and the creators of those films. The announcement of the 2016 Cinema Eye Shorts List was made on the opening day of the 2015 Camden International Film Festival (CIFF), a key festival partner of the Cinema Eye Honors. For the second year in a row, all ten films, which are among the most acclaimed short documentaries of the year, will screen this weekend at the 11th Annual Camden International Film Festival. This is the first time that all the filmmakers on the list have never been on the Shorts List before or a previous Cinema Eye nominee. This marks the fourth year that the CEH Shorts List has been announced in Camden. This January will mark the seventh year that CIFF hosts their annual reception on the eve of Cinema Eye’s award ceremony. A key part of Cinema Eye Week, a multi-day event held from January 10-13 in New York City in January 2016, the CIFF reception has become the largest single event for nonfiction film in the city and an important kickoff for the new year in the documentary community. From the ten finalists on this year’s Shorts List, five films will be named as nominees for the Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking Award. Nominees in that category and nearly a dozen feature film categories will be announced on Wednesday, November 11 in Copenhagen, Denmark at CPH:DOX. Awards will be presented during Cinema Eye Honors on January 13, 2016, in New York City. This year’s ten finalists are: Body Team 12 (Liberia/USA) (pictured above) Directed by David Darg Born to Be Mild (UK) Directed by Andy Oxley The Breath (Switzerland) Directed by Fabian Kaiser Buffalo Juggalos (USA) Directed by Scott Cummings Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah (Canada) Directed by Adam Benzine The Face of Ukraine: Casting Oksana Baiul (Australia) Directed by Kitty Green Hotel 22 (USA) Directed by Elizabeth Lo {The And} Marcela & Rock (USA) Directed by Topaz Adizes The Solitude of Memory (Mexico/USA) Directed by Juan Pablo González Super-Unit (Poland) Directed by Teresa Czepiec

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