A Film Unfinished

Dir. Yael Hersonski

Website: www.afilmunfinished.com

Trailer: trailers.apple.com

Synopsis: At the end of WWII, 60 minutes of raw film, having sat undisturbed in an East German archive, was discovered. Shot 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 long-missing reel, inclusive of multiple takes and cameraman staging scenes, complicated earlier readings of the footage. A FILM UNFINISHED presents the raw footage in its entirety, carefully noting fictionalized sequences (including a staged dinner party) falsely showing “the good life” enjoyed by Jewish urbanites, and probes deep into the making of a now-infamous Nazi propaganda film. A FILM UNFINISHED is a film of enormous import, documenting some of the worst horrors of our time and exposing the efforts of its perpetrators to propel their agenda and cast it in a favorable light.

Film Presence will work closely with Oscilloscope Laboratories to bring nazi “documentation” to the forefront of discussion of culture as propaganda making machine. By partnering with museums, synagogues, schools and leaders from both the Jewish community and the German communities in New York, Film Presence will provide a full-scale marketing and outreach campaign for A Film Unfinished, opening at the Film Forum on August 18th and the Lincoln Plaza on August 20th, select cities to follow.