Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, January 18:
WHO WILL WRITE OUR HISTORY
Director:
Roberta Grossman
Premiere:
San Francisco Jewish 2018
Select Festivals:
Rome, Heartland, Jewish fests in New York, Jerusalem, Miami, San Diego, Atlanta, Rutgers, and Wilmington
About:
The hidden history of a secret archive created by Jews within the Warsaw Ghetto.
Recognizing the dangerous times in which they lived, a clandestine group of scholars, journalists, and community leaders set out to document Jewish lives in the Warsaw Ghetto and to collect their history so that it was not written for them by the Nazi propaganda machine. Adhering to strict protocols of secrecy, only three members of the group, known as Oyneg Shabes, knew the underground location of the archive. Remarkably, one of these survived the war, allowing two of the three caches to be uncovered. Grossman’s film reveals the story behind what has become known as the Ringelblum Archive, named after Emanuel Ringelblum, the historian who spearheaded the dangerous mission. In addition to using rare archival footage, the film incorporates re-enactments and narration culled from historical documents. While the narrations are largely successful, the dramatized scenes are unnecessary and lend an old-fashioned air to what is otherwise a compelling work of nonfiction history.
what (not) to doc 