Event Title
Student Films Responding to History and Literature of the Holocaust Panel Discussion
Location
BIC 3411
Start Date
28-2-2015 1:40 PM
Description
This panel includes presentations from two groups who worked together to produce films for their course on history and literature of the Holocaust. Each group was assigned five biographies of people involved in the Holocaust and had to use at least three. The first group chose to alter the biographies to intertwine the stories, creating a narrative about a pharmacist willing to take his own life rather than let the Nazis do so. The second group chose to focus on media portrayals of the Holocaust, specifically responding to a Holocaust episode of This is Your Life. In the actual show, the guest accepted the host’s positive portrayal of her life, but the producers of Moving Forward wanted to depict guests who would resist that revisionist narrative and be honest about the terrible pain in their lives despite the triumph of survival.
Der Apotheker (The Pharmacist)
Our film is a response to an assignment in which we were given five identification cards from the United States Holocaust Museum and told we had to use three to create a screenplay. We made the artistic choice to focus primarily on the story of Ernst Silten, a Jewish pharmacist working in Berlin. We all liked Ernst’s story, as it was one of resistance; he was ready to end his own life so that the Nazis could not. We took poetic license with our other two historical figures in order to intertwine stories. For example, Alexander was indeed a pharmacist but actually never worked with Ernst. We filmed in black and white for a more genuine period effect and to create an emotional darkness relating to the overall themes of immeasurable suffering and unjust persecution. We also chose to incorporate multiple languages in order to display a level of “us and them,” as Jewish characters only speak German when speaking with Gestapo officers, not with their own people. English represents Yiddish, as we were filming for an American audience who would understand and relate to the English speakers.
Moving Forward
Our film, Moving Forward, is a response to an assignment in which we were given five actual biographies from the United States Holocaust Museum and told we had to use at least three. We decided to do a 1950s-style television interview inspired by an actual Holocaust survivor episode of This is Your Life. Our goal was not to make a “Holocaust” movie; we wanted to explore representations of the Holocaust in the media. We chose to film the television show scenes in black-and-white and the flashbacks in color in order to show the dichotomy between what is depicted in the media and the horrible reality of living through such an event. (We also felt the black-and-white would create a more authentic 1950s feel.) The questions are framed to promote a positive message that is not true to what the survivors actually experienced, much like the episode of This is Your Life. On the actual show, the guest went along with the upbeat mood, but we wanted to depict survivors who would refuse to be manipulated by the host’s agenda. Out of respect, we changed only our characters’ genders (so we could portray them).
Student Films Responding to History and Literature of the Holocaust Panel Discussion
BIC 3411
This panel includes presentations from two groups who worked together to produce films for their course on history and literature of the Holocaust. Each group was assigned five biographies of people involved in the Holocaust and had to use at least three. The first group chose to alter the biographies to intertwine the stories, creating a narrative about a pharmacist willing to take his own life rather than let the Nazis do so. The second group chose to focus on media portrayals of the Holocaust, specifically responding to a Holocaust episode of This is Your Life. In the actual show, the guest accepted the host’s positive portrayal of her life, but the producers of Moving Forward wanted to depict guests who would resist that revisionist narrative and be honest about the terrible pain in their lives despite the triumph of survival.
Der Apotheker (The Pharmacist)
Our film is a response to an assignment in which we were given five identification cards from the United States Holocaust Museum and told we had to use three to create a screenplay. We made the artistic choice to focus primarily on the story of Ernst Silten, a Jewish pharmacist working in Berlin. We all liked Ernst’s story, as it was one of resistance; he was ready to end his own life so that the Nazis could not. We took poetic license with our other two historical figures in order to intertwine stories. For example, Alexander was indeed a pharmacist but actually never worked with Ernst. We filmed in black and white for a more genuine period effect and to create an emotional darkness relating to the overall themes of immeasurable suffering and unjust persecution. We also chose to incorporate multiple languages in order to display a level of “us and them,” as Jewish characters only speak German when speaking with Gestapo officers, not with their own people. English represents Yiddish, as we were filming for an American audience who would understand and relate to the English speakers.
Moving Forward
Our film, Moving Forward, is a response to an assignment in which we were given five actual biographies from the United States Holocaust Museum and told we had to use at least three. We decided to do a 1950s-style television interview inspired by an actual Holocaust survivor episode of This is Your Life. Our goal was not to make a “Holocaust” movie; we wanted to explore representations of the Holocaust in the media. We chose to film the television show scenes in black-and-white and the flashbacks in color in order to show the dichotomy between what is depicted in the media and the horrible reality of living through such an event. (We also felt the black-and-white would create a more authentic 1950s feel.) The questions are framed to promote a positive message that is not true to what the survivors actually experienced, much like the episode of This is Your Life. On the actual show, the guest went along with the upbeat mood, but we wanted to depict survivors who would refuse to be manipulated by the host’s agenda. Out of respect, we changed only our characters’ genders (so we could portray them).