Imaging the Unimaginable. The Shoah in post-war, Eastern European films

The panel will use two films as a paradigm of how, in the immediate wake of World War II, Eastern European filmmaking portrayed the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust. The restored versions of both Daleká cesta (Distant Journey, Alfréd Radok, ČSSR 1949) and Ostatni etap (The Last Stage, Wanda Jakubowska, Poland 1948) will be shown as part of the Berlinale Classics series. Michal Bregant and Monika Talarczyk-Gubała will talk about the seminal role of the two films in tackling the subject of the Holocaust. Daleká cesta was banned in Czechoslovakia shortly after its theatrical release in 1949 and was not shown again or discussed until 1991. Radok’s expressionist film combines a fictional love story with clips from Leni Riefenstahl’s 1935 Triumph of the Will and Third Reich newsreel footage. The story in Ostatni Etap, shot partially on location at Auschwitz, reflects director Jakubowska’s own experiences in various concentration camps.

Eventroom, 4th floor | Entrance free | in English