If you are in the mood to see a film about a Jewish family coping with the death of a loved one, then there is, believe it or not, a documentary alternative to This Is Where I Leave You that falls under that extremely specific set of parameters. Granted, that premise is pretty much all that The Flat shares with the new drama, but it is by any metric a more interesting use of one’s time. The most consensus on This Is Where I Leave You is that it wastes a good cast on standard faux-indie story tropes. The Flat, meanwhile, goes nowhere the viewer expects it to. After the death of his grandmother, director Arnon Goldfinger set to cleaning out the Tel Aviv flat in which she lived for more than 70 years. It was in the midst of this cleaning that Goldfinger and his family discovered some stowed-away documents that baffled them. Goldfinger...
- 9/19/2014
- by Nonfics.com
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Documentaries are a type of film that reveal intriguing topics and educate the masses. They are the motion picture equivalent of a text book and they sometimes manage to grab the viewer’s attention. Israeli filmmaker Arnon Goldfinger (The Komediant) has delved deep into his family’s history in his eye-opening documentary The Flat, a film that is beautifully shot and narrated in a lovely manner.
The Flat follows Goldfinger as he cleans out his late grandmother Gerda Tuchler’s apartment only to find out that she and her husband were close friends with Leopold von Mildenstein, a high-ranking Nazi official. With this surprising news, Goldfinger attempts to learn more by interviewing relatives and family friends.
Read more...
The Flat follows Goldfinger as he cleans out his late grandmother Gerda Tuchler’s apartment only to find out that she and her husband were close friends with Leopold von Mildenstein, a high-ranking Nazi official. With this surprising news, Goldfinger attempts to learn more by interviewing relatives and family friends.
Read more...
- 4/6/2013
- by Randall Unger
- JustPressPlay.net
Chicago – Call me a critical cheater but I separated out documentary films from my traditional Best of 2012 but I don’t want to let the strong year for non-fiction film go un-recapped. The broad variety of documentary work in 2012 was incredibly notable from true crime stories to historical documents to stories of cities in crisis. Let’s hope 2013 is just as strong for the form.
10. “The Flat”
The Flat
Photo credit: IFC
Arnon Goldfinger’s personal examination of his own family tree and how branches spread into Nazi history asks some questions that don’t have simple answers. When Goldfinger started to dig into his family past, he learned that his Jewish grandparents were incredibly close to a family who later became part of the Third Reich’s most important decision makers. And then they rekindled their friendship after the war. Were both side of this unique family friendship purely in denial?...
10. “The Flat”
The Flat
Photo credit: IFC
Arnon Goldfinger’s personal examination of his own family tree and how branches spread into Nazi history asks some questions that don’t have simple answers. When Goldfinger started to dig into his family past, he learned that his Jewish grandparents were incredibly close to a family who later became part of the Third Reich’s most important decision makers. And then they rekindled their friendship after the war. Were both side of this unique family friendship purely in denial?...
- 12/27/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Once considered by many as either high art, propaganda or educational videos, documentary film has developed into a popular and visible form of entertainment, sometimes breaking into the mainstream, and often having a greater effect on society. Every year it seems more and more docs are produced and thus not even our hard working staff can manage to get around to watching them all. But we try our best, and so every year we publish a list of the docs that received high praise from our team. This year, the films appearing range from poetic, semi-expository, strictly observational, participatory, reflexive and even groundbreaking. Here are the 20 best documentaries of 2012, list in alphabetical order, with one special mention. Enjoy!
****
5 Broken Cameras
Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
5 Broken Cameras is a cinematic achievement, a homemade movie and an extraordinary work of political activism. Co-directed by Palestinian Emad Burnat and Israeli Guy Davidi,...
****
5 Broken Cameras
Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
5 Broken Cameras is a cinematic achievement, a homemade movie and an extraordinary work of political activism. Co-directed by Palestinian Emad Burnat and Israeli Guy Davidi,...
- 12/6/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
The Flat
Directed by Arnon Goldfinger
Written by Arnon Goldfinger
Israel and Germany, 2011
Curiosity can easily be a curse. No matter what you’re so interested in, the message we get from modern popular culture is that, somehow, we’re better off not knowing the full truth. So why even ask the questions? You may think you have good intentions in whatever fascinates and compels you, whatever you’re prying about, but finding out the truth may set you back more than when you could claim ignorance. That’s one of the many points being made in the intriguing new Israeli-German documentary The Flat, about how a man’s honest attempt to clarify his family tree spirals into something disastrously life-changing.
Writer-director Arnon Goldfinger, at the beginning of The Flat, begins the process of cleaning out his recently deceased grandmother’s apartment in Palestine, a place she lived in with her husband,...
Directed by Arnon Goldfinger
Written by Arnon Goldfinger
Israel and Germany, 2011
Curiosity can easily be a curse. No matter what you’re so interested in, the message we get from modern popular culture is that, somehow, we’re better off not knowing the full truth. So why even ask the questions? You may think you have good intentions in whatever fascinates and compels you, whatever you’re prying about, but finding out the truth may set you back more than when you could claim ignorance. That’s one of the many points being made in the intriguing new Israeli-German documentary The Flat, about how a man’s honest attempt to clarify his family tree spirals into something disastrously life-changing.
Writer-director Arnon Goldfinger, at the beginning of The Flat, begins the process of cleaning out his recently deceased grandmother’s apartment in Palestine, a place she lived in with her husband,...
- 11/2/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Chicago – “Why do only third-generation Germans ask questions? The second generation didn’t ask what happened. You don’t understand and I’m glad you don’t understand.” These very insightful words are spoken by an old friend of Arnon Goldfinger’s grandmother as the filmmaker is deep into a fascinating investigation about his own past in the fascinating “The Flat,” a film that turns a personal story into a commentary on international denial and healing after World War II.
We often don’t know people until after they’re gone. As we clean out their belongings, we see pictures of friends that may have been mentioned in passing. We find a book that clearly had meaning. And we start to ask questions we never asked about their younger days. Such is the case as Arnon Goldfinger begins to clean out his grandmother’s flat after her death at...
Chicago – “Why do only third-generation Germans ask questions? The second generation didn’t ask what happened. You don’t understand and I’m glad you don’t understand.” These very insightful words are spoken by an old friend of Arnon Goldfinger’s grandmother as the filmmaker is deep into a fascinating investigation about his own past in the fascinating “The Flat,” a film that turns a personal story into a commentary on international denial and healing after World War II.
We often don’t know people until after they’re gone. As we clean out their belongings, we see pictures of friends that may have been mentioned in passing. We find a book that clearly had meaning. And we start to ask questions we never asked about their younger days. Such is the case as Arnon Goldfinger begins to clean out his grandmother’s flat after her death at...
- 11/1/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Geneological Cryptography: Unearthing Incomprehensible Family Ties
As the only member of his extended family truly interested in decoding his mysteriously secretive grandmother’s past, Israeli documentarian Arnon Goldfinger began to piece together her story through substantial research and multiple visits to surviving friends and associates, profiling a woman he seems to barely have known. The Flat reminds of the importance of genealogy, something that too often gets lost to the sands of time, and in doing so it also highlights the generational gap that allows the suppression of horrors passed to extricate from pain to become but a marker in history, something for future generations to remember and hopefully learn from.
In tracing back family roots, one is likely to discover a variety of fascinating historical tidbits like forgotten ties to royal forefathers or ancestral links to major historical turning points thought lost to history or too far from home to be involved through blood.
As the only member of his extended family truly interested in decoding his mysteriously secretive grandmother’s past, Israeli documentarian Arnon Goldfinger began to piece together her story through substantial research and multiple visits to surviving friends and associates, profiling a woman he seems to barely have known. The Flat reminds of the importance of genealogy, something that too often gets lost to the sands of time, and in doing so it also highlights the generational gap that allows the suppression of horrors passed to extricate from pain to become but a marker in history, something for future generations to remember and hopefully learn from.
In tracing back family roots, one is likely to discover a variety of fascinating historical tidbits like forgotten ties to royal forefathers or ancestral links to major historical turning points thought lost to history or too far from home to be involved through blood.
- 10/23/2012
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
In the emotional and riveting documentary "The Flat," winner of the Best Editing award at the Tribeca Film Festival, director Arnon Goldfinger travels back to Tel Aviv to clear out his deceased grandmother's flat and in the process discovers long-buried family secrets stemming from her life in Nazi Germany. The film opens at New York's IFC Center Friday, Oct. 18, and we have an exclusive scene. Below, Goldfinger opens up about what the scene he selected to share with Indiewire readers means to him: "One of the fundamental decisions during the editing process was to try and convey the events as I experienced them. I wanted the story to unfold in a linear way. This scene is the only point throughout the film where we did not follow that editing strategy and we decided to flashback. My approach was for the viewers to realize the unbelievable experience I felt learning my...
- 10/19/2012
- by Nigel M Smith
- Indiewire
Title: The Flat Director: Arnon Goldfinger An earnest and deeply personal exhumation of proverbial skeletons in the family closet, director Arnon Goldfinger’s “The Flat” is nonetheless deadly dull — a movie that churns up yards of speculation in delving into the intertwined history of a married Jewish couple and their strange, rekindled, post-World War II friendship with some German counterparts, but with increasingly diminishing returns. When Goldfinger’s 98-year-old grandmother passes away, he and his family descend upon the Tel Aviv apartment she and her husband shared for decades, since immigrating from Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Sifting through a dense collection of letters, photos and bric-a-brac, Goldfinger begins to uncover clues that [ Read More ]
The post The Flat Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Flat Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 10/19/2012
- by bsimon
- ShockYa
When Israeli filmmaker Arnon Goldfinger's grandmother Gerda Tuchler passed away at the age of 98, his extended family gathered at the Tel Aviv flat where she had lived for 70 years. Together, they began the task of dismantling a life well lived, sorting through solid furniture, fox furs, vintage photographs, and boxes of correspondence. Because Goldfinger is a filmmaker, he picked up a camera and started to document the process, for a film aptly named The Flat. Gerda Tuchler and her husband emigrated to Israel in the 1930s, escaping the fate that befell so many European Jews in the decade to come. As a child, Goldfinger - and the rest of his family - did not believe they had a direct connection to the horrors of the Holocaust. Without giving too much away (the filmmaker prefers that viewers experience the movie without too much background), they soon found out there was...
- 10/19/2012
- TribecaFilm.com
Recently three outstanding pictures have come out that deal with the first, second and third generations of survivors of the Shoah.
The issues being dealt with in all three are memories of individuals and collective memory, as seen through the prism of the ever changing present. The present colors how memories are recalled from the past. The subject of memory was dealt with brilliantly (aside from Proust) recently by Asja Makarevic, the 20-something-year-old Manager of Sarajevo's Talent Campus who lived through the siege of Sarajevo as a young girl. Using two 45 minute films made before the Bosnian war and after by Bosnian director Namik Kabil who lived in Santa Monica, Calfornia during the war, she presents a discussion of the present handling of memories from the recent seige of Bosnia-Herzogovina by the Serbians which lasted from 1992 to 1995. The films explore how the past overshadows the present and shapes the characters’ and the real individuals’ present life situation. The immense impact of the past on their present lives also distorts their visions of the future. In fact, there is no future perspective. The characters and the real people show a great reluctance to discuss war experiences and it results in their denial of the atrocities of war. Makarevic asks, How can the future be anticipated if there are still unresolved issues with the past?
All our lives are shaped by the memories of the past and how we deal with those memories in our ever-changing present. These 3 films reflect on the souls of the victims and survivors of the Holocaust as they do on every group of peoples today. We are all victims, survivors and perpetrators, even those who only read of wars in the comfort of their homes as they read the news over coffee and breakfast.
A documentary competing for a Academy Award nomination as Best Documentary, The Flat by Arnon Goldfinger will open in New York on October 19 and in Los Angeles on October 24 and will continue rolling out nationally. It has sold to IFC for U.S., where Sundance Select will release it, Scandinavia and U.K. It ran for six months theatrically in Germany and was Israel's highest grossing theatrical documentary. It has won the Ophir (the Israeli equivalent to the Academy Awards) for Best Documentary film for Art houses in Israel, The Best Documentary Directing Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival, the Bavarian Film Award for Best Documentary, Best Documentary Editing at Tribeca, Best Doc at the Israeli Documentary Forum and the David A. Stein Memorial Award at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival. International sales are by the German sales agent Salzgeber.
The Flat tells the story of the grandson's search for answers to the enigma of his grandparents. "The flat on the third floor of a Bauhaus building in Tel Aviv was where my grandparents lived since they immigrated to Palestine in the 1930s. Were it not for the view from the windows, one might have thought that the flat was in Berlin. When my grandmother passed away at the age of 98 we were called to the flat to clear out what was left. Objects, pictures, letters and documents awaited us, revealing traces of a troubled and unknown past."
The film which begins with the emptying out of the flat develops into a riveting tale of the grandparents of the filmmaker, a story of their lifelong friendship with the Nazi ideologue who invented The Final Solution and was Adolf Eichman’s boss. The filmmaker’s own mother never knew anything about the friendship, and the grandson must search for answers as to why and how they could remain friends after their 1933 trip with him to Jerusalem and their subsequent patriation in Israel as Zionists the same year. After the war they renewed their friendship. The Nazi’s own daughter knew only part of this story of deeply repressed family emotions on both sides of the enemy line.
My discussion with Arnon Goldfinger began with my question of why he never made another film after his 2000 theatrical doc The Comediant which like The Flat also won the Israeli Film Award. No reason other than he has been busy teaching film at all of Israel's film schools including the Sam Speigel School and currently Tel Aviv University film school where he received his own degree. While I was not thrilled with the ending which seemed so unresolved, or with his mother who seemed too ignorant of her own parents' lives, Arnon stressed that the main thing was that he started asking questions and as he went deeper and deeper, there grew a sort of understaning that there are unsolvabble mysteries in memories; one cannot enter people's hearts. He paraphrased a phrase often heard on Israeli TV: "The present is happy now, the future is unpredictable; only the past keeps changing and changing." He also notes that, "even if no one in our family will admit it whole-heartedly, the fact that we are descendants of German Jews has had a profound effect on shaping each of our personalities. And yet, the topic of our roots was never an issue or a subject for much discussion in our daily life in Israel. Quite the contrary, the old-worldness of our grandparents was always treated with a sense of cynicism....it was only after my grandmother's death that I realized that the flat contained a treasure that could illuminate the present as well as the past."
The important thing is to be seeking the truth. His mother was trained not to ask her parents about the past. Unconsciously she understood there would a lot of pain anad suffering if her parents began to talk of their experiences. But in the course of the film, she underwent a process from disinterest to interest; she went twice to Berlin. She could not express it but something moved within her. And at the other end, Arnon is still in touch with the German daughter of the Nazi friends of his grandparents and she accepted the film when she saw it. There is no resolution of the paradox of his parents' friendship. Arnon's main motivation in making the film was to learn what happened, but that became less important than learning that the reason people did not talk of the Nazi experience was not a matter of fact but of emotion and if one does not ask, one will not know that emotional impact. Emotional impact itself is a continuing process. Goldfinger still cannot assess the film's emotional impact on himself; it is a process that continues as must the discussion and questioning of the past;. The impact is a continual process and the memories change shape as our present points of view change.
In Toronto I cited Margarethe Von Trotta’s Hannah Arendt, (Isa: The Match Factory is screening it at Afm November 1, 9 am) in my blog When Are Films Political: The Brave Films of Toronto International Film Festival). She herself was a survivor who, during her coverage of Eichman's trial in Jerusalem, found herself abandoned by many of her best friends in New York on account of her tough assessment of the nature of totalitarianism which includes victims and oppressors in a cycle of silence which in turn creates evil because no one speaks up to protest. Her implicating the Jews in this cycle caused outrage in the Jewish community.
Margarethe von Trotta, a filmmaker who is fearless in facing deeply philosophical and important issues, will be presented with the Leo Baeck Medal for this film which resonates profoundly in the tradition of Rabbi Leo Baeck and the Institute named in his honor. As the last public representative of the Jewish Community of Germany under the Nazis, Leo Baeck worked to protect German Jews from persecution, helping many Jews emigrate and traveling widely to bring the plight of German Jews to international attention. He refused offers to save himself by emigrating and instead submitted to deportation to the Theresienstadt concentration camp rather than abandon his community. After the liberation, Baeck moved to London, but he continued to teach around the world, including in the United States, the nascent Federal Republic of Germany, and the State of Israel. Today, the work of the Leo Baeck Institute continues to reflect this commitment to dialogue. The annual Gala dinner will be held November 28 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.
The third film, The Matchmaker (Isa and U.S. Distributor: Menamsha) is playing its 9th week in N.Y., played more than 9 weeks in L.A. and continues to open nationally as it earns prizes in festivals. I loved this film with the old-fashioned love of good movies I used to feel before I “got in the business”, and yet it goes beyond the expected. Kenneth Turan of L.A. Times gives it a sterling review for the same reasons, "more honest than formulaic, an offbeat look at an in-between, questioning time in Israeli history".
Director Avi Nesher is quoted as saying, “Like many Sabras, I had a very difficult time understanding and accepting that the European Jews, like my parents, were ever so hapless during wartime in Europe.
We Israelis were brought up as the ‘new Jews/ and the ‘super Jews’. Empathy toward Holocaust survivors was discouraged. Indeed, we are guilty of a great sin. Our parents suffered greatly ‘there’ and we offered no sympathy ‘here’.
I wrote and directed the film The Matchmaker as an homage to my parents. I believe that no matter what the question is, love is always the answer. The film focuses on love to ease survivors' suffering. My parents used much love to create a life for my sister and me, and as sane a life as was possible for them under the circumstances. I find this hugely admirable and a true life lesson."
These three films are so powerful in pointing out the complexities and even contradictions of people wherever the Shoah is in the spotlight. Human nature, being what it is, creates many shades of gray and these shades, discussed in these three films, are as fascinating as art by Mark Rothko or Joseph Albers. Watching these three films is not only important but is totally compelling.
The issues being dealt with in all three are memories of individuals and collective memory, as seen through the prism of the ever changing present. The present colors how memories are recalled from the past. The subject of memory was dealt with brilliantly (aside from Proust) recently by Asja Makarevic, the 20-something-year-old Manager of Sarajevo's Talent Campus who lived through the siege of Sarajevo as a young girl. Using two 45 minute films made before the Bosnian war and after by Bosnian director Namik Kabil who lived in Santa Monica, Calfornia during the war, she presents a discussion of the present handling of memories from the recent seige of Bosnia-Herzogovina by the Serbians which lasted from 1992 to 1995. The films explore how the past overshadows the present and shapes the characters’ and the real individuals’ present life situation. The immense impact of the past on their present lives also distorts their visions of the future. In fact, there is no future perspective. The characters and the real people show a great reluctance to discuss war experiences and it results in their denial of the atrocities of war. Makarevic asks, How can the future be anticipated if there are still unresolved issues with the past?
All our lives are shaped by the memories of the past and how we deal with those memories in our ever-changing present. These 3 films reflect on the souls of the victims and survivors of the Holocaust as they do on every group of peoples today. We are all victims, survivors and perpetrators, even those who only read of wars in the comfort of their homes as they read the news over coffee and breakfast.
A documentary competing for a Academy Award nomination as Best Documentary, The Flat by Arnon Goldfinger will open in New York on October 19 and in Los Angeles on October 24 and will continue rolling out nationally. It has sold to IFC for U.S., where Sundance Select will release it, Scandinavia and U.K. It ran for six months theatrically in Germany and was Israel's highest grossing theatrical documentary. It has won the Ophir (the Israeli equivalent to the Academy Awards) for Best Documentary film for Art houses in Israel, The Best Documentary Directing Award at the Jerusalem Film Festival, the Bavarian Film Award for Best Documentary, Best Documentary Editing at Tribeca, Best Doc at the Israeli Documentary Forum and the David A. Stein Memorial Award at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival. International sales are by the German sales agent Salzgeber.
The Flat tells the story of the grandson's search for answers to the enigma of his grandparents. "The flat on the third floor of a Bauhaus building in Tel Aviv was where my grandparents lived since they immigrated to Palestine in the 1930s. Were it not for the view from the windows, one might have thought that the flat was in Berlin. When my grandmother passed away at the age of 98 we were called to the flat to clear out what was left. Objects, pictures, letters and documents awaited us, revealing traces of a troubled and unknown past."
The film which begins with the emptying out of the flat develops into a riveting tale of the grandparents of the filmmaker, a story of their lifelong friendship with the Nazi ideologue who invented The Final Solution and was Adolf Eichman’s boss. The filmmaker’s own mother never knew anything about the friendship, and the grandson must search for answers as to why and how they could remain friends after their 1933 trip with him to Jerusalem and their subsequent patriation in Israel as Zionists the same year. After the war they renewed their friendship. The Nazi’s own daughter knew only part of this story of deeply repressed family emotions on both sides of the enemy line.
My discussion with Arnon Goldfinger began with my question of why he never made another film after his 2000 theatrical doc The Comediant which like The Flat also won the Israeli Film Award. No reason other than he has been busy teaching film at all of Israel's film schools including the Sam Speigel School and currently Tel Aviv University film school where he received his own degree. While I was not thrilled with the ending which seemed so unresolved, or with his mother who seemed too ignorant of her own parents' lives, Arnon stressed that the main thing was that he started asking questions and as he went deeper and deeper, there grew a sort of understaning that there are unsolvabble mysteries in memories; one cannot enter people's hearts. He paraphrased a phrase often heard on Israeli TV: "The present is happy now, the future is unpredictable; only the past keeps changing and changing." He also notes that, "even if no one in our family will admit it whole-heartedly, the fact that we are descendants of German Jews has had a profound effect on shaping each of our personalities. And yet, the topic of our roots was never an issue or a subject for much discussion in our daily life in Israel. Quite the contrary, the old-worldness of our grandparents was always treated with a sense of cynicism....it was only after my grandmother's death that I realized that the flat contained a treasure that could illuminate the present as well as the past."
The important thing is to be seeking the truth. His mother was trained not to ask her parents about the past. Unconsciously she understood there would a lot of pain anad suffering if her parents began to talk of their experiences. But in the course of the film, she underwent a process from disinterest to interest; she went twice to Berlin. She could not express it but something moved within her. And at the other end, Arnon is still in touch with the German daughter of the Nazi friends of his grandparents and she accepted the film when she saw it. There is no resolution of the paradox of his parents' friendship. Arnon's main motivation in making the film was to learn what happened, but that became less important than learning that the reason people did not talk of the Nazi experience was not a matter of fact but of emotion and if one does not ask, one will not know that emotional impact. Emotional impact itself is a continuing process. Goldfinger still cannot assess the film's emotional impact on himself; it is a process that continues as must the discussion and questioning of the past;. The impact is a continual process and the memories change shape as our present points of view change.
In Toronto I cited Margarethe Von Trotta’s Hannah Arendt, (Isa: The Match Factory is screening it at Afm November 1, 9 am) in my blog When Are Films Political: The Brave Films of Toronto International Film Festival). She herself was a survivor who, during her coverage of Eichman's trial in Jerusalem, found herself abandoned by many of her best friends in New York on account of her tough assessment of the nature of totalitarianism which includes victims and oppressors in a cycle of silence which in turn creates evil because no one speaks up to protest. Her implicating the Jews in this cycle caused outrage in the Jewish community.
Margarethe von Trotta, a filmmaker who is fearless in facing deeply philosophical and important issues, will be presented with the Leo Baeck Medal for this film which resonates profoundly in the tradition of Rabbi Leo Baeck and the Institute named in his honor. As the last public representative of the Jewish Community of Germany under the Nazis, Leo Baeck worked to protect German Jews from persecution, helping many Jews emigrate and traveling widely to bring the plight of German Jews to international attention. He refused offers to save himself by emigrating and instead submitted to deportation to the Theresienstadt concentration camp rather than abandon his community. After the liberation, Baeck moved to London, but he continued to teach around the world, including in the United States, the nascent Federal Republic of Germany, and the State of Israel. Today, the work of the Leo Baeck Institute continues to reflect this commitment to dialogue. The annual Gala dinner will be held November 28 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York.
The third film, The Matchmaker (Isa and U.S. Distributor: Menamsha) is playing its 9th week in N.Y., played more than 9 weeks in L.A. and continues to open nationally as it earns prizes in festivals. I loved this film with the old-fashioned love of good movies I used to feel before I “got in the business”, and yet it goes beyond the expected. Kenneth Turan of L.A. Times gives it a sterling review for the same reasons, "more honest than formulaic, an offbeat look at an in-between, questioning time in Israeli history".
Director Avi Nesher is quoted as saying, “Like many Sabras, I had a very difficult time understanding and accepting that the European Jews, like my parents, were ever so hapless during wartime in Europe.
We Israelis were brought up as the ‘new Jews/ and the ‘super Jews’. Empathy toward Holocaust survivors was discouraged. Indeed, we are guilty of a great sin. Our parents suffered greatly ‘there’ and we offered no sympathy ‘here’.
I wrote and directed the film The Matchmaker as an homage to my parents. I believe that no matter what the question is, love is always the answer. The film focuses on love to ease survivors' suffering. My parents used much love to create a life for my sister and me, and as sane a life as was possible for them under the circumstances. I find this hugely admirable and a true life lesson."
These three films are so powerful in pointing out the complexities and even contradictions of people wherever the Shoah is in the spotlight. Human nature, being what it is, creates many shades of gray and these shades, discussed in these three films, are as fascinating as art by Mark Rothko or Joseph Albers. Watching these three films is not only important but is totally compelling.
- 10/18/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
When the maternal grandmother of Arnon Goldfinger dies, the documentary filmmaker is confronted with the lifetime of furniture, gloves and books she left behind in the Tel Aviv apartment she shared with his grandfather. After he begins to document the long process of cleaning out and distributing the items among family members, an unexpected possession rises to the top: a newspaper article which hints at family ties to the Nazis. The Flat (which opens on Friday through Sundance Selects) follows Goldfinger’s initial question of how the article came to be in the apartment, and how it connects to his grandparents and one German family, the Von Mildensteins. But as Goldfinger reaches across generations for answers, he slowly realizes that the people he meets, his family, and even himself, might not be prepared to know what he uncovers.
Filmmaker: The film begins after your grandmother’s death when your family...
Filmmaker: The film begins after your grandmother’s death when your family...
- 10/17/2012
- by Martha Early
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Title: The Flat Sundance Selects Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten Grade: B+ Director: Arnon Goldfinger Screenwriter: Arnon Goldfinger Cast: Arnon Goldfinger, Edda Milz von Mildenstein, Hannah Goldfinger, Harald Milz, Gertrude Kino, Tamar Tuchler, Michael Wildt Screened at: Dolby24, NYC, 10/10/12 Opens: October 19, 2012 If you want to know why so many Jews continued to hang out in Germany during 1930s even as the Nazi regime increasingly tightened the vise—Jews dismissed from their posts, Jews not allowed to sit on park benches, Jewish-owned stores vandalized, Jews humiliated on the street—Arnon Goldfinger’s “The Flat” provides at least one answer. The subject of his documentary is the filmmaker’s grandmother, a look [ Read More ]
The post The Flat Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post The Flat Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 10/12/2012
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
With a new director, the Jewish International Film Festival has launched its 2012 program to screen across Sydney and Melbourne. Included in the line up is Australia’s Dead Europe by Tony Krawitz; Roman Polanski – A Film Memoir by Laurent Bouzereau and Yolande Zauberman’s Would You Have Sex with an Arab?
The festival runs from 1 – 18 November at Bondi Junction’s Event Cinemas and from 7 – 25 November at Melbourne’s Classic Cinemas in Elsternwick.
The announcement:
Under the guidance of a new Director, the Jewish International Film Festival is set for the most electrifying season in its 23-year history when it screens in Sydney and Melbourne this November.
Drawing on his extensive exhibition and distribution experience, Festival Director, Eddie Tamir has assembled a brilliant line-up of 34 features and documentaries from 14 countries, which will challenge, inform and entertain audiences from within and beyond the Jewish community.
Said, Tamir, “I’m delighted to build...
The festival runs from 1 – 18 November at Bondi Junction’s Event Cinemas and from 7 – 25 November at Melbourne’s Classic Cinemas in Elsternwick.
The announcement:
Under the guidance of a new Director, the Jewish International Film Festival is set for the most electrifying season in its 23-year history when it screens in Sydney and Melbourne this November.
Drawing on his extensive exhibition and distribution experience, Festival Director, Eddie Tamir has assembled a brilliant line-up of 34 features and documentaries from 14 countries, which will challenge, inform and entertain audiences from within and beyond the Jewish community.
Said, Tamir, “I’m delighted to build...
- 10/5/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
Family history can be a complicated thing. As much as we might think we know our parents or grandparents, the understanding of the history of our lineage tends to be shaped by what we're told. The past usually doesn't stay hidden for long, and as director Arnon Goldfinger found out, there was much to uncover and learn about his own family. Winning the Ophir (Israeli Oscar) for Best Documentary, picking up another award at the Tribeca Film Festival and recently showing at Michael Moore's Traverse City Festival at two sold out screenings, Goldfinger's "The Flat" finds him sharing his own history. After his grandmother passed away, Goldfinger starting going through her decades worth of photographs, letters, documents and more, and in the process, discovered deep and dark secrets about his family's past. Here's the official synopsis: At age 98, director Arnon Goldfinger's grandmother passed away, leaving him the task of clearing out the Tel.
- 9/24/2012
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Arnon Goldfinger's "The Flat" goes to Sundance Selects for North American, Latin American, UK and Scandinavian rights (excluding Jewish festival and educational rights, which are being handled by Ruth Diskin Films Ltd). "The Flat" debuted at the Jerusalem International Film Festival in 2011, where Goldfinger won Best Director, before playing Tribeca where it won Best Editing (here's Indiewire's Meet the Filmmaker interview). Among the film's other honors is the Israeli Academy Award's Best Documentary award. Goldfinger also wrote the documentary, and co-produced with Thomas Kufus. The synopsis for "The Flat," which Sundance Selects plans to release October 19, is below. At age 98, director Goldfinger's grandmother passed away, leaving him the task of clearing out the Tel Aviv flat that she and her husband shared for decades since immigrating from Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Sifting through a dense mountain of...
- 7/27/2012
- by Sophia Savage
- Indiewire
Rachel Mwanza, War Witch Tribeca 2012 Politics Nation: Una Noche Movie World Narrative Competition Categories The jurors for the 2012 World Narrative Competition were Patricia Clarkson, Dakota Fanning, Mike Newell, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Jim Sheridan, and Irwin Winkler. The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – War Witch, directed by Kim Nguyen (Canada). Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film – Dariel Arrechada and Javier Nuñez Florian as Raul and Elio in Una Noche, directed by Lucy Mulloy (UK, Cuba, USA). Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film – Rachel Mwanza as Komona in War Witch, directed by Kim Nguyen (Canada). Best Cinematography in a Narrative Feature Film – Cinematography by Trevor Forrest and Shlomo Godder, for Una Noche, directed by Lucy Mulloy (UK, Cuba, USA). Special Jury Mention – Alex Catalan for Unit 7. Best Screenplay for a Narrative Feature Film – All In (La Suerte en Tus Manos), written by Daniel Burman and Sergio Dubcovsky and directed by...
- 4/29/2012
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
War Witch, a Canadian-made film about a young girl who escapes from the African rebels who forced her to be a child soldier, was named Best Narrative Feature at the 11th annual Tribeca Film Festival. “This indelible character study of a girl who becomes a woman before our eyes in the midst of harrowing war gives words to the unspeakable,” said the jury, which included Patricia Clarkson, Dakota Fanning, Mike Newell, EW’s Lisa Schwarzbaum, Jim Sheridan, and Irwin Winkler. “Riveting, heartbreaking, vivid, and eloquent, the movie balances scenes of crazy enemy hatred with moments of luminous private love.”
Rachel Mwanza,...
Rachel Mwanza,...
- 4/27/2012
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
The Tribeca Film Festival awards ceremony took place on Thursday, and the controversial Cuban film "Una Noche" turned out to be the toast of the town. Though "War Witch" won the award for Best Narrative Feature and Rachel Mwanza was named Best Actress, "Una Noche" became the breakout story of the festival after two of its actors disappeared en route to New York.
Director Lucy Mulloy, cinematographers Trevor Forrest and Shlomo Godder were honored for their work on the film. Actors Dariel Arrechada and Jaiver Nunez Florian both won Best Actor in a Narrative Feature.
Other big winners include Nisha Pahuja's "The World Before Her" for Best Documentary Feature, Bryan Buckley's "Asad" for Best Narrative Short and Frederic Golding's "On the Mat" for Best Feature Film in the festival's online competition.
Florian and Anailin de la Rua de la Torre, were flown from Cuba to the United States...
Director Lucy Mulloy, cinematographers Trevor Forrest and Shlomo Godder were honored for their work on the film. Actors Dariel Arrechada and Jaiver Nunez Florian both won Best Actor in a Narrative Feature.
Other big winners include Nisha Pahuja's "The World Before Her" for Best Documentary Feature, Bryan Buckley's "Asad" for Best Narrative Short and Frederic Golding's "On the Mat" for Best Feature Film in the festival's online competition.
Florian and Anailin de la Rua de la Torre, were flown from Cuba to the United States...
- 4/27/2012
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
Truth-Telling from Mississippi to Israel to China to Texas
Yes, truth is the essence of documentaries. But whose truth? What truth? In dangerous times, truth is elusive. When pain lingers, truth digs deeper into the obscure. Regardless, sometimes truth must come out. Sometimes there is no choice. Sometimes even fear is no match for truth — such as in Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story.
In 1965, filmmaker Raymond DeFelitta traveled to Greenwood, Mississippi to shoot a documentary for NBC News on racial tensions in the South. DeFelitta initially planned to capture the conflict from the perspective of Southern whites, yet the highlight of his film turned out to be a brief monologue by an African American.
Booker T. Wright‘s presentation was candid and honest, even poetic, and strongly biting. In articulating the unpleasant truth about a Black American living in racist Mississippi, Booker became a human face for a system...
Yes, truth is the essence of documentaries. But whose truth? What truth? In dangerous times, truth is elusive. When pain lingers, truth digs deeper into the obscure. Regardless, sometimes truth must come out. Sometimes there is no choice. Sometimes even fear is no match for truth — such as in Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story.
In 1965, filmmaker Raymond DeFelitta traveled to Greenwood, Mississippi to shoot a documentary for NBC News on racial tensions in the South. DeFelitta initially planned to capture the conflict from the perspective of Southern whites, yet the highlight of his film turned out to be a brief monologue by an African American.
Booker T. Wright‘s presentation was candid and honest, even poetic, and strongly biting. In articulating the unpleasant truth about a Black American living in racist Mississippi, Booker became a human face for a system...
- 4/24/2012
- by Stewart Nusbaumer
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
The Flat
Directed by Arnon Goldfinger
Israel, 2011
Following the death of his grandmother, Arnon Goldfinger and his family take it upon themselves to clear out her now abandoned Tel-Aviv flat. Wanting to annex the place of dilapidated memories, Goldfinger and his family, instead, discover documents that lead them on a journey that uncovers forbidden relationships, confounding national interests, and familial emotions that were hitherto suppressed.
In the beginning, The Flat doesn’t feel like a documentary. The film starts with a shot of the flat – dark, empty and forgotten. Goldfinger proceeds to open the windows, a literal metaphor for enlightenment. He also gets a book dealer to assess his grandmother’s literary collection, and when they are deemed to be old and irrelevant, they are put into a box and thrown away.
All of these actions, along with the actual event of the tidying, point to Goldfinger’s attempt to...
Directed by Arnon Goldfinger
Israel, 2011
Following the death of his grandmother, Arnon Goldfinger and his family take it upon themselves to clear out her now abandoned Tel-Aviv flat. Wanting to annex the place of dilapidated memories, Goldfinger and his family, instead, discover documents that lead them on a journey that uncovers forbidden relationships, confounding national interests, and familial emotions that were hitherto suppressed.
In the beginning, The Flat doesn’t feel like a documentary. The film starts with a shot of the flat – dark, empty and forgotten. Goldfinger proceeds to open the windows, a literal metaphor for enlightenment. He also gets a book dealer to assess his grandmother’s literary collection, and when they are deemed to be old and irrelevant, they are put into a box and thrown away.
All of these actions, along with the actual event of the tidying, point to Goldfinger’s attempt to...
- 4/19/2012
- by Justin Li
- SoundOnSight
Arnon Goldfinger had different expectations for his life than becoming a filmmaker when he was a kid. "We lived in the provincial town of Ramat Gan where I spent most of my youth adjacent to the chess board," said Goldfinger. "It seemed like my professional life would take a more scientific route. I guess that plan started to become undone when at the age of 17 I happened upon a screening of Alain Resnais’ 'Hiroshima Mon Amour' and it took my breath away." Since then, Goldfinger has directed two films. His second film, "The Flat," will be playing at this year's Tribeca Film Festival. What's it about: "After my grandmother passed away at the age of 98, my family and I go to empty out the flat and soon discover hints to a mysterious and painful past. I begin to follow the clues." Director Goldfinger says: "Ever since the very first screening of the film,...
- 4/11/2012
- by Indiewire
- Indiewire
2012 Tribeca Film Festival announced the World Narrative and Documentary Competition film selections
HollywoodNews.com: The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by American Express®, today announced the World Narrative and Documentary Competition film selections, along with selections for the out-of-competition Viewpoints section—the program established last year that highlights personal stories in international and independent cinema. Forty-six of the 90 feature-length films were announced. The 11th edition of the Festival will take place from April 18 to April 29 at locations around New York City.
The Festival was curated by a new programming team this year. Frédéric Boyer has joined Tff as Artistic Director, having most recently served as Artistic Director and Head of Programming for the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. Geoffrey Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer of Tribeca Enterprises, has expanded his role in overseeing the Festival program. Genna Terranova has been promoted to Director of Programming and Cara Cusumano returns as Programmer.
“It’s been so gratifying to watch the new programming...
The Festival was curated by a new programming team this year. Frédéric Boyer has joined Tff as Artistic Director, having most recently served as Artistic Director and Head of Programming for the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. Geoffrey Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer of Tribeca Enterprises, has expanded his role in overseeing the Festival program. Genna Terranova has been promoted to Director of Programming and Cara Cusumano returns as Programmer.
“It’s been so gratifying to watch the new programming...
- 3/6/2012
- by Josh Abraham
- Hollywoodnews.com
The Tribeca Film Festival announced half of this year’s movie showcase, the 11th edition of the New York celebration set for April 18-29. James Franco’s behind-the-scenes General Hospital feature, Francophrenia, will have its North American premiere in the Viewpoints section – the program established last year that highlights more personal stories. “He’s kind of constructed this really interesting and well-crafted film about that experience that plays with the boundaries of documentary,” says Genna Terranova, Tribeca’s director of programming. “It’s a bit tongue in cheek, as James himself can be. He’s a bit enigmatic and the film is as well.
- 3/6/2012
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
With The Five-Year Engagement set as the opening title for the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, they’ve announced more of the line-up today with World Narrative & Documentary Features as the Viewpoint titles. We’ve got the next film from The Exploding Girl director Bradley Rust Gray, Jack and Diane (as well as a first look about featuring Juno Temple, thanks to Styd).
There is a new Harmony Korine short as well Kate Bosworth‘s While We Were Here and The Girl, starring Abbie Cornish. James Franco also has his latest film, Francophrenia, featuring footage from his performance on General Hospital. Nothing sticks out too greatly yet, but if I see something as interesting as Beyond the Black Rainbow or Magic Valley like last year, I’ll be a happy man. Check it out below and come back Thursday for the rest of the announcement.
World Narrative Feature Competition
• All In (La Suerte En Tus Manos...
There is a new Harmony Korine short as well Kate Bosworth‘s While We Were Here and The Girl, starring Abbie Cornish. James Franco also has his latest film, Francophrenia, featuring footage from his performance on General Hospital. Nothing sticks out too greatly yet, but if I see something as interesting as Beyond the Black Rainbow or Magic Valley like last year, I’ll be a happy man. Check it out below and come back Thursday for the rest of the announcement.
World Narrative Feature Competition
• All In (La Suerte En Tus Manos...
- 3/6/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
SXSW kicks off later this week, but once your done slurping the BBQ sauce off your fingers, pack your backs and head north to Manhattan as the Tribeca Film Festival is gearing up to unspool in April. To whet cinephile appetites, organizers have dropped the lineup for the World Narrative Feature Competition, World Documentary Feature Competition and Viewpoints lineups and there are plenty of titles to take note of.
Among the narratives, the anticipated "Jack And Diane" from Bradley Rust Gray will make its world premiere. Starring Juno Temple and Riley Keough, the film takes a teenage lesbian love tale and twists the formula, with one of them revealing she's a werewolf. Add to that a cast rounded out by Dane DeHaan, Jena Malone and pop star Kylie Minogue (as a tattooed lesbian, of course) and you can see why this will be one of the hottest tickets at the fest.
Among the narratives, the anticipated "Jack And Diane" from Bradley Rust Gray will make its world premiere. Starring Juno Temple and Riley Keough, the film takes a teenage lesbian love tale and twists the formula, with one of them revealing she's a werewolf. Add to that a cast rounded out by Dane DeHaan, Jena Malone and pop star Kylie Minogue (as a tattooed lesbian, of course) and you can see why this will be one of the hottest tickets at the fest.
- 3/6/2012
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
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