Yael Hersonski &
Produced by Noemi Schory, Itay Ken-tor
Israel

Synopsis: During World War II, Nazi propagandists took on an assignment to create a film about the Jewish ghetto that had been established in Warsaw. The idea behind the project was clearly to cast the Jewish refugees in an unflattering light (most of whom would soon meet their fate in Nazi death camps), but the film was never completed, though the rough footage was discovered in Nazi archives after the fall of the Third Reich. Filmmaker Yael Hersonski has taken the footage shot by German cameramen, added previously unseen outtakes, and added the thoughts of survivors of the Warsaw ghetto (as well as one of the photographers) in the documentary A Film Unfinished (aka "The Missing Reel"). The film reveals the ugliness and poverty of the ghetto while also offering a look at the cinematic tricks the Axis filmmakers used to paint a distorted portrait of the Polish Jews, with newly discovered home movie footage shot by one of the cameramen adding additional damning evidence. A Film Unfinished received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

"A Film Unfinished" was selected as the best project at Greenhouse' 2nd Pitching Forum

The film, edited by Joelle Alexis, premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival (USA) received the Sundance World Documentary Editing Award.

The 2010 HOT DOCS Film Festival awarded the film as the Best International Feature Film, and received, in addition to the award, a $10,000 prize.

Silverdocs Documentary Festival awarded The Writers Guild of America Documentary Screenplay Award to the filmmakers.

2010 Jerusalem Film Festival:

• Van Leer Award for the documentary competition for the best documentary film. A prize of 10,000 Euro was granted to the filmmakers.

• The film was Awarded the Forum for the Preservation of Audio-Visual Memory Award – 3000 Euro, Craig Emmanuel and the Friends of the Jerusalem Cinematheque, USA.

IN THE PRESS
New York Times: An Israeli Finds New Meanings in a Nazi Film
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS |Published: August 17, 2010

 

New York Times: Whitewash in Wartime
By ARI KARPEL | Published: August 13, 2010

The film is eagerly participating in the 2010 Film Festival Circuit.

The film was screened at the 2010 Berlinale in the framework of Panorama.

The film was invited at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, USA - April 2010 and had its Polish Premiere at the Planet Doc Review in Warsaw. The film was also been selected at the Berlin Jewish Film Festival (May 2010), the Festival De Granada - Cines del Sur (June 2010) and the Melbourne International Film Festival (August – July 2010).

"A Film Unfinished" will be screen at the New York Film Forum in August 2010.

The filmmaker and producers are currently in an advanced stage of negotiation with a Polish and North American distributors.

The film received support from the following:

• Support from the German broadcaster MDR & SWR
• Support from ARTE
• Support from Israeli Yes Docu
• Production grant from The New Foundation for Cinema and TV
• Yad Vashem Film Project