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A Film Unfinished

Coverage by Nobuhiro Hosoki

Director Yael Hersonski

Story : At the end of World War II, 60 minutes of raw film, having sat undisturbed in an East German archive, was discovered. Depicting everyday life in the Warsaw ghetto, the footage quickly gained traction as an important historical document. The found footage, in four small reels, had been used by archivists and documentary filmmakers over the past several decades to show what life was like in the ghetto. The images — accepted as reality — have now been proven to be a cinematic deception, as the Nazis had staged nearly all the scenes. This new discovery of a long-missing fifth reel revealed an elaborate ruse. This new-found footage shows outtakes depicting staged and choreographed scenes taken from various angles, even unintentionally capturing at times glimpses of SS cameramen behind the scenes. Much of what was once regarded as fact has been given a new truth.

Opened August 18, 2010

Runtime:1 hr. 29 min.