A Film Unfinished

A Film Unfinished
A Film Unfinished
Directed by	Yael Hersonski
Written by	Yael Hersonski
Produced by	Itai Ken-Tor ; Philippa Kowarsky ; Noemi Schory
Narrated by	Rona Kenan
Cinematography	Itai Ne'eman
Edited by	Joel Alexis
Music by	Yishai Adar
Production ; company	Oscilloscope Pictures
Release date	24 July 2010 ( MIFF ) ;
Running time	89 minutes
Countries	Germany ; Israel
Languages	English with subtitles for Hebrew, German and Polish
Box office	$311,542(USA)

A Film Unfinished (Hebrew title: ????? ??????? Shtikat haArkhion , German title: Geheimsache Ghettofilm ) is a 2010 documentary film by Yael Hersonski.

Summary [ edit ]

The film re-examines the making of an unfinished 1942 German propaganda film (titled Das Ghetto , "The Ghetto") depicting the Warsaw Ghetto two months before the mass extermination of its inhabitants in the German operation known as the Grossaktion Warsaw . The documentary features interviews with surviving ghetto residents and a re-enactment of testimony from Willy Wist, one of the camera operators who filmed scenes for Das Ghetto .

Release [ edit ]

It premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival , where it won the "World Cinema Documentary Editing Award". At the Hot Docs festival in Toronto, the film won the Best International Feature award. ^[1] The film was released theatrically in the US on 18 August 2010. ^[2]

The film's distributor, Oscilloscope , appealed to the MPAA over the film's R rating but was unsuccessful in reclassifying the film. ^[3]^[4]^[5] Oscilloscope says that the R rating is inconsistent with cultural norms because the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum , which is visited by school children, has more graphic footage. ^[6]

Reception [ edit ]

On Rotten Tomatoes the documentary has an approval rating of 97% based on reviews from 65 critics. The site's consensus states "A heartbreaking, haunting historical document, A Film Unfinished excavates a particularly horrible chapter of Holocaust history, and in doing so, the film provides a glimpse into the Nazi propaganda machine." ^[7] On Metacritic it has a score of 88% based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". ^[8]

References [ edit ]

^ Etan Vlessing (2010-05-07). " 'Film Unfinished' wins at Hot Docs fest" . The Hollywood Reporter. AP . Retrieved 2015-10-18 .
^ Sundance Film Festival 2010 Archived March 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine entry, Retrieved 3 August 2010
^ Cox, Gordon (3 August 2010). "Oscilloscope to appeal MPAA's 'Film' rating" . Variety .
^ Abrams, Rachel (6 August 2010). "R rating stands for Holocaust docu 'Film' " . Variety .
^ Catsoulis, Jeanette (August 17, 2010). "A Film Unfinished" . The New York Times . Retrieved August 18, 2020 .
^ Should the Holocaust be Rated R? , Speakeasy, A Wall Street Journal Blog, August 3, 2010
^ "A Film Unfinished (2009)" . Rotten Tomatoes .
^ "A Film Unfinished" . Metacritic .

External links [ edit ]

A Film Unfinished at IMDb
A film Unfinished at World War 2 Films
A Film Unfinished site for Independent Lens on PBS
A Film Unfinished official web site
Das Ghetto the original German propaganda film

[1] Etan Vlessing (2010-05-07). " 'Film Unfinished' wins at Hot Docs fest" . The Hollywood Reporter. AP . Retrieved 2015-10-18 .

[2] Sundance Film Festival 2010 Archived March 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine entry, Retrieved 3 August 2010

[3] Cox, Gordon (3 August 2010). "Oscilloscope to appeal MPAA's 'Film' rating" . Variety .

[4] Abrams, Rachel (6 August 2010). "R rating stands for Holocaust docu 'Film' " . Variety .

[5] Catsoulis, Jeanette (August 17, 2010). "A Film Unfinished" . The New York Times . Retrieved August 18, 2020 .

[6] Should the Holocaust be Rated R? , Speakeasy, A Wall Street Journal Blog, August 3, 2010

[7] "A Film Unfinished (2009)" . Rotten Tomatoes .

[8] "A Film Unfinished" . Metacritic .

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