NANA A transgenerational documentary on tolerance presented at the St. Louis International Film Festival November 6
A relevant and moving film will be making its world premiere at the St. Louis International Film Festival: NANA – a transgenerational documentary on tolerance. The film, directed by Serena Dykman, tells the story of three women, of three generations, in three different regions: Poland, Belgium, and New York City. Alice and Serena, daughter and granddaughter respectively of Maryla Michalowski-Dyamant, convey the extraordinary story of this Auschwitz survivor, who was a passionate activist for remembrance and tolerance. Maryla had a singular journey; she was forced to work as the translator for the infamous Dr Mengele, “the angel of death” of Auschwitz.
Serena decided to make this movie of her grandmother that she barely knew after reading her memoirs right after the January 2015 Paris terrorist attacks. Mother and daughter start a journey through Poland and Belgium, retracing Maryla’s steps. In Brussels (the city where Maryla emigrated after the war), the duo talk with people of different backgrounds, ages, and religions, who all knew Maryla.
The film is set in the shadow of the Brussels Jewish Museum terrorist attack and the January 2015 Paris attacks, and asks the necessary questions on fundamentalism and dogmatism. What concrete actions can be taken to create a global community that can coexist in peace? How can people of different cultures and backgrounds understand and respect each other? Within the context of the volatile state of current events, these questions are crucial.
When Serena and her team were editing the film, several people and television stations heard about the project, and sent the director around one hundred hours of archival footage of her grandmother. Without having imagined it, Serena found herself with additional material that she couldn’t ignore. The project took a new direction.
Even though NANA is a very personal film for Alice and Serena, it also touches on universal themes: a message of open-mindedness and mutual respect that is particularly relevant today.
In 1943, Maryla was deported from her native town of Bedzin (Poland) to Auschwitz-Birkenau, and manages to survive thanks to her immense courage, chance, and a lot of luck. After surviving typhus, she is forced to become Dr. Mengele’s translator, thus escaping the gas chambers. After the liberation, she meets her husband, a Catholic Polish resistant, and the two wander through Europe until they settle in Belgium. Maryla’s testimonies reveal her remarkable personality, her phenomenal courage, and her inimitable sense of humor.
Now that the majority of Holocaust survivors have dissapeared, NANA attempts to find a way to keep the message of Maryla, and so many survivors alive. Through the theme of transmission, the documentary also tackles current social and educational questions, making NANA a unique film of its kind. This documentary is captiving because it is directed by a survivor’s granddaughter, a millenial, which makes audience of all ages able to relate to each one of the three protagonists.
Before the film was even finished, NANA received a few awards; the Alan Landsburg Post Production grant, Best Documentary Pitch at the Fusion Film Festival (with judges from HBO, VICE, IFP), as well as Best Teaser at the Take Two Film Festival. The project was also featured in Steven Spielberg's USC Shoah Foundation.
Serena Dykman resides in New York, and is a recent graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. Her work, ranging from comedy to drama, has won numerous awards, including at the Cannes Film Festival's Emerging Filmmaker Showcase, and she has been given the chance to screen her films in countless film festivals worldwide. NANA is the first feature of the young director.
NANA is a deeply moving and unsettling film, that makes people think about the concepts of tolerance and acceptance of the other, especially in the current political and social climate. A documentary to watch. Essential.
Tickets: www.cinemastlouis.org
Trailer: www.nanafilm.com
www.facebook.com/NanaADocumentary
Director: Serena Dykman
Producers: Serena Dykman, Alice Michalowski, Stephane Dykman Dyamant Pictures and Adleek SA Luxembourg
Writter by Serena Dykman with Corentin Soibinet and David Breger
Directors of photography: Nick Walker and Julia Elaine Mills
Editing: Corentin Soibinet
Original score: Carine Gutlerner
Sound editing and mixing: Charles de Montebello
Duration: 100 minutes
PRESS LINKS:
Steven Spielberg's USC Shoah Foundation "Impact in Profile: Serena Dykman”
https://sfi.usc.edu/profiles/serena-dykman
The director talks about her new Holocaust film, ‘Nana: A Transgenerational Documentary on Tolerance.’
http://jewcy.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/jewcy-interviews-serena-dykman
An Interview With The Nana Project
http://mamalode.com/story/detail/the-nana-project-an-interview
“If not us, then who:” ‘Nana’ aims to help millennials relate to the Holocaust
Interview with Serena Dykman: The Holocaust Though a Millennial’s Lens
For more information and to request a screener : please contact
info@dyamantpictures.com | (917) 861 5035
26.10.2016 | American Film Market Dailies's blog
Cat. : FILM