116 minutes / Color
French / English subtitles
Release: 2022
Copyright: 2020
Golda Maria sits on her Paris sofa facing her grandson's camera. It’s October 29, 1994. Over the course of the next three days, she will share her extraordinary, largely unknown life story, selecting recollections as they come to her, reaching back into the deepest recesses of her memory. Her grandson, Patrick Sobelman, prompts her gently, hoping to preserve a trace of her legacy for their family: from her native Poland to her youth in Berlin; from life in occupied France to the camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen; and, finally, to her eventual return to “normal” life in the French capital. Twenty-five years later, Golda Maria's great grandson, Hugo, joins his father in the project to together share this intimate family footage in a dramatic documentary saga that is as moving as it is captivating.
“What begins as a family film acquires universal significance and historical force.” —Cahiers du Cinéma
“Precious testimony; this minimalist documentary is stunning, intimate and universal.” —Les Fiches du Cinéma
“One of the most unexpected and affecting documentaries.” —Tablet Magazine
"Unforgettable. There are many testimonies, but this one is special." —Les Inrockuptibles
“A testimony of inestimable human and historical value in memory of a woman who experienced a dramatically exceptional fate.” —Cineuropa
“A real and raw glimpse into the power of humanity; moving and inspirational.” —The Upcoming
“Exciting and essential.” —Premiere
“Golda Maria's righteousness reveals a dignified soul who walks through the tormented history of 20th-century Europe between the intimate and the universal.” —Positif
“Intimate; in telling Golda's story, Patrick Sobelman contributes to the writing of her family's history, and the history of an era.” —Le Figaro
“Extraordinary... Partick Sobelman has preserved his grandmother’s incredible life story and provided viewers with a chance to better understand what it was like to live through one of the darkest times in our world’s history.” —Video Librarian
Select Accolades
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