Filmmaker Pauline Horovitz was deeply affected by Art Spiegelman's comic book masterpiece, Maus, when she first read it at the age of thirteen. First a bookstore phenomenon with a whiff of scandal, then a Pulitzer Prize-winning international bestseller, Spiegelman brought the Holocaust into comics and, with it, into mainstream culture with his revolutionary graphic novel.

In Horovitz's documentary, THE HELL OF AUSCHWITZ: MAUS BY ART SPIEGELMAN, she interrogates the impact of Maus on the world, and, more personally, the impact on her own family, both as a granddaughter of survivors and a mother to a curious teenager. Using interviews with Spiegelman himself, plus new input from Shoah historians Annette Wieviorka and Tal Bruttmann, as well as commentary from comic artists, writers, & researchers Emmanuel Guibert, Joann Sfar, Tania de Montaigne, and Ole Frahm, THE HELL OF AUSCHWITZ: MAUS BY ART SPIEGELMAN delves into the history of portraying the Holocaust in the media, the appeal (and criticisms!) of Maus, and how the novel revolutionized comics to be considered a serious art form.

Select Accolades

• International Festival of Films on Art 2025 (Canada)