//literary and arts//
Spring 2020
Spring 2020
A Conversation With Anette Insdorf on Holocaust Cinema
Harry Ottensosser
Annette Insdorf has been a professor at Columbia for several decades, and served as the Director of Undergraduate Film Program for 27 years. She is a world renowned author, having written several books on various film-related topics, notably Indelible Shadows: Film and Holocaust, which is considered a critical text in the field of Holocaust Cinema. Its revised edition, published in 1990, even features a preface by Elie Wiesel. She continues to write about the subject, and actively teaches a course at Columbia on Holocaust Cinema.
In light of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz taking place this year, I decided to ask her some questions regarding her relationship to Holocaust Cinema and its role in delivering the stories and experiences of survivors.
HO: What first drew you to study and write about Holocaust Cinema? What role did your parents' and your own background play in that?
AI: Being the daughter of Polish Jewish survivors led me to begin writing about Holocaust Cinema. While my initial impulse had been to write a screenplay based on my father's experiences—escaping from a forced labor camp and being hidden by a Polish peasant in the woods—I started noticing a growing number of films being made about the subject. As a film professor (then at Yale) and scholar, I seemed like the right person to tackle the subject.
HO: Why is it important to you to continue writing about the subject and teach a course on it?
AI: First, I continue to teach a seminar on Holocaust Cinema because there are so many superb motion pictures that nurture both historical awareness and critical discussion. Second, I have a vested interest in minimizing oblivion. Students deserve to know about the most cataclysmic event of the 20th century, as well as the varied cinematic attempts to represent it.
HO: How have successful Holocaust films found ways to resonate with audiences that aren't Jewish or have a background tied to the Holocaust? How have they universalized the experience of a survivor without ignoring the specificity of their experience?
AI: It depends on whether one measures success in terms of commercial or critical performance. While a movie like Schindler's List enjoyed both, recent motion pictures tend to succeed via film festival selection and awards. For example, Oscar winners Son of Saul and Ida exemplify a more challenging, European approach to dramatizing the Holocaust and its aftermath. Formal richness and attention to detail are key.
HO: Over the years, have you seen any major changes in how filmmakers approach depicting the Holocaust? What has worked and what hasn't?
AI: The primary change I have observed is in the film's focus. Whereas the first wave of Holocaust movies dealt with Jewish victims and Nazi villains—as exemplified by NBC's "Holocaust" miniseries of 1978—by the 1990s, motion pictures were also exploring themes like resistance and rescue. And dark humor began appearing more in that decade, as in The Nasty Girl and Genghis Cohn.
HO: As we have become further removed from the Holocaust, and fewer survivors remain to share their firsthand testimony, how has the role and importance of Holocaust Cinema evolved?
AI: It is unlikely that the average person will consult books or even documentaries to learn about the Holocaust. Rather, movies have become our cultural common denominator, and images from films like Schindler's List provide the frame through which most people grasp at the past.
HO: Finally, are there any films that you'd recommend to someone hoping to learn more about the Holocaust and its depiction in film?
AI: Where to begin? It depends on which aspect of the Holocaust is the focus. Basically, my syllabus is a point of departure for titles that trace the trajectory from wartime persecution to post-war confrontation of the legacy. For American films, I recommend a fine documentary by Danny Anker titled "Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust."
//HARRY OTTENSOSSER is a junior in Columbia College and co-Literary & Arts Editor at The Current. He can be reached at ho2262@columbia.edu.
Image courtesy of Columbia.edu
In light of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz taking place this year, I decided to ask her some questions regarding her relationship to Holocaust Cinema and its role in delivering the stories and experiences of survivors.
HO: What first drew you to study and write about Holocaust Cinema? What role did your parents' and your own background play in that?
AI: Being the daughter of Polish Jewish survivors led me to begin writing about Holocaust Cinema. While my initial impulse had been to write a screenplay based on my father's experiences—escaping from a forced labor camp and being hidden by a Polish peasant in the woods—I started noticing a growing number of films being made about the subject. As a film professor (then at Yale) and scholar, I seemed like the right person to tackle the subject.
HO: Why is it important to you to continue writing about the subject and teach a course on it?
AI: First, I continue to teach a seminar on Holocaust Cinema because there are so many superb motion pictures that nurture both historical awareness and critical discussion. Second, I have a vested interest in minimizing oblivion. Students deserve to know about the most cataclysmic event of the 20th century, as well as the varied cinematic attempts to represent it.
HO: How have successful Holocaust films found ways to resonate with audiences that aren't Jewish or have a background tied to the Holocaust? How have they universalized the experience of a survivor without ignoring the specificity of their experience?
AI: It depends on whether one measures success in terms of commercial or critical performance. While a movie like Schindler's List enjoyed both, recent motion pictures tend to succeed via film festival selection and awards. For example, Oscar winners Son of Saul and Ida exemplify a more challenging, European approach to dramatizing the Holocaust and its aftermath. Formal richness and attention to detail are key.
HO: Over the years, have you seen any major changes in how filmmakers approach depicting the Holocaust? What has worked and what hasn't?
AI: The primary change I have observed is in the film's focus. Whereas the first wave of Holocaust movies dealt with Jewish victims and Nazi villains—as exemplified by NBC's "Holocaust" miniseries of 1978—by the 1990s, motion pictures were also exploring themes like resistance and rescue. And dark humor began appearing more in that decade, as in The Nasty Girl and Genghis Cohn.
HO: As we have become further removed from the Holocaust, and fewer survivors remain to share their firsthand testimony, how has the role and importance of Holocaust Cinema evolved?
AI: It is unlikely that the average person will consult books or even documentaries to learn about the Holocaust. Rather, movies have become our cultural common denominator, and images from films like Schindler's List provide the frame through which most people grasp at the past.
HO: Finally, are there any films that you'd recommend to someone hoping to learn more about the Holocaust and its depiction in film?
AI: Where to begin? It depends on which aspect of the Holocaust is the focus. Basically, my syllabus is a point of departure for titles that trace the trajectory from wartime persecution to post-war confrontation of the legacy. For American films, I recommend a fine documentary by Danny Anker titled "Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust."
//HARRY OTTENSOSSER is a junior in Columbia College and co-Literary & Arts Editor at The Current. He can be reached at ho2262@columbia.edu.
Image courtesy of Columbia.edu