Fotoamator
Encyclopedia
Fotoamator is a 1998 documentary film
directed by Dariusz Jablonski, examining the life of the Jewish population and their Nazi overseers in the Łódź Ghetto.
were discovered in a second-hand bookstore in Vienna
, Austria
. These slides were the work of Walter Genewein, an Austrian citizen serving the Nazis
. Being an accountant in the ghetto's council, he solicited for turning the ghetto into a prosperous and well-organised company, and since he was not just an ambitious office worker, but also an enthusiastic photographer, he recorded their "achievements" with a camera.
Genewein's slides are used by the authors to show -- both through them and, to some extent, in spite of them -- the real history of the Łódź Ghetto and the suffering and eventual extermination of the Polish Jews living there. The photographs are combined and compared with the recollections of Dr. Arnold Mostowicz, who worked as a doctor in the ghetto, and the last surviving witness of the events.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
directed by Dariusz Jablonski, examining the life of the Jewish population and their Nazi overseers in the Łódź Ghetto.
Subject matter
In 1987, several hundred color slides documenting scenes from the Łódź Ghetto during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
were discovered in a second-hand bookstore in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. These slides were the work of Walter Genewein, an Austrian citizen serving the Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. Being an accountant in the ghetto's council, he solicited for turning the ghetto into a prosperous and well-organised company, and since he was not just an ambitious office worker, but also an enthusiastic photographer, he recorded their "achievements" with a camera.
Genewein's slides are used by the authors to show -- both through them and, to some extent, in spite of them -- the real history of the Łódź Ghetto and the suffering and eventual extermination of the Polish Jews living there. The photographs are combined and compared with the recollections of Dr. Arnold Mostowicz, who worked as a doctor in the ghetto, and the last surviving witness of the events.
Awards
- Adolf Grimme AwardsAdolf Grimme AwardsThe Adolf Grimme Award is a television award and one of the most prestigious awards for German television, which is named after the first general director of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, Adolf Grimme . It is also called the "German TV Oscar".The awards ceremony takes place annually at Theater Marl...
2000 – Documentary/Cultural - Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival 1999 – Joris Ivens Award
- Banff Television Festival 1999 – Banff Rockie Award
- Bavarian TV Award 1999
- Biarritz International Festival of Audiovisual Programming 1999 – Golden FIPA & Prix Planète
- Cracow Film Festival 1998 – Don Quixote Award
- DoubleTake Documentary Film Festival1998 – Jury Award
External links
- Fotoamator discussed on www.culture.pl