Seven Minutes in the Warsaw Ghetto. a collected press kit

SEVEN MINUTES IN THE WARSAW GHETTO
Seven Minutes in the Warsaw Ghetto
A puppet film directed by Johan
Oettinger
7 min., b/w, 2012, Denmark
Not suitable for children
Press kit for festivals
Sept minutes dans le ghetto de Varsovie
Un film d’animation réalisé par Johan Oettinger
7 min., noir et blanc, 2012, Danemark
Pas un film pour enfants.
Festival distribution by The Danish Film Institute
If you need additional materials on the film, you can find synopsis, stills, dialogue
list, filmographies, etc. at our ftp-site: ftp.dfi.dk
Username: festival_down
Password: dkl753ME
Go to the FESTIVAL SHORTS AND DOCS folder then click on the folder for the film,
and you will find what you need.
Title
Original: Seven Minutes in the Warsaw Ghetto
French: Sept minutes dans le ghetto de Varsovie
German: Sieben Minuten in dem Warschauer Ghetto
Language
Without dialogue.
Production
Year of Production 2012
Date of Completion: 31 January 2012
Country of Production: Denmark
Running Time: 7 min 48 sec
Preview Copy
Format: Vimeo, Digital download, bluray or DVD (PAL)
Aspect Ratio: NB! 4:3
Black & White
Sound: stereo
Screening Copy
Format: DCP, BluRay, HDSR, Digibeta, prores files
Aspect Ratio: NB! 4:3
Black & White
Sound: 5.1 and stereo
Pitch / Brief synopsis – in English and French (approx. 70 words)
The Warsaw Ghetto, 1942. Samek, an eight year old boy who is naughty and full of
life, peeks through a hole in the ghetto wall and sees a carrot lying on the sidewalk
just on the other side. He tries to pull the carrot through the hole with a piece of wire,
unaware that two SS men are posted nearby and are following his every move.
Le ghetto de Varsovie, 1942. Samek, un garçon de huit ans qui déborde de vie,
regarde à travers un petit trou dans le mur du ghetto et voit une carotte abandonnée
sur le trottoir de l’autre côté du mur. Il essaie de tirer la carotte à travers le trou à
l’aide d’un fil de fer, sans se rendre compte que deux SS stationnés tout près suivent
chacune de ses démarches.
Longer synopsis – in English and French (under 1000 characters)
The Warsaw Ghetto, 1942. Samek, an eight year old boy who is naughty and full of
life, peeks through a hole in the ghetto wall and sees a carrot lying on the sidewalk
just on the other side. He tries to pull the carrot through the hole with a piece of wire,
unaware that two SS men are posted nearby and are following his every move. Based
on a real incident, “Seven Minutes in the Warsaw Ghetto” violates a major
convention of Holocaust cinema by not offering the viewer a feeling of relief at the
end. This is not a gratuitous defiance of conventions. Well aware of the risks
involved, we want the viewer to experience a striking image of the Holocaust that
leaves him or her with an undiluted sense of loss. The final moments of this film are
deliberately left unbearable. The film does offer beautiful, uplifting moments,
evoking the magic and radiance of childhood – but without blurring the harsh
realities of the Holocaust.
Basé sur un fait réel, Sept minutes dans le ghetto de Varsovie se distingue de la
plupart des représentations cinématiques de l’Holocauste en ne pas accordant au
spectateur un sentiment de soulagement à la fin. Ceci n’est nullement un défi gratuit
des conventions. Tout à fait conscients des risques en jeu, les cinéastes ont voulu que
l’image forte de l’Holocauste éprouvée par le spectateur ne soit nullement dissipée
quand le film touché à sa fin mais plutôt continue à renforcer le sentiment d’une
perte irréversible. Les derniers moments du film sont ainsi délibérément laissés
presque insupportables. Pourtant est-il vrai que le film assure au spectateur quelques
moments sublimes, évoquant la magie et le rayonnement de l’enfance – mais sans
obscurcir les réalités cruelles de l’Holocauste.
Director’s statement
This film is about being a child – a little boy, and what he experiences before he fully
understands the world of starvation and danger in which he and his loving family
have been plunged. He grasps nothing of the threats or evil lurking all around him,
and instead enjoys the carefree play and magic and immediacy known only to
children. His radiance shines through the way in which he plays rather than by
means of a plot-driven narrative. Without a trite build-up of suspense or a contrived
resolution, the film ends at a most tragic moment, leaving the audience with a sense
of loss and despair. In this way, it violates the convention followed by most
Holocaust films which offer their audience a sense of relief after depicting
unbearable events.
As a child, I fell in love with the material and practical nature of puppet animation
and still groove on an awareness that the puppets have been hand-crafted. This is
why I deliberately show their metal joints and defects, as a way of underlining their
history, fragility and personality. The synthesizer music stands in sharp contrast to
the textured visual style, and the two combine to create a dreamy atmosphere.
Unlike the synthesizers, the boy’s own music-box theme is light, childlike and full of
life.
It is in the eyes that the soul and feelings are expressed. For that reason I had the
eyes of actors composited onto the puppets’ faces. This brings the puppets to life and
it is in the subtlety and loveliness of the eyes, rather than theatrical gestures, that the
puppets express their thoughts and feelings.
Johan Oettinger
Type of film
Animation – Stop-motion puppet film, Fiction, Short film
Target audience
Anyone at least 7 years of age.
Director’s first film?
No.
Director
Johan Oettinger
Date of Birth: 3 April 1984
Address:
Jægergaardsgade 152, 3C, 1. Sal,
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
Tel/ Mobile +45 51786932
E-mail johan@oettinger.dk
Producer
Ellen Riis
Filmbyen 23, st
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
Tel/Mobile +45 23257414
E-mail ellen@basmatifilm.dk
Production Company
Basmati Film
Filmbyen 23, st
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
Tel/Mobile +45 23257414
Contact Person Ellen Riis
E-mail ellen@basmatifilm.dk
Credits
Screenplay: Richard Raskin
Storyboard: Anders Bøge Henriksen
Art Direction: Emil Brahe, Johan Oettinger
Animation: Johan Oettinger, Rie Nymand
Director of Photography: Johan Oettinger
Compositing: Jakob Eriksen, Mathieu Durand
Music: Emil Brahe
Sound: Jess Wolfsberg
Editing: Johan Oettinger
Puppets: Hanna Habermann, Henni Tomczak
Compositing of human eyes: Jakob Eriksen
Director’s brief biography
Twenty-seven years of age, Johan Oettinger is a self taught Danish director and
filmmaker who has worked on stop-motion and live action productions since his
13th year. A number of commercial productions (music videos and TV spots) are on
his filmography. In 2001 he directed his first short film 'The Killing of Evil,' and since
that time he has directed and produced 2-3 short films a year, many of them together
with the creative partner Emil Brahe, composer and filmmaker. Johan Oettinger also
works as a set designer and set builder and on e.g. films for Lego.
Director Johan Oettinger
Producer Ellen Riis
Writer Richard Raskin
Composer and Filmmaker Emil Brahe
“Seven Minutes in the Warsaw Ghetto” Poster
Frame grab images
main character: Samek
Samek’s mother Yetta and her mother
Grandmother kissing Samek