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Diese Tage in Terezín

Those Days in Terezín
Forum Special 2024
© ma.ja.de Filmproduktions GmbH
Sibylle Schönemann’s best-known film, Locked Up Time (Forum 1991), which screened in 1991 in Jerusalem and elsewhere, and Those Days in Terezín (Forum 1997) about the ghetto cabaret artist Karel Švenk, known as the “Chaplin of Theresienstadt”, are separated by seven years. Although Schönemann made several films during this period, her thoughts and research since the trip to Israel focused predominantly on one subject: the Shoah. The subsequent stations for the gifted entertainer Švenk were Auschwitz and Meuselwitz. He died on a death march to Mauthausen. Fifty years later, Schönemann walks through the streets of Terezín with the author Lena Makarova and the Israeli singer Victoria Hann Gabbay. What is fascinating about their search for traces is that each new encounter with people who knew the cabaret artist develops an ever-growing network, in which a dialogue between cultures (Czech, Hebrew, German, English – everyone here is a polyglot) and generations is cultivated. And thus, there is also memory: of laughter in – and as – resistance, and of songs, not least of the “Terezín March”. A clever and radically open movie. A powerful gesture of rebellion.
by Sibylle Schönemann
with Victoria Hanna Gabbay, Manka Alter, Orni, Hanna Fialová-Malka, Irene Ravelová, František Domazlicky, Jitka Domazlicky, Josef Švehla, Jenny Švehla, Věra Lišková, Marta Fantlová, Jarmila Potůčková, Luděk Eliáš Germany / Czechia 1997 German, English, Czech 80’ Colour Documentary form

With

  • Victoria Hanna Gabbay
  • Manka Alter
  • Orni
  • Hanna Fialová-Malka
  • Irene Ravelová
  • František Domazlicky
  • Jitka Domazlicky
  • Josef Švehla
  • Jenny Švehla
  • Věra Lišková
  • Marta Fantlová
  • Jarmila Potůčková
  • Luděk Eliáš

Crew

Director Sibylle Schönemann
Screenplay Sibylle Schönemann, Lena Makarova
Cinematography Hans Rombach
Editing Renate Merck
Sound Uve Haußig
Location Managers Aleš Komárek, Micháel Prikrýl
Producers Heino Deckert, Hannes Schönemann
Executive Producer Heino Deckert
Co-Production Czech TV Prag

Produced by

Ma.ja.de. Filmproduktions GmbH

http://majade.de http://majade.de

Der Ochsenkopf Film- und Fernsehproduktion

Sibylle Schönemann

Born in Berlin in 1953. After studying directing at the Potsdam-Babelsberg Academy of Film and Television, she worked as an assistant director and dramaturge at the DEFA Studio for Feature Films. In 1984, she applied to leave the country. As a result, she was arrested by the Ministry for State Security and later ransomed. Her film Locked Up Time (1990) was awarded many prizes. Between 1987 and 1992, she worked as a dramaturge and script analyst for the Hamburg Filmbüro. Since 1991, she has been a freelance author and filmmaker. She has lived and worked in Potsdam again since 2006.

Filmography

1976 Kinder kriegen?; short film · Skizze über einen Clown; short film 1979 Manuela; short film 1980 Ramona 1990 Verriegelte Zeit (Locked Up Time); documentary 1992 Zwischen Himmelpfort und Fegefeuer; documentary 1993 Risse im Land; documentary 1995 Wenn Kinder zur Flasche greifen; documentary 1997 Diese Tage in Terezín (Those Days in Terezín); documentary 2002 Diagnose: Neurodermitis. Leben mit der Krankheit; documentary

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2024