Shtikat Haarchion (A Film Unfinished) R: Yael Hersonski Land: Israel 2009 Drehformat: HD Format: Hdcam, Farbe u. s/w Länge: 89 Minuten Sprache: Hebräisch, Deutsch, Polnisch, Jiddisch, Englisch mehr Informationen

Dies ist die Geschichte eines Films, der nie fertiggestellt wurde. Erhalten blieb ein Rohschnitt, der im Bundesfilmarchiv lagert. Er ist der längste Film, den ein Nazi-Propagandateam im Warschauer Ghetto drehte. Aufgenommen kurz vor der Deportation der Ghettobewohner, werden aufwendig inszenierte Szenen vom vermeintlichen Luxusleben der Juden im Ghetto Einstellungen gegenübergestellt, auf denen Hunger, Tod und Leiden der Bewohner zu sehen sind. Warum dieser Propagandafilm gedreht wurde und wer ihn sehen sollte, ist nicht bekannt. Teile des Filmmaterials tauchten nach dem Krieg als „Archivaufnahmen“ in Dokumentationen über das Warschauer Ghetto auf.
Für ihren Film befragte Yael Hersonski Augenzeugen, die sich an die Dreharbeiten des Propagandafilms erinnern, suchte nach Aufzeichnungen in geretteten Tagebüchern von Bewohnern des Ghettos und fand das Verhörprotokoll des Kameramanns der Aufnahmen. [aus dem Berlinale-Programm]

How would you describe the aesthetics of your film?
Yael Hersonski, director: "A Film Unfinished" consists of two kinds of materials: appr. 60 min of 35 mm black and white archival footage (which was scanned to HD format), and the rest is contemporary cinematography, shot in color, HD. When thinking of the contemporary filming, my challenge was to create an aesthetics which will both serve as a visual temporary relief, or a pause, from the effort of facing the difficult images from the Warsaw ghetto, and yet – an aesthetics which will not threaten the archival footage by being too attractive. I knew that such filming, which will try to manifest its own beauty, will eventually draw focus from the central, darker parts – the archival ones.
It was a most delicate balance to maintain, a balance which was re-examined over and over again long before the filming stage had began. We said "yes" to color, "yes" to sharpness, "yes" to the use of long-takes, steady-cam and slow motion movements, yet the visual itself remained as minimalistic as possible. We knew that if we load too many details into the contemporary frames – the average eye could not bear both the intensity of the footage and the saturation of the materials we shot ourselves. Therefore, I had to decide how could the contemporary filming serve the film as a space for contemplation rather than another heavy load.

The second challenging part of shooting in HD dealt with the question of filming the reenactment scene of the cameraman's interrogation. We felt we should create something which will be specifically suited for this film, a film which deals with the way we perceive our past through cinematic documentation, as well as with the illusive border which forever exists between documentation and fiction. After all, we did use actors, who sat in a studio and read lines which they did not write.
Since the dialogue of this scene was kept strictly to the protocol of the interrogation, word by word, without any dramatic additions, I've decided to emphasize the sound over the visual, i.e., the actors' visual presence is fragmented, and the framing itself is extremely minimalistic, restrained and almost monochromatic, not to become "louder" than the interwoven footage.

The third part of the contemporary filming was the filming of the survivors from the Warsaw Ghetto, who watched the footage in its entire length for the first time. Here, again, only one location of shooting was decided: the cinema hall. All the witnesses, each one in his own turn, was seated in front of the big screen, light merely by the images, isolated inside the hall's darkness. This decision was part of the general cinematic approach: to keep everything as humble and focused as possible.

Why did you choose to shoot on a digital format (was it solely for financial reasons, or did aesthetics play a role)?
Yael Hersonski, director: Nearly always, especially when considering the average budget on which a documentary film is based – financial reasons play a role. Considering the fact that here, in Israel, we don't have labs to develop 35 mm material, the process becomes much more expensive. Yet in this case there were two more reasons to choose the HD format:
Since two thirds of the film are composed of black and white archival footage, and the other third composed by contemporary cinematography in color, the role of which is to create time for additional information concerning the footage, as well as to allow the viewer's eyes to rest from the emotionally difficult B&W images – I put great effort in creating sequences which will be visually (and essentially) different from the Ghetto's footage: in color, sharp and intense. Here – the HD format certainly helped to fulfill this mission.
The second reason concerns the evident tendency towards digitizing whatever is analogue. Only several months ago Agfa announce it has stopped producing 35 mm still material. More and more cinema halls are equipped with digital screening facilities. These are winds of vast changes in the way we are used to think of the photographic documentation, and we tried to look forward and to supply this film with best chance to survive as long as possible.

Which format exactly did you choose (MiniDV, DVCAM, HDV, HD...), and why?
HD

What was special about shooting digital (e.g. compared to 35mm, was it your first time with dv or are you used to it ..)?
Itay Neeman, DP: Since during the filming we had to move from city to city, from archive to archive, from Israel to Germany to Poland, we had to use compact, light weight equipment, and therefore – filming in 35 mm was out of the question (not mentioning the budget eternal problem). We used a small steady-cam, and it allowed us to work nearly everywhere, day or night.
When we started to shoot this film, The RED format, which is, in my opinion, the only digital format today which can supply similar results to that of 35 mm filming, was making its very first steps in Israel, and there were still too many technical problems. I believe that if we would have started shooting this film today we would have used the RED camera.

What was your shoot-edit ratio?
4:1

One good word about DV / HDV (or two):
Itay Neeman, DP: compact, lightweight, dynamic.

One bad word about DV / HDV (or two):
Itay Neeman, DP: It is still not the same as 35 mm.