„LOVE, IT WAS NOT inevitably raises ethical questions concerning the protagonists of the past. It strives to avoid judgment, yet it offers a direct human take of their lives during the terrible period in the deathcamp, and the efforts they needed afterwards to come back into the living.“ (Maya Sarfaty)
LOVE, IT WAS NOT
© Ronit Porat
A perplexing love story between a young woman and an officer: Helena is a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp, Franz an Austrian SS officer. He protects her whilst leading others to their deaths. Decades later the past catches up with both of them: Helena, by then resident in Israel, is summoned as a witness to the trial against her former lover. Both an unimaginable yet true-life story and a multi-layered reflection on trauma, sadism, responsibility and the instinct for survival.
Credits
original title LOVE, IT WAS NOT
international title LOVE, IT WAS NOT
german title LIEBE WAR ES NIE
JFBB section KINO FERMISHED
country/countries IL, AT
year 2020
duration 83 Min
director of photography ZIV BERKOVICH, ITAY GROSS, CHRISTIAN ROTH
sound ZOHAR SHEFA, MARTIN KADLEZ, MAX LEIMSTÄTTNER
music PAUL GALLISTER
editing SHARON YAISH
producer NIR SA´AR, KURT LANGBEIN
contact
Cinephil - Philippa Kowarsky
info@cinephil.com
+972 3 566 4129
Maya Sarfaty
BIO Maya Sarfaty is a graduate of Tel Aviv University’s film department and graduated from the leading acting school in the country. Her last short film has won a Student Academy Award for BEST FOREIGN DOCUMENTARY in Los Angeles, and other works have been presented worldwide in prominent venues, such as La Biennale di Venezia, Busan International Film Festival, Jerusalem Film Festival and many more. 2016 The Most Beautiful Woman / Academy Award Winner, Foreign Student Documentary 2012 Overtime / Haifa Film Festival - Winner Best Short Film. Busan Korea 2012 Remember Ata'lle / Montpellier Film Festival 2012 Still Water / Venice Film Festival 2012 Heavy Duty / Montpellier Film Festival 2007 Am I There Yet? / The International Festival of Women Israel, A Corto di Donne, Pozzuoli