In their shared apartment in Budapest, Bandi, eight years her junior, tends to Eva with devoted care—helping her dress, cutting fresh fruit, and even bringing her a clown nose to warm the tip of her perpetually cold nose. He also stands by her as she wears a yellow star for the first time in years during costume rehearsals, and supports her when climbing onto a deportation wagon on set becomes both an emotional and physical challenge.
As the sole survivor of her family, Eva only found the strength to speak publicly about her experiences decades later—a task to which she remained devoted until the end of her life. In Reward for the Rain, director Barbara Bernáth combines documentary footage of Eva and Bandi’s daily life and the film shoot with archival photographs from Auschwitz, the physical immediacy of which stands in sharp contrast to the immersive VR sequences. With a future without living witnesses fast approaching, Reward for the Rain also raises questions about the potential role of media in processing and preserving memory.
Text: Susanne Mohr