C victory, Light!

Congratulations to the creators of the film Life Code: Theresienstadt Resort with a victory at the International Film Festival in Houston (USA) - “Special Jury Prize”!
Editorial Board
It seemed that we recently talked with the famous singer Svetlana Portnyanskaya about her unexpected work as a producer of documentary films and the results of this activity, and today, after winning the film at a prestigious festival, we decided to meet again.
If you remember, friends, this film is about Terezin, a unique episode of the Holocaust, which has not yet received due recognition and fame in the modern world. In the film, there is not only a chronological description of events that took place almost 70 years ago, but the Jesuit fascist ideology has been revealed and shown to the smallest detail.
In terms of the "final solution of the Jewish question," the Terezin concentration camp was very different from the "standard" death camps and concentration camps. The fascists here attempted to destroy the "brain" of the Jewish population of Europe - its intellectual elite, creative, scientific, technical and artistic intelligentsia. Come up with such a thing was only a devil. And the leaders of fascist Germany were in fact evil fiends.
- Svetlana, many of us saw this film when it was almost in the final version brought by you and director Galina Kalashnikova to the Second Israeli Cinema Festival in New York earlier this year. And although the film is not related to the Israeli cinema, you did absolutely right ... The film did not fall out of the theme of the festival and looked very organic ...
- When we showed the unfinished version of the film at a festival in New York, not all the ideas were realized by the creative team. Over the past three months, the film has undergone a number of changes that only strengthened it. We added a number of new episodes, removed minor ones, intensifying the dynamics of the film. Computer graphics, copyright texts were added. The film is fully voiced in Russian. The Russian version of the text is read by a wonderful theater and film actor Benjamin Smekhov.
- Today there is only the Russian version of the film?
- No, there is already an English version. After the film was completed, we sent it to seven international film festivals: in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, Karlovy Vary, Montreal ... They submitted applications, paid participation fees ... We did all this, and the first festival in Houston, one of the most prestigious world festivals, the second after the Sundance independent film festival, and the first filmmakers in the world of world names Spielberg, Lucas and Scorsese, sent us an invitation to participate in the award ceremony on the red carpet ... This meant that we were in the first yku. And on April 21, by the decision of the jury of the film festival, our film “Life Code: Theresienstadt Resort” won the main prize of the festival - “Special Jury Prize”. I am extremely happy and happy about the appreciation of our creation. And I congratulate you, Misha, as one of its creators, on this high award.
- Awesome! And I congratulate you, Svetlana! Congratulations! Glad and proud! Who received the award in Houston?
- Unfortunately, I could not go, because At this time I had concerts in Buenos Aires. And 21 th on the red carpet for the high award of the jury - award winners of the festival - were Galina Kalashnikova and Ruslan Ovcharov, the cameraman and editor of this film.
- Sveta, how did you get the idea to send a film to the festival?
- We have conceived this from the very beginning of the work on the film. That was our goal.
- Svetlana, the film became the winner. Just think: the film, shot in the immigrant Russian-speaking community, became the winner of the international festival. It is clear that the information will pass around the world ... What is the future fate of this film?
- First, we are waiting for a response from other festivals. And we will apply for participation in the film festival in the New York Center for the Arts "Tribeka" - we want to multiply it and spread it across the country, across all communities, schools and museums of the Holocaust.
- But for this you need to spread information about this film through the media ... Is that your task?
- No, this is the task of the distributor. We will find it and make a contract.
- Do you think this film can be interesting not only to Jews?
- First of all, it is interesting to the Jews. And I am sure that today it is of interest to all normal people who value the real history of mankind, treat events with respect and fairly evaluate them.
- Svetlana, are you counting on a wide screen or television?
- Of course, television. The film is even in television format. Its duration is 45 minutes. In the Russian version it is slightly shorter. In addition, the background music is slightly changed. That's almost all. But the intensity of emotions and tension of the plot throughout the film remained.
“The audience at the festival in New York was unanimous that the film went beyond the standard documentary about the Holocaust. The very theme of Teresina turned out to be so extraordinary that they simply could not fail to appear in the course of work the unique directorial and camera moves ...
- Absolutely, but, most likely, it refers to the comments. Let's just say: Theresienstadt was an "artistic" concentration camp. Concentration camp for high art, which has left its fruits in such an abundance that will last for several generations. Because a lot of materials, we have something to show. Glory to Gd, the pictures have been preserved, they are shown in the film, music has come and sounds. And all the art that has been created there has been preserved. Exhibitions of Franz Kin and Friedl Dicker-Brandeis, a psychologist, an architect and an artist, are held all over the world.
- Sveta, it seems to me, the very story of the emergence of the idea of ​​creating a film, searching for heroes, creative solutions, etc. worthy of a separate film, and maybe a book.
- I do not think that the story of making a film may be interesting, but here the story of the idea is worth a separate story. I have already told that the idea came first to the well-known doctor and philanthropist Anatoly Valevi, an Israeli from Beersheba who had been working in the Czech Republic for a long time. He infected us with ideas to make a film about Theresienstadt. Elena Makarova became the lead consultant, and she dedicated Teresin ten years of life. And surely there is no second person in the world who would know more about this topic than Elena. She contributed four monographs on Terezin to the treasury of Holocaust history. This unique woman lives this theme. And to you, Misha, thank you for your wonderful text, which, along with the text of Elena Makarova, brought the theme of the film to the audience.
- Thank you all for the opportunity to work on this topic. Light, appetite comes with eating ...
- You want to ask, what's next? We received such a prestigious prize, we believed in ourselves and really want to continue working. I am very interested in producing and editing, writing - in general, working creatively. But I'm not a movie man. My appearance in it by chance. If there is anything related to the Jewish theme, I will delight in it.
- Svetlana, do you have a plan to show this film in the former republics of the USSR, in Europe?
- I assume that this film will take on RTR and the channel "Culture". Let's try to bring it to the Czech Republic ... And in September, 2012, the presentation of the film will take place at the Millennium Theater in New York.
On behalf of the creative group, I want to express special thanks to the American Forum of Russian-speaking Jewry - D. Schiglik, L. Bard, I. Branovanov - for the financial assistance and support of our work. Friends, thank you!
I invite you and all 9 June art lovers to me, at Millennium, to a concert where I will talk about movies and sing your favorite songs. See you!
Mikhail NEMIROVSKY spoke with Svetlana PORTNYANSKAYA