United States / United Kingdom / Germany / Poland / Israel 2024, 110 min, English and German

The Zone of Interest, an Academy-Award-winning film and one of the most riveting and talked-about cinematic releases of 2023, centered on Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his family, who made their home in chilling proximity to the site of atrocities. The Commandant’s Shadow follows the final reckoning of Hans Jürgen Höss as he struggles with his father’s horrific legacy. Hans, now 87, meets for the first time with Auschwitz survivor and renowned cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, whose day-to-day struggle for survival eight decades ago unfolded in jarring dissonance to Höss’ happy childhood just on the other side of the barbed wire. Accompanied by their children in an intimate and fascinating encounter in Anita’s living room, the two recount their parallel stories with painful honesty, raising timeless and pertinent questions about guilt and forgiveness.

Winner of The Yad Vashem Award for an outstanding Holocaust-related documentary.

Screening Schedule:
  • יום ה' 30.05 | 19:15 | Cinematheque 3 | Filmmaker Present | Award ceremony of Yad Vashem Award and screening
  • שבת 01.06 | 19:00 | Cinematheque 3 | Filmmaker Present

A German and Argentine filmmaker based in London, Daniela Völker has made series and
one-off documentaries for Netflix, CNN, PBS, BBC, National Geographic, ITV, ZDF, and
France Television on a variety of subject matters, including the challenges of living together after the genocide in Rwanda and the toxic legacy of Argentina’s “Dirty War” in the 1970s
and early ‘80s. Völker started developing this documentary in 2020 when she was
approached by Maya Lasker-Wallfisch about her experiences of transgenerational trauma as the daughter of a Holocaust survivor.