“Liza ruft!” is a moving and thought-provoking film about the Holocaust,
Jewish resistance and commemoration politics in Lithuania, and
a portrait of the Vilnius Ghetto survivor and former partisan Fania
Brantsovskaya.
Synopsis
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Fania Brantsovskaya had started
to devote her life to the commemoration of the Holocaust and of Jewish
resistance. While this brought her recognition abroad, she became the
target of revisionists and anti-Semites at home. A low point was reached
in 2008, when the public prosecutor interrogated the then 86-year-old
Fania as part of a war crimes investigation. Only after an international
outcry, were the investigations suspended. Soon after, Lithuanian politicians discovered that they could use Fania for their own purposes.
Ever since, Fania’s struggle for commemoration has turned into a complex balancing act. While her commitment to do memory work is threatened by depoliticization and alienation from her former fellow partisans, she remains in constant danger of renewed anti-Semitic attacks and a resumption of the legal proceedings.
Through interviews with Fania Brantsovskaya, her loved ones, and former fellow partisans, “Liza Ruft!” creates an intimate and vivid picture of
an outstanding woman who continues to be both a victim of persecution
as well as an agent of history with a mind of her own.
Year
2018
Director & Writer:
Christian Carlsen
Producer:
Christian Carlsen, Philipp Jansen Nossa Schäfer
Camera:
Nossa Schäfer Susanne Dzeik Production company
Kassiber Films
Stills
