Shoah is a 1985 French documentary film directed by Claude Lanzmann about the Holocaust. The film is over nine hours long and took eleven years to make. It presents Lanzmann's interviews with survivors, witnesses, and perpetrators during visits to German Holocaust sites across Poland, including extermination camps. The film does not include any historical footage, relying instead on interviewing witnesses and visiting the crime scenes.
Lanzmann instead focuses on first-person testimonies of survivors and former Nazis, employing a circular, free-associative method in assembling them. The film is not about excavating the past but an intensive portrait of the ways in which the past is always present.
The film has been praised for its comprehensive, detailed, and in-depth work that gives a better understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust. It is considered one of the most important cinematic works of all time. The film has won numerous awards and has been included in the Criterion Collection. Lanzmann also released four feature-length films based on unused material shot for Shoah.
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Cast
- Simon Srebnik
- Michael Podchlebnik (as Michaël Podchlebnik)
- Motke Zaïdl
- Hanna Zaïdl
- Richard Glazar (as Richard Glazer)
- Helena Pietyra (as Pana Pietyra)
- Armando Aaron
- Paula Biren
- Abraham Bomba
- Claude Lanzmann (as Self - Interviewer)
Director: Claude Lanzmann
Writer: Claude Lanzmann
Box Office Gross: $20,175
Distributor: IFC Films
Genre: Documentary
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 23, 1985
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Dec 10, 2010
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 2, 2021