Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future”. Elie Wiesel
Boris Dorfman – A Mentsh is a 50-minute film shot entirely in Yiddish (subtitled in English). Set in the formerly multinational city of Lviv in Ukraine, it is the first part of a planned Yiddish trilogy. Lviv was a center of Jewish culture for over six hundred years, only to be shattered and destroyed during World War II. Seventy years later, Boris Dorfman takes us on a profound journey to places of horror and hope, emblematic of Jewish history. The ninety-year-old activist is virtually the last person in town still speaking the almost extinct language of Yiddish. Both a living relic of a bygone era and a defender against oblivion. While remembering the past, he lives in the present and tries to prepare people for the future. He is “a mentsh”, someone full of love and empathy.
Written and directed by Uwe and Gabriela von Seltmann
Director of Photography and Film Editor: Marek Gajczak
Producers: Kai-Alexander Moslé, Uwe P. Tietz, Uwe & Gabriela von Seltmann
Coproducers: Cristian Lamping, Cornelia Stocker, Dagmar Friede
Executive Producer: Aneta Zagórska
Sound: Michał Dominowski
Music: Christian Dawid
Digital postproduction & digital intermediate: Di Factory
Jędrzej Sabliński, Rafał Golis, Julia Skorupska
Sound-mixing: Melange Studio
Production: Apfelstrudel Media Berlin, Stowarzyszenie Film Kraków
A film made in collaboration with Weiterdenken Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Sachsen
Genre: Documentary (50 min length)
Year of Production (end): 2014, April
Language: Yiddish – subtitles in English, German and Polish
