Archive of films Forgotten Transports: To Estonia / Zapomenuté transporty: Do Estonska

Czech Republic
2008, 85 min

Section: Official Selection - Out of Competition
Year: 2008

In September 1942 several dozen young Czech Jewish women were brought to Raasiku in Estonia where they were separated from their families and placed in a concentration camp. The third part of the documentary series Forgotten Transports maps out the fates of women who were able to show solidarity and mutual support for one another – teaching themselves to remain oblivious to the horrors of the Holocaust helped them to survive.

Synopsis

On 5 September 1942 a transport arrived in Estonia bearing one thousand Czech Jews. Roughly a hundred women between the ages of 19 and 25 were separated from their families who were taken by bus to another, apparently “heated” concentration camp. The terrified girls soon formed various groups in which they gave each other total support. With time they began to act together, like a single, large organism. The optimism and naivety of youth helped them to survive the harrowing journeys through a series of other camps in Estonia and later also in Germany. Their instinct for self-preservation urged them to ignore the Holocaust raging all around them. It was not until 5 September 1945, while they were convalescing in Sweden, that they discovered the truth about what happened to their families… Lukáš Přibyl spent seven years putting together his unique project about the little known fates of Czech Jews during the Holocaust. In this, the third part of the documentary series Forgotten Transports, he combines testimonies from survivors with shocking archive footage and documents, which together offer insight into the destiny of women in a “man’s” war.

About the director

Lukáš Přibyl (b. 1973, Ostrava, CR) read political science, Judaic studies and history at Brandeis University and the CEU. He has published work on various aspects of the Holocaust and curated exhibitions at the Jewish Museum in Prague. Forgotten Transports – a series of four feature-length documentaries about virtually unknown concentration camps and the remarkable strategies the inmates used in order to survive – is his first film project.

Contacts

Total HelpArt T.H.A.
Kříženeckého nám. 322, 152 53, Praha 5
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 267 073 007
Fax: +420 267 073 836
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.tha.cz

Menemsha Films, Inc.
213 Rose Avenue, 2nd floor, CA 902 91, Venice
United States of America
Tel: +1 310 452 1775
Fax: +1 310 452 3740
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.menemshafilms.com

Falcon a.s.
Radlická 1c/3185, 150 00, Praha 5
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 224 422 222
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.falcon.cz

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About the film

Color, DIGIBETA
World premiere

Section:	Official Selection - Out of Competition

Director:	Lukáš Přibyl
Screenplay:	Lukáš Přibyl
Dir. of Photography:	Jakub Šimůnek
Music:	Petr Ostrouchov
Editor:	Vladimír Barák
Producer:	Lukáš Přibyl, Ondřej Trojan
Production:	Total HelpArt T.H.A.
Contact:	Total HelpArt T.H.A., Menemsha Films, Inc. , Falcon a.s.
Distributor:	Falcon a.s.

www:	www.zapomenutetransporty.cz