Documentary Films - Competition 2004 / Esther's Bok / Sweden 2004
A documentary investigating the Old Testament book of Esther through a fifteen-year look at the Jewish holiday of Purim, which celebrates the miraculous victory of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai over treacherous Prince Haman.
A love story about power, intrigue, and courage. In the book of Esther, which relates events that took place nearly 3,000 years ago in Persia, Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai triumph over Prince Haman’s plot to annihilate their people. The holiday of Purim celebrates the Jew’s miraculous victory over Evil. Shot over the course of fifteen years, photographer and filmmaker Esaias Baitel’s documentary records how the inhabitants of Jerusalem’s ultra-orthodox quarters honour this holiday. Esther’s Book is a documentary about unshakable faith, optimism and unrestrained manifestations of joy – the essence of Purim.
15 min / Color, 35 mm
International premiere
Director Esaias Baitel
/ Screenplay Esaias Baitel
/ Dir. of Photography Harry Tuvanen
/ Editor Alberto Hersckovits
/ Producer Freddy Olsson
/ Production Bokomotiv - de Geer and Olsson AB
/ Contact Telepicture Marketing, Bokomotiv - Freddy Olsson Filmproduktion, Swedish Film Institute
Esaias Baitel (b. 1949, Trelleborg, Sweden) was born into a Polish-Lithuanian family which fled to Sweden from the Nazi threat. He graduated from Uppsala University and in the following 25 years gained international fame working as a photographer in New York, Paris and Jerusalem. The Zone took last year’s award for a documentary under 30 minutes long at Karlovy Vary.
Telepicture Marketing
16 Gun Wharf, 124 Wapping High Street, E1W 2NJ, London
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 20 726 516 44
Fax: +44 20 748 127 66
E-mail: [email protected]
Bokomotiv - Freddy Olsson Filmproduktion
Svandammsvagen 6, SE-12632, Hägersten
Sweden
Phone: +46 8 10 31 99
E-mail: [email protected]
Swedish Film Institute
Box 27126, S-102 52, Stockholm
Sweden
Phone: +46 866 511 00
Fax: +46 866 118 20
E-mail: [email protected]
Esaias Baitel
Gunnar Almér
Film Institution Rep.
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