Stumbling Stone (Stolperstein) - UK Jewish Film Festival, South Kensington

O quê/Por quê:

Is there a right way to remember victims of the Holocaust? German artist Gunter Demnig thinks so, putting his own beautifully simple concept into practice by installing 12,000 ‘stumbling stones’ in pavements across Germany and Austria: the world’s largest decentralised memorial. Each stone features a brass plate with the details of the deported person who once lived there, a potent reminder to passers-by never to forget. Embarking on a road trip with this irrepressible character, Dörte Franke travels from Berlin to Vienna to Budapest, recording reactions to Gunter’s work. Controversy is never far away. Neo-Nazis campaign, while attempts to install Stolpersteine in Munich were denounced by both the mayor and Jewish leaders in favour of a purpose-built museum, to the fury of one Manchester-based relative (Peter Jordan) who wants a memorial to his parents where everyone will see it – not just Jews. Gunter’s army of supporters is huge, yet he works tirelessly to retain artistic control of his mission to bring eradicated biographies back into everyday life. SM

Germany 2007. 70mins. German with English subtitles.
Directed by Dörte Franke

Film director Dörte Franke and Peter Jordan, who is fighting for the placement of remembrance stones
in Munich, will attend the screening, which will be followed by a Q&A.

Sponsored by the Association of Jewish Refugees
In association with Goethe-Institut

Director Dörte Franke may be know to some Londoners as the co-author and co-director of documentary Last to Know (Jeder schweigt von etwas anderem) which permiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2006 and was shown at the Festival of German Films in 2006. The film deals with the reluctance of GDR refugees to talk about their past.