Edition 2018

Official Selection What the Doc

Treblinka

A film essay which narrates a train journey through the Eastern Europe of the 21st century towards Treblinka, the Nazi extermination camp. Actors and a landscape full of fog and ghosts, become testimonies of those who suffered under the Nazis. Today, the war in Syria, the deaths of thousands of refugees, and the indifference with which wars are dealt with, reveals how past mistakes are more present than ever… The documentary is based on Treblinka: the memory of a survivor, the memoirs of Chil Rajchman, a Polish Jew who was arrested and sent to the extermination camp of Treblinka in 1942 but managed to escape and write this unique testimony. The director uses this story to denounce how what’s currently happening is not far from this past. The post-war slogan after World War II “Never Again” now sounds like a fairy tale. Unfortunately, the past is presently repeated, reflected in the windows of this train, more in force than ever. Everything is happening again, everywhere.

Theme:

Sérgio Tréfaut

Born in Brazil in 1965. After a master’s in Philosophy at the Sorbonne University (Paris), he began working in Lisbon. He eventually became a film producer and director. His documentaries have won international awards and been screened in more than 40 countries. Most of them, such as Outro País (1999), Fleurette (2002), Lisboetas (2005), The City of the Dead (2009) and Alentejo, Alentejo (2014), had a cinema release. His first fiction film Journey to Portugal (2011) with Maria de Medeiros and Isabel Ruth also received several awards.

Sergio-Trefaut_bn

Technical details

Year:

2016

Credits

Direcció
Sérgio Tréfaut

Screening times

Awards