Family history can be a complicated thing. As much as we might think we know our parents or grandparents, the understanding of the history of our lineage tends to be shaped by what we're told. The past usually doesn't stay hidden for long, and as director Arnon Goldfinger found out, there was much to uncover and learn about his own family.
Winning the Ophir (Israeli Oscar) for Best Documentary, picking up another award at the Tribeca Film Festival and recently showing at Michael Moore's Traverse City Festival at two sold out screenings, Goldfinger's "The Flat" finds him sharing his own history. After his grandmother passed away, Goldfinger starting going through her decades worth of photographs, letters, documents and more, and in the process, discovered deep and dark secrets about his family's past. Here's the official synopsis:
At age 98, director Arnon Goldfinger's grandmother passed away, leaving him the task of clearing out the Tel Aviv flat that she and her husband shared for decades after immigrating from Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Sifting through a mountain of photos, letters, files, and objects, Goldfinger undertook the complex process of making sense of the accumulated ephemera of a lifetime. In the process, he began to uncover clues pointing to a complicated and shocking story: a chronicle of the unexpected yet inevitable ethical ambiguities and repressed emotions that arise when everyday friendships suddenly cross enemy lines.
In his award-winning, emotionally riveting documentary, THE FLAT, Goldfinger follows the hints his grandparents left behind to investigate long-buried family secrets and unravel the mystery of their painful past. The result is a moving family portrait and an insightful look at the ways different generations deal with the memory of the Holocaust.
"The Flat" will open in theaters on October 16th. Full one sheet below.