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The Sound of Memory

A group of young professional and non-professional actors and musicians is reconstructing the Auschwitz girls' orchestra in a theatre project based on the original testimonies of the survivors from Auschwitz-Birkenau. Confronted with the cruelty and despair of the camp 75 years later, young people on stage and some of the last survivors come together in a cinematic dialogue between the past and the future.

  • Branka Pavlović
    Director
    MAGA 1909
  • Nikola Polić
    Director
    On my own, Unique, Hooked on
  • Nikola Polić
    Writer
  • Zoran Solomun OHNEGEPÄCK Filmproduktion ZoranSolomun & Lorenz Haarmann GbR
    Producer
    Super Art Market, Kolumbien – Wem gehört der Frieden?, Bosnien und Kosovo – Europas vergessene Protektorate (TV)
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Stimmen der Erinnerung
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    Documentary, Theatre
  • Runtime:
    30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    August 31, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    2,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Germany
  • Language:
    German
  • Shooting Format:
    Full HD
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • TAKT - music film festival
    Novi Sad
    Serbia
    September 24, 2021
    serbian
    Best short documentary 2nd place
  • Free Zone Belgrade Human Rights FF
    Belgrade
    Serbia
    November 7, 2021
    The Future is here / 14+
  • 1st Monthly Film Festival
    Belgrade
    Serbia
    Best short documentary
  • Dok ‚n’ Ritam Film Festival
    Belgrade
    Serbia
    June 14, 2022
Distribution Information
  • Ohne Gepäck Filmproduktion Zoran Solomun & Lorenz Haarmann GbR
    Sales Agent
    Country: Germany
Director Biography - Branka Pavlović, Nikola Polić

Branka Pavlović
Editor and video artist. She graduated Film and TV Editing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade and MA Kunst im Kontext at the University of Arts in Berlin (UdK Berlin). She works as an editor, video artist and art outreach educator for documentary film, theatre and projects dealing with the culture of remembrance and (video) performance. Currently works as an educator for the use of film and digital media at the Center for Digital Systems (CeDiS) at the Freie Universtät in Berlin, Germany. She has been the co-selector and artistic director of the Free Zone Belgrade Human Rights Film Festival since 2009. She lives and works in Berlin and Belgrade.

Nikola Polić
Director and video artist. He graduated and mastered film and TV directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade.
In his works he explores minorities and sensitive social groups, their virtues and flaws, his films "The Invisibles", "The Wall", "On my own", "Unique", "Hooked On" were shown and awarded at many festivals in Serbia and abroad. He currently works as a freelance film director, editor and video artist and is completing his PhD studies at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts. Nikola lives and works in Belgrade.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The Sound of Memory / Stimmen der Erinnerung is a short documentary, that found it’s final form during the first lockdown in Germany in spring 2020. We have decided to work further with the material we filmed together for the project documentation of the MÄDCHENORCHESTER / GIRLS' ORCHESTRA theatre project by spreeagenten Berlin. In this process we've focused on the interviews with the survivors and the parts of the original performance where young performers become the resonant bodies of the survivors’ memories. We were interested in cinematic ways of capturing and transforming these memories on film and bringing the complexity and fragility of art in difficult times closer to a young audience.
The fact that these young people were about the same age as the girls from orchestra / survivors Anita Lasker-Wallfisch and Esther Bejarano, their vulnerability and their presence on stage inspired us to make this short film about survival and resilience, as a cinematic dialogue between the past and the future.