Lea and Mira
| Lea and Mira | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Spanish | Lea y Mira dejan su huella |
| Directed by | Poli Martínez Kaplun |
| Screenplay by |
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| Produced by |
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| Cinematography | Hernán Menéndez |
| Edited by | Ernesto Felder (SAE) |
| Music by | César Lerner |
Release date |
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Running time | 52 minutes |
| Country | Argentina |
| Language | Spanish |
Lea and Mira (Spanish: Lea y Mira dejan su huella) is a documentary film written and directed by the Argentine filmmaker Poli Martínez Kaplun. It premiered on December 1, 2016, at the Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires.[1]
Synopsis[edit]
The protagonists of this documentary are Lea Zajack and Mira Kniaziew, two Jewish women born in Poland. As children, they were taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where they were imprisoned for two years.[2] After being released —having survived was, in their own words, "a miracle"—, each of them migrated to Argentina, where they met and became friends.[3] Throughout the film, which consists mostly of an intimate conversation in the living room of one of the women, Lea and Mira recount their lives and reflect upon issues such as discrimination, Holocaust denial, trauma, resilience and the will to live.
Critical response[edit]
American website Remezcla said that Lea and Mira “is a warning against rising fascism”.[4]
Carlos Aguilar, writing about the Gasparilla International Film Festival for MovieMaker magazine, stated that “The most surprising gem at the festival, this topical piece, which runs only 52 minutes, provides flesh-and-bone testimony that aims to warn younger generations of the horrors that bigotry and xenophobia can ignite. The title subjects’ shared tragedy and will to live are nothing short of life-affirming.”[5]
Maria Bertoni, from the Argentine website Espectadores, wrote, “Lea and Mira contributes to the moral goal of using memory as a tool to fight collective forgetting and denial and, if possible, to inhibit the human drive toward massive annihilation. Moreover, the film offers an endearing portrait of its octogenarian protagonists [...]”[6]
Guido Pellegrini, from the Argentine website A Sala Llena, observed that “Lea and Mira recount their lives --in Poland, in Auschwitz, in Argentina-- as well as their ever-changing relationship to the past. And this is Kaplun’s contribution to the extensive bibliography and filmography about the Holocaust: to show that said relationship is not stable, because the present is always developing and demands renewed confrontations with History.”[7]
Paraná Sendrós, writing for the Argentine newspaper Ámbito Financiero, said, “Approaching 90 years of age, Mira Kniaziew de Stupnik and Lea Zajac de Novera, close friends, talk to each other, talk to us about their Argentine children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, they don’t forget anything, they demand that nothing be forgotten, but they also smile, they have fun, they sing.”[8]
Festivals and awards[edit]
Lea and Mira was part of the official selection at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival,[9] Gasparilla International Film Festival (GIFF),[10] Houston Latino Film Festival,[11] Marbella Film Festival[12] and Jewish Film Festival Punta del Este,[13] where it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary.[14]
In November 2017, the documentary was awarded Best Woman Director (Poli Martínez Kaplun), Best Editing (Ernesto Felder) and Best Music/Score (César Lerner)[15] at the Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards.[16]
References[edit]
- ^ "Lea y Mira dejan su huella" (in Spanish).
- ^ "Screening of Lea and Mira and Holocaust Survivor Talk". Tampa Bay Newswire. April 23, 2018.
- ^ "La historia de dos sobrevivientes de Auschwitz en 'Lea y Mira dejan huella'". Telam (in Spanish). March 3, 2017.
- ^ Aguilar, Carlos (March 23, 2017). "This Doc On Holocaust Survivors Enduring Argentine Dictatorship Is a Warning Against Rising Fascism". Remezcla.
- ^ Aguilar, Carlos (March 10, 2017). "Festival Wrap: Small Discoveries Stand Out at the 11th Gasparilla International Film Festival". MovieMaker.
- ^ Bertoni, María (March 10, 2017). "La lógica del para qué". Espectadores (in Spanish).
- ^ Pellegrini, Guido (March 26, 2017). "LEA Y MIRA DEJAN SU HUELLA". A Sala Llena (in Spanish).
- ^ Sendrós, Paraná (March 2, 2017). "Luminoso diálogo entre dos sobrevivientes del nazismo". Ámbito Financiero (in Spanish).
- ^ "San Luis Obispo International Film Festival". March 14, 2018.
- ^ Aguilar, Carlos (March 10, 2017). "Festival Wrap: Small Discoveries Stand Out at the 11th Gasparilla International Film Festival". MovieMaker.
- ^ Ramirez, Reyes (March 22, 2018). "Lea Y Mira The Complexity of Latin American Identity". Houston Latino Film Festival.
- ^ "Lea and Mira". Marbella Film Festival.
- ^ "15° Punta del Este Jewish Film Festival (FICJU) del 3 al 8 de febrero" (in Spanish). January 16, 2018.
- ^ "LEA AND MIRA" (in Spanish).
- ^ "November 2017 Winners". Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards.
- ^ "Reconocimiento para un film argentino sobre el Holocausto". Infobae (in Spanish). April 12, 2018.
External links[edit]
- Lea and Mira at IMDb
- Lea and Mira at FilmAffinity (in Spanish)
