THE HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE PRESENTS
CLAUDE LANZMANN AND THE KARSKI REPORT
March 23, 2012
CAMBRIDGE, MA: The Harvard Film Archive is pleased to welcome Claude Lanzmann with his film THE KARSKI REPORT FRIDAY MARCH 23, 2012.
Filmmaker Claude Lanzmann in person
Special Event Tickets $12
The Karski Report (Le rapport Karski)
Friday March 23 at 7pm
Claude Lanzmann’s place in film history is assured by his monumental documentary Shoah (1985) about the Nazi genocide of Europe’s Jews. That film’s production spread over twelve years, during which time Lanzmann amassed what amounted to an archive of interviews with survivors, former Nazis and other witnesses. For his latestfilm, Lanzmann has made available much more of the interview that is one of the most surprising parts of Shoah: the testimony of Jan Karski. A member of the Polish resistance, Karski was smuggled into the Warsaw ghetto to witness conditions there and then traveled to Washington DC to report what he had seen directly to President Roosevelt in 1943. The Karski Report (2010) returns to Lanzmann’s 1978 interview with Karski, in which Karski recounts both what he witnessed as well as what he reported. Karski is clearly still haunted both by what he saw and by his inability to prevent the Shoah from continuing. The Karski Report continues Lanzmann’s exploration of the use of cinema as both a historical methodology and a philosophical reflection on what it means to be a witness.
Directed by Claude Lanzmann
France 2010, digital video, color, 49 min. In English
Presented inconjunction with the Center for European Studies, Harvard, and the Consulate General of France, Boston. Special thanks: Anne Miller, Eric Jausseran, Consulate General of France, Boston; Patricia Craig, Center for European Studies, Harvard; Delphine Selles Alvarez, French Cultural Services, New York; Sarah Streliski.
Related Articles
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/reviews/film/the_karski_report_lanzmann
http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/2011/02/film-comment-selects-2011-the-karski-report/
http://www.haaretz.com/culture/arts-leisure/manipulated-memories-1.301361
Harvard Film Archive
24 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 495-4700
http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa
General Admission Tickets $9, $7 Non-Harvard Students, Seniors, Harvard Faculty and Staff. Harvard students free
Special event tickets (for in-person appearances) are $12.
Tickets go on sale 45 minutes prior to show time. The HFA does not do advance ticket sales.
