Esther's Diary (film)
Encyclopedia
Forgiveness is a 2008
American
dramatic Holocaust film written and directed by Polish-American director Mariusz Kotowski
, with a screenplay
by Allan Knee
. The film is marked as being the director's first feature length film
.
, Oświęcim, Poland, additional archive material from the Jewish Historical Institute
, and photographs of the concentration camp ruins by Michael Kenna
. Some of the film's archival footage comes from the same sources used in the French
short film Night And Fog
.
Forgiveness was shot on location in Austin, Texas
in August 2007, with the director having to deal with seasonal rains and the illness of one of the lead actresses.
) and a Jewish child Esther Blumenfeld (Dell Aldrich), were childhood best friends in 1940's Poland. The two girls were separated when Esther was taken away to a Nazi concentration camp. When the war ended, both girls separately emigrated to the United States with their families. They remained separated thereafter.
Years later, Apollonia's daughter Maria Patterson (Shelley Calene-Black
) and Esther's daughter Sarah Blumenfeld (Sydney Barrosse), have become successful professional women, but each still deals with the memories of the Holocaust via strained relationships with their respective mothers. Esther dies but has left a memoir of her experiences in the camp with her daughter, Sarah. Apollonia is confined to nursing home and though Maria tries her best to care or her, she and her mother are at constant odds. A secret that Apollonia has been hiding comes to light, and the uncovering of this secret causes Apollonia and Maria to revolve their differences and brings Maria and Sarah into each others lives.
of Los Angeles, California
on April 26, 2008, followed by multiple film festivals, including the Los Angeles Film Festival
and West Hollywood International Film Festival. In 2008 the film won a won Bronze Award at the Bayou City
Inspirational Film Festival, and a Silver Telly Award
. In 2009 it won a Silver Remi Award at WorldFest
, Houston, Texas
, and a Platinum EMPixx Award.
. Under its new title, the film won an 'Award of Merit' at 'The Indie' May 2010 Deadline virtual film festival contest, and a Bronze Telly Award
. It is scheduled to screen at Ireland International Film Festival in September 2010, and a DVD
release is planned for September 2010.
Jewish Journal contrasted the film against others at the Polish Film Festival by noting that, even though directed and written by a Polish
filmmaker and reflecting the memories of wartime Poland, it was filmed with an American cast and set in a contemporary American city. It was offered that the film had a compelling plot line, but its strength was in how it dealt with the relationships of its female characters. They summarize, "A bond between two adult, self-confident women has rarely been portrayed as effectively."
2008 in film
This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
dramatic Holocaust film written and directed by Polish-American director Mariusz Kotowski
Mariusz Kotowski
Mariusz Kotowski is a Polish-born film director and producer. He has gained a reputation for cinematic portrayals that are atypical of both Hollywood and independent film styles and that cleverly mix different film approaches into a cohesive whole....
, with a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
by Allan Knee
Allan Knee
-Stage:*Little Women *The Man Who was Peter Pan -Stage:*Little Women (Broadway musical) (2005)*The Man Who was Peter Pan -Stage:*Little Women (Broadway musical) (2005)*The Man Who was Peter Pan (42nd Street Workshop 'Off-Broadway. (March 1998)*Late Nite Comic (Broadway) (1987)-Film/TV:*Esther's...
. The film is marked as being the director's first feature length film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
.
Background
The film's story is told through a series of narratives from a fictional memoir of the period, illustrated with archival footage provided by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State MuseumAuschwitz-Birkenau State Museum
The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is a memorial and museum in Oświęcim, Poland , which includes the German concentration camps Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. It is devoted to the memory of the murders in both camps during World War II...
, Oświęcim, Poland, additional archive material from the Jewish Historical Institute
Jewish Historical Institute
The Jewish Historical Institute is a research institute in Warsaw, Poland, primarily dealing with the history of Jews in Poland.The Jewish Historical Institute was created in 1947 as a continuation of the Central Jewish Historical Commission, founded in 1944. The Jewish Historical Institute...
, and photographs of the concentration camp ruins by Michael Kenna
Michael Kenna (photographer)
Michael Kenna is an English photographer best known for his black & white landscapes.Kenna attended Upholland College in Lancashire, the Banbury School of Art in Oxfordshire, and the London College of Printing...
. Some of the film's archival footage comes from the same sources used in the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
short film Night And Fog
Night and Fog (film)
Night and Fog is a 1955 French documentary short film. Directed by Alain Resnais, it was made ten years after the liberation of Nazi concentration camps. The documentary features the abandoned grounds of Auschwitz and Majdanek while describing the lives of prisoners in the camps. Night and Fog was...
.
Forgiveness was shot on location in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
in August 2007, with the director having to deal with seasonal rains and the illness of one of the lead actresses.
Plot
A Roman Catholic child Apollonia Kowalski (Juli EricksonJuli Erickson
Juli Erickson is an American film actress and voice actress. Her earliest film appearance was a minor role in Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate...
) and a Jewish child Esther Blumenfeld (Dell Aldrich), were childhood best friends in 1940's Poland. The two girls were separated when Esther was taken away to a Nazi concentration camp. When the war ended, both girls separately emigrated to the United States with their families. They remained separated thereafter.
Years later, Apollonia's daughter Maria Patterson (Shelley Calene-Black
Shelley Calene-Black
Shelley Calene-Black is an American actress and voice actress who has worked for Funimation Entertainment, ADV Films, Seraphim Digital, and OkraTron 5000...
) and Esther's daughter Sarah Blumenfeld (Sydney Barrosse), have become successful professional women, but each still deals with the memories of the Holocaust via strained relationships with their respective mothers. Esther dies but has left a memoir of her experiences in the camp with her daughter, Sarah. Apollonia is confined to nursing home and though Maria tries her best to care or her, she and her mother are at constant odds. A secret that Apollonia has been hiding comes to light, and the uncovering of this secret causes Apollonia and Maria to revolve their differences and brings Maria and Sarah into each others lives.
Release
The film premiered at the Ninth Annual Polish Film FestivalPolish Film Festival
The Polish Film Festival is an annual film festival first held in Gdańsk, now held in Gdynia, Poland....
of Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
on April 26, 2008, followed by multiple film festivals, including the Los Angeles Film Festival
Los Angeles Film Festival
The Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times is an event held annually in June in downtown Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Film Festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1995. The first LAIFF took place over the course of five days in a single...
and West Hollywood International Film Festival. In 2008 the film won a won Bronze Award at the Bayou City
Bayou City
Bayou City is a popular nickname for the city of Houston, Texas, founded at the confluence of White Oak and Buffalo Bayous by the Allen Brothers in the early nineteenth century...
Inspirational Film Festival, and a Silver Telly Award
Telly Awards
The Telly Award is an award presented by the namesake, New York City-based organization. The stated purpose of the award is to "honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the Web." The...
. In 2009 it won a Silver Remi Award at WorldFest
WorldFest
WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival is an annual film festival, dedicated to various types of independent films, held in Houston, Texas.-History:...
, Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, and a Platinum EMPixx Award.
Re-release
After screening at film festivals through 2008 and 2009, Kotowski re-edited the film to feature a more central emphasis on the film's Holocaust story. The film was then re-titled Esther's Diary and re-released, having its premiere at the New Hope Film Festival on June 26, 2010, and screenings at festivals such as River Bend Film Festival in South Bend, IndianaSouth Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
. Under its new title, the film won an 'Award of Merit' at 'The Indie' May 2010 Deadline virtual film festival contest, and a Bronze Telly Award
Telly Awards
The Telly Award is an award presented by the namesake, New York City-based organization. The stated purpose of the award is to "honor the very best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the Web." The...
. It is scheduled to screen at Ireland International Film Festival in September 2010, and a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release is planned for September 2010.
Reception
Jerusalem Post wrote "Forgiveness is like a complex jigsaw puzzle or murder mystery in which apparently disconnected pieces fall into place only gradually. For those looking for a movie dominated by strong, independent women, this is the one to see."Jewish Journal contrasted the film against others at the Polish Film Festival by noting that, even though directed and written by a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
filmmaker and reflecting the memories of wartime Poland, it was filmed with an American cast and set in a contemporary American city. It was offered that the film had a compelling plot line, but its strength was in how it dealt with the relationships of its female characters. They summarize, "A bond between two adult, self-confident women has rarely been portrayed as effectively."
Partial cast
- Shelley Calene-BlackShelley Calene-BlackShelley Calene-Black is an American actress and voice actress who has worked for Funimation Entertainment, ADV Films, Seraphim Digital, and OkraTron 5000...
as Maria - Juli EricksonJuli EricksonJuli Erickson is an American film actress and voice actress. Her earliest film appearance was a minor role in Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate...
as Apollonia - Sydney Barrosse as Sarah
- Jamie Goodwin as Jeff Patterson
- Wilbur Penn as Clayton
- Dell Aldrich as Esther (voice)
- Christina Childress as Jennifer
- Jon Davis as Roger (voice)
- Greg Dorchak as Pete
- Chris Doubeck as Paul
- Sean Elliot as Matthew
- Krystal Morton as Young Esther
- Kathryn Olsen as Young Apollonia
- Steve Uzzell as Dean Denson
- Cyndi WilliamsCyndi WilliamsCyndi Lou Williams is a voice actor and script writer. She has appeared in anime series mostly bt ADV Films. She was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Actress for her performance in Kyle Henry's film, Room, which was nominated for the Cassavetes Award.-Anime Roles:* Birth -...
as Lisa (voice)