''Fighter'' is a
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
about
Arnošt Lustig
Arnošt Lustig (; 21 December 1926 – 26 February 2011) was a renowned Czech Jewish author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays whose works have often involved the Holocaust.
Life and work
Lustig was born in Prague. As a Jewish ...
(1926–2011) and Jan Wiener (1920–2010), two
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
who return to Europe to revisit the past.
A survivor of
Theresienstadt
Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination camp ...
,
Auschwitz, and
Buchenwald
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
, Lustig was a
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
-based journalist and author. The German-born Wiener escaped from Nazi-occupied
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
, and joined the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. The film retraces Wiener's escape route, and visits Theresienstadt (where Wiener's mother died), Auschwitz, and Buchenwald. It received a Special Jury Citation in the 2000
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has beco ...
, Best Documentary at the
Newport International Film Festival
Newport International Film Festival was an annual film festival in Newport, Rhode Island, established in 1998.
The Newport Film Festival was generally held the first week in June and featured various international films at several local cinemas. ...
, and the audience award at the
Hamptons International Film Festival
The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is an international film festival founded in 1992, by Joyce Robinson. The festival has since taken place every year in East Hampton, New York. It is usually an annual five-day event in mid-October ...
.
Official site
References
External links
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2000 films
American documentary films
Documentary films about the Holocaust
Films directed by Amir Bar-Lev
2000 documentary films
2000s American films
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