If you walked past Ella Blumenthal on Cape Town’s Sea Point Promenade, you’d be mistaken for thinking she’s another local on a stroll.
At 100 years old, she’s one of the last Holocaust survivors. Her story is one of resilience, acceptance, and determination. Jordy Sank only began to understand the true gravity of the Holocaust after meeting Blumenthal.
At a dinner with family and friends, Sank heard her recount her horrific experiences, while still radiating strength and positivity. As a filmmaker, he knew he had to share Blumenthal’s message of hope.“When the war broke out, I was forced into the Warsaw ghetto with my family and I lost them one by one under the Nazis,” Blumenthal recalls.“The journey was unfortunately a very unhappy one,” Blumenthal says.
Using animation to depict her past interspersed with footage of Blumenthal today – quick to make a joke, an avid swimmer, and dedicated mother and grandmother – his film conveys her experience of the Holocaust and her will to thrive. “I did not lose hope,” Blumenthal says. “I lived with it, and I am living a happy life because I managed to put my past in the past.”was named the Best South African Documentary at the 2021 Durban Film Festival and won the Audience Award for the Best Documentary at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival.“I don’t know what hatred means,” Blumenthal says. “I love every person whether white, brown or black or any colour. We are all the same.
Footage by Jordy Sank from I Am Here and photos by Micha Serraf were used in the creation of this film.
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