At the Altar of Her Memories

Produced, directed and edited by Tova Beck-Friedman © 2005
 
 
 
At age seventeen, following her liberation from Bergen-Belsen Bracha Ghilai came to Israel to start her life over. As part of her healing process she established a puppet theater.
Sixty years later, surrounded by her puppets Bracha recalls the dire events of her youth. Through a mix of storytelling, puppetry and archival photographs we experience the anguish of her narrative while she unlocks chapters from her painful past. Her stories range from the heart-wrenching description of her separation from her nephew, Nisan, to the powerful and poignant account of incredible power of endurance, survival and the guilt that accompanies it.
The film is 27 minutes long. It is in Hebrew with English subtitles.
 
 
 
"The film .... weaves puppetry within the testimony with much sensitivity; a delicate balance between horrors versus internal courage."
Tzipi Kichler, Director, Beit Li’hiot
Center For Study Of The Holocaust, Holon, Israel. full text in English & Hebrew
 
" Beck-Friedman reveals to us more than a story—she opens a life in which innocence calls to be protected, and in which art serves as a restorative force, a force restorative of innocence itself."
Mark Daniel Cohen, jewish-theatre.com. text only
 
"Employing a mix of puppetry, family photographs and archival footage, director Tova Beck-Friedman lays bare the poignant incidents in her Aunt Bracha’s life."
Gulsen Calik, NY Arts Magazine
 
Screening:
Israeli Television, Channel 10
Hartford Jewish Film Festival, 2009 .
The Jerusalem Cinematheque, Isreal
EYE AM, Women Behind the Lens, New York City
Holon Theater, Israel
Yeshiva University Museum, New York, NY
The Center for Jewish History, New York, NY
Grace Church Van Vorst, Jersey City, NJ
Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, Cleveland, Ohio
Beit Li’hiot, Center For Study Of The Holocaust, Holon, Israel
Greenburgh Hebrew Center, Dobbs Ferry, NY
Drew University, Madison, NJ
JCC Baltimore, MD
Maison de la culture Plateau Mont-Royal, Montreal, Canada
 
In the collection of:
The Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York, NY 
Yad Vashem; The Holocaust Remembrance Authority, Jerusalem. Israel.
Holocaust Centre, Budapest, Hungary
Steven Spielberg Jewish Film at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. 
Bergen-Belsen Memorial Museum, Germany
The Jerusalem Cinematheque, Isreal
Massuah, Institute For Study Of The Holocaust, Tel Itzhak, Israel
 
Press Kit:
To download press notes click here
 
High-resolution images:
Paula's wedding Puppets The coat The dream
 
Distribution: Groupe Intervention Vidéo (GIV)