THE YATZKANS
Director Anna Célia KENDALL
Countries France
Duration 80 min
Synopsis
Following the death of my mother, I found myself in possession of a hundred or more cardboard boxes full of papers, which at first sight seemed worthless. They included photos of complete strangers, illegible letters, betting slips, and supermarket receipts. There was also a beat-up piano. It is from these “leftovers” of a life that the story of my mother and her family suddenly and astonishingly emerges. The film is a portrait of that family’s journey across war-torn 20th-century Europe, from far-off rural Lithuania to Paris, where great historical events are seen through the prism of the individual. It is also the story of the discovery of a figure who was not only my maternal grandfather, but also a Yiddish-language press magnate between the wars. On my own journey, I also finally works out what to do with that piano.
Following the death of my mother, I found myself in possession of a hundred or more cardboard boxes full of papers, which at first sight seemed worthless. They included photos of complete strangers, illegible letters, betting slips, and supermarket receipts. There was also a beat-up piano. It is from these “leftovers” of a life that the story of my mother and her family suddenly and astonishingly emerges. The film is a portrait of that family’s journey across war-torn 20th-century Europe, from far-off rural Lithuania to Paris, where great historical events are seen through the prism of the individual. It is also the story of the discovery of a figure who was not only my maternal grandfather, but also a Yiddish-language press magnate between the wars. On my own journey, I also finally works out what to do with that piano.