CLAUDE LANZMANN: SPECTRES OF THE SHOAH
by Adam Benzine
SYNOPSIS
New Director’s Cut available: The Death and Love of Claude Lanzmann
'Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah' explores the arduous 12-year journey that led to the creation of one of the most important films of our time. On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the release of Claude Lanzmann’s 'Shoah' this documentary reveals for the first time the trials and tribulations the French iconoclast faced.
DETAILS
40/60 mins
2015
Canada, UK, USA
French, English
CREDITS
Written, produced and directed by Adam Benzine
Co-produced by Kimberley Warner
Editor: Tiffany Beaudin
Original music: Joel Goodman
BIOGRAPHY
DIRECTOR - ADAM BENZINE
As a British journalist and filmmaker based in Toronto, ADAM BENZINE has senior editorial experience on both sides of the Atlantic, having written for a variety of newspapers and film publications including The Globe and Mail, The Independent and Indiewire.
He is currently the Canadian Bureau Chief for entertainment industry trade publisher C21 Media, and for the last four years served as the Associate Editor of Realscreen, the international magazine and website covering the global business of documentaries.
He is a regular fixture at most major documentary, film and TV industry festivals and markets, including Sundance, SXSW, MIPCOM and TIFF; and frequently chairs panel sessions and Q&As with filmmakers and executives, at events such as Hot Docs, IDFA, the Realscreen Summit and Sheffield Doc/Fest.
Adam is an expert on the work of Claude Lanzmann, and Spectres of the Shoah marks his directorial debut.
SELECT FESTIVALS
HOT DOCS 2015〡CAMDEN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2025〡SHEFFIELD DOCFEST 2015〡VIENNALE 2015〡HAMPTONS FILM FESTIVAL 2015〡DOCNYC 2015〡IDFA 2015〡DOKUFEST 2015〡HOT SPRINGS FILM FESTIVAL 2015
PRESS
“Utterly powerful… a fascinating portrait of a man openly pessimistic about the world, and a unique distillation of a creative process that yielded one of the most powerful cinematic documents of our time.”
– Variety (Kris Tapley)
“The richest and most ruminative of the nominated shorts… providing strong visual correlatives as Lanzmann returns to some of the most difficult moments of his filmmaking process.”
– Variety (Justin Chang)
“This film is incredibly moving… the insight into how Lanzmann evolved from a journalist to a world-class historian elevates Lanzmann to the height of a hero and Mr. Benzine, as his messenger, also attains an historical significance. Both films are testament to a devotion worthy of enshrinement.”
– Indiewire (Sydney Levine)
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