A cheeky red rocket zooms through deep blue swirls of space, illuminated by shining stars; the brilliance of Petr Ginz, a gifted young artist who was killed in Auschwitz, shines through The Last Flight of Petr Ginz, a moving documentary directed by Sandy Dickson and Churchill Roberts, with animation by Cory Godbey. The film was screened at the Jerusalem Film Festival on July 10, 2012 in the presence of the film’s director Janet Dickson; followed by a discussion with the director.
Petr Ginz was born in Prague in 1928, a talented boy with an interest in science who loved to draw. Petr was an avid reader of Jules Verne, wrote several novels before the age of 14 and kept a diary of the Nazi occupation of Prague. The anti-Jewish laws of the Third Reich decreed that children of “mixed marriages” were to be deported to concentration camps at the age of 14; this was the fate that awaited Petr and his younger sister Eva. Eva survived the camp, but Petr did not.
Although he perished in the Holocaust, many of Petr’s drawings and writings survived, and when Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon planned his journey into space in 2003, he took with him a copy of Petr’s drawing “Moon Landscape,” selected by Yehudit Shendar of Yad Vashem. The tragic explosion of the Columbia brought the story to the headlines, and as a result, led to the discovery of the diary kept by Petr Ginz.
The film tells the story of Petr’s life through his writings, drawings, and the recollections of his sister, Eva (Chava Pressburger); augmented by photographs and archival footage of historical events. Petr’s drawings have a sensitive, light line, and come to life quite vividly in the animated footage. They reflect the observations and imagination of an amazing young boy, who grows into an intelligent, brave youth in his years at the Terezin concentration camp, never ceasing to explore and discover new realms of thought, and even editing a weekly newsletter in the camp called “VEDEM” (We Lead).
After the screening, the audience was eager to learn more about the story behind the film. Dickson said that the film was three years in the making, and thanked Yad Vashem for their “invaluable help.” Dickson learned of Petr Ginz serendipitously when she took her elderly mother to get her hair done – “a long process” – and wandered into a bookstore to pass the time. Petr Ginz’s diary, published in 2007, was on a table, and the filmmaker was immediately “drawn to the art.”
Discussing her vision for the film, Dickson said that she wanted to take audience’s “into Petr’s imagination” to tell “a love story between brother and sister.” She said she knew from the start that she “wanted them to tell the story,” and “from the beginning wanted animation,” which she felt was true to the spirit of Petr’s drawings, saying, “when he drew flying machines – they flew.”
The film is a moving portrait of a wonderfully creative young man whose life was cruelly cut short, yet his vivacious spirit, keen observations and delightful humor live on in his writings and drawings.
The Last Flight of Petr Ginz (USA 2011, 67 min) will have a second screening on Wednesday, July 11, 2012 at 19:00.
Directed by Sandra Dickson and Churchill Roberts; screenplay by Sandra Dickson; produced by Stephen H. Cypen and Peter Gilbert; original music by John Califra; cinematography and editing by Cindy Hill; animation by Cory Godbey.
