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At the end of World War II, Nathan Hilu, an 18-year-old Jewish US Army private from New York, was assigned to guard the top Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg Trials. For one year, Hilu kept suicide watch over Hermann Göring and Albert Speer and learned first-hand about the men and their crimes. Speer himself instructed Hilu to "…keep your eyes open and write what you see here..." With brutish lines and annotated pastel sketches, Hilu obsessively documented those memories for the next 70 years. Now in his 90s, Hilu still compulsively animates the very same stories. Filmmaker Elan Golod proposes a documentary portrait of the ageing artist but what begins as a peek at a unique witness to history grows into an absorbing study of the function of art as archive and invention. Daring to question an artist’s stories, Nathan-ism is a fascinating look at one man’s need to share truths with a world that doesn’t always want to listen. Myrocia Watamaniuk

Streaming online May 5-9. Streaming only available in Canada.

Credits

  • Director(s)

    • Elan Golod
  • Producer(s)

    • Melanie Vi Levy
  • Executive Producer(s)

    • Caryn Capotosto
  • Editor(s)

    • Elan Golod
  • Cinematography

    • Jason Blevins
  • Composer

    • Christopher Bowen
  • Animation

    • Héloïse Dorsan-Rachet
    • Hectah Arias

Promotional Partners

Artscapes presented in partnership with

MUBI

Community Partner: Toronto Jewish Film Festival
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