Films
Six Million and One
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Israel-Germany-Austria 2011 93 min. DCP/HD Hebrew/English/German (English/ Hebrew/ French/ German subtitles) Six Million and One completes Fisher's family trilogy started with critically acclaimed Love inventory (2000) followed by Mostar Round-Trip (2011).
"David Fisher uses his own life, and the lives of his close family members, as a kind of laboratory in which to explore family histories, solve family mysteries, and reexamine old but still powerful family memories. Funny, clever, honest, and always full of irony and emotional depth, his excellent trilogy, Love Inventory, Mostar Roundtrip, and Six Million and One, are classic examples of films that transform the intimacy of personal stories into the light and clarity of universal truths." Alan Berliner, filmmaker NYC Coming January 27, 2014 on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, Playstation & Vudu. Available now on DVD at www.sixmillionandonethemovie.
Synopsis:
Joseph Fisher's memoir was discovered only after his death. His children refused to confront it, except for David, the filmmaker, for whom it became a compass for a long journey. When he found it unbearable to be alone in the wake of his father's survival story and his struggle not to lose his sanity, David convinced his brothers and sister to join him in the hope that this would also contribute to releasing tensions and making them as close as they used to be. They, for their part, couldn’t understand why anyone should want to dig into the past instead of enjoying life in the present. In the dark depths of the tunnels, part of an Austrian forced labor camp, where their father had slaved during the Holocaust, illuminated only by flashlights, the Fishers seek meaning in their personal and family histories. As their deepest pains are exposed, they find themselves crying and laughing, in bitter-sweet scenes that give this personal film a rare sense of intimacy.
If you wish to have the director or one of the film's cast accompany a screening of the film please contact us via the following address: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Festivals and Awards:
IDFA official selection, feature-length competition 2011 - International premiere - Top 10 in the Audience Choices
"A great film, really emotional, open and wonderful interaction. I am recommending it on tonight's IDFA talkshow." Late Producer Peter Wintonick, IDFA programming advisor and Media Talks team
"Filmmaker David Fisher makes an extraordinary journey with his brothers and sister to Gusen in
Dokfest Munich 2012 - Best Documentary Award
Jury citation:
"A remarkable film about one of the biggest tragedies in history: In a compelling manner, the film maker, David Fisher,manages to lucidly and efficiently combine an emotional family story with elements of universal questions in a surprisingly light and charming way – taking us all on a memorable and touching journey."
DOXA Vancouver 2012 - Honorable Mention
Crossing
Muestra Film Festival
Cork Film
Exground Filmfest,
International Jewish and Israeli Film Festivals : Toronto, Montreal, San Francisco, Palm Beach, Boston, Philadelphia, Virginia, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Illinois Holocaust Museum, Washington DC JCC, Baton Roug, Melbourne, Hong Kong, London, Indian International Centre in New Delhi and more... The film received the 2012 Israeli Ministry of Culture award for art works related to Zionism. Theatrical Release and Special Events:
The film was theatrically released In Israel by Lev Cinema, In Austria by Thimfilm and in the USA by Nancy Fishman Film Releasing at the New York Lincoln Plaza cinema September 28, 2012 and at the Los Angeles Laemmle's Town Center October 19, 2012 .
The film is regularly shown at special events, Seminars and advanced studies that concern such topics as Holocaust diaries, memory and trauma and The Second generation to Holocaust survivors.
Screenings at:
The British Conference for Jewish Studies at the University of Kent in Canterbury UK July 7, 2013.
The American Psychoanalytic Association in NYC January 16, 2014.
The United Nations at Vienna during The International Holocaust Memorial Day - January, 27 2014.
The Cleveland Museum of Art March 12, 2014.
The 167 annual International American Psychiatric Association Conference NYC May 4, 2014.
Critical Reception:
"An emotional journey for these grown children, now in their 40s and 50s, who engage in sometimes heated conversations, several taking place on the actual sites where Joseph and other prisoners endured unimaginable suffering."
Stephen Holden, New York Times – September 27, 2012
"It proves a unique, highly personal approach to unraveling the endless mysteries of the Shoah."
Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times – October 18, 2012
"Why is it important to remember? This is the question that concerns not only David and his brothers, but also all of us. Because of this universal question the film managed to fill the movie theaters in Amsterdam… As psychoanalyst Paul Endo recently said... in a phrase that is for us all: 'Instead of being haunted by the trauma, it is necessary to pursue the trauma.' …Six Million and One" is a beautiful scar."
Eliane Brum, Revista Epoca, BRAZIL - November 21, 2011
"A heartbreaking and wryly humane film… Fisher's documentary, as indicated by its title, is a new twist on the over-worn truism that the devil is in the details. The film is a journey, like many others. But there’s an original and a subtle assessment of memory in Six Million and One. There’s one unforgettable shot in which a view of the concentration camp dissolves slowly into a row of neatly-kept houses in the same location. It takes you from the apocalyptic to the eerily ordinary... The Fishers joke, kibitz and quarrel... We’re reminded that history and memory require an active discussion among the later generations... A film, which seems destined for an extended life."
David D'Arcy on Film, Art Info blog, NYC - November 14, 2011
"It’s intense, emotional, oddly amusing and, in the end, surprisingly universal too."
Phil Harrison, London Time Out - February 21, 2013
"Contemporary filmmakers are refreshingly aggressive and direct in how they treat … delicate material, none more so than Israeli doc maker David Fisher. His powerhouse Six Million and One isn’t the first film in which he’s forced his siblings to confront their parents’ experiences during the Nazi era, but it’s the most brutally candid and unexpectedly funny.”
Michael Fox, KQED
Accolades:
"Magnificent. I laughed and cried, cried and laughed. It is very moving and very powerful. I learned a lot not only about the past, but about living with the past."
Michael Berenbaum, American scholar, rabbi, writer, and filmmaker who specializes in the study of the memorialization of the Holocaust.
“This understated and well-made film stands out among Holocaust documentaries because it raises important questions regarding generalizations about the transmission of Holocaust trauma to the second generation.”
Anna Ornstein, Professor Emerita of Child Psychiatry University of Cincinnati
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