In a poignant intersection of art, history, and the human experience, the documentary Nathan-ism by filmmaker Elan Golod opens Friday, November 15, 2024 at the Quad Cinema in New York City, followed on December 6 at the Laemmle Royal in West Los Angeles, with other cities to follow.
This gripping exploration follows the extraordinary journey of 18-year-old Nathan Hilu, the son of Syrian-Jewish immigrants to New York, who at the end of World War II receives a life-changing mission from the U.S. Army: to guard the most notorious Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials. For a whole year, Hilu keeps suicide watch while getting an up-close and personal look at these men and the horrors they committed. This first-person exposure to humanity’s greatest evil serves as Nathan’s coming of age.
Nathan, a virtually unknown “outsider artist”, would spend the next 70 years obsessively creating a visual narrative from his memories. Nathan-ism delves into Nathan's relationship with his own stories, and the compulsion he has to share them with a world that doesn't always listen.
Nathan’s experiences in the Nuremberg prison included escorting Hermann Goering to a Christmas service and chatting with Albert Speer through the bars of his cell door. It was Speer who encouraged Hilu to document everything he witnessed. “Keep your eyes open and write what you see here,” he told him. Hilu took this to heart, becoming consumed by the memories and capturing them with raw sketches and notes done in vibrant pastels and Sharpies. Even into his 90s, he amassed an extensive body of artwork dedicated to this life experience. But what happens when those memories take on a life of their own?
Nathan-ism offers not only a narrative of historical significance but a captivating study of the function of art as archive. It offers an opportunity to confront the nature of memory, and the significance of collective memory in today's global context.
The documentary has received widespread acclaim, winning several prestigious awards, including the Yad Vashem Award for Outstanding Holocaust-Related Documentary, a shortlist spot at the International Documentary Association Awards, and a prize from the Jewish Film Institute in the USA. "Nathan-ism" had its world premiere at the esteemed Canadian Hot Docs Film Festival and subsequently screened at numerous festivals, including DOC NYC, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Docaviv, Hot Springs, and Heartland, among others.
Further Information: https://www.nathan-ism.com
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