The experimental film explores the system and desires that allowed Madoff to succeed.
More than a decade ago, Judy Batalion accidentally stumbled upon a Yiddish-language book in the British Library. Published in 1946, the book comprised a collection of memoirs of “ghetto girls,” young Jewish women who revolted against the Nazis in Poland. These women tricked the Gestapo into carrying their luggage filled with contraband, hid revolvers in teddy bears, flung Molotov cocktails, and bombed German supply trains. They flirted with Nazis, bribed them with whiskey and pastry, and shot and killed them. They carried out espionage missions for the Red Army, organized a militant group of anti-Nazi Germans, and were bearers of the truth about what was happening to the Jews. Delving deeply into archives in North America, Poland, and Israel, Batalion uncovered long-overlooked memoirs and testimonies, conducted personal interviews with their families, and wove these narratives together into her recently-released book, “The Light of Days.”
“Not having that knowledge is devastating, because you can’t go back. There are no people to talk to.”
In “The Spokeswoman,” Maria de Jesus Patricio Martinez’s run for Mexican president is chronicled by filmmaker Luciana Kaplan.