News
Three Days In Auschwitz Gets U.S. & Canada Release On DVD / VOD
8 Sep 16
Special Theatrical Events in Select U.S. Cities September 9 and 23.
“Three Days in Auschwitz,” a documentary film by director Philippe Mora, with music by Eric Clapton, is available now on DVD in the U.S. and Canada from Vision Films, having previously been released in the U.K. in the spring. It is also available on video on demand services. Co-produced by Mora and Clapton, “Three Days in Auschwitz” is about Mora’s family during the Holocaust. Speaking of their collaboration to Where’s Eric!, Mora said, “This was a unique and trusting collaboration between old friends. I was simply blown away by Eric’s score for this film which combined the tragedy of the events with a celebration of life. He created music with great dignity and emotional power. In my opinion, this is one for the ages.”
Their friendship dates to 1967, when both resided at the artist’s colony, The Pheasantry, on the King’s Road, Chelsea. Mora had recently moved to London from Australia to make his mark in art and filmmaking. Clapton produced the director’s first film, “Trouble in Molopolis” (1969). Twenty years later, the guitarist composed music for Mora’s alien encounter film, “Communion,” which starred Academy Award and BAFTA winning actor Christopher Walken.
In a recent interview with The Jewish Telegraph, Mora related how the guitarist came to be involved,“Eric approached me – I didn’t know he even had an interest in the subject. He said, ‘Do you want me to do the score?’. I said, ‘Are you kidding me? It’ll be sensational!’.” The music also caused Mora to alter the narrative. “The first time I listened to Eric’s score, I changed the film’s direction. I made it more of a contemplative piece rather than an in-your-face one. I thought the audience should feel it. I don’t think you should lecture your audience. They should figure it out for themselves, although I know that can sometimes be controversial.”
The documentary grew out of Mora’s personal investigation of the time after he learned his mother, Mirka, avoided death in Auschwitz by one day and that his father fought against the Nazis in the French Resistance alonside his godfather, Marcel Marceau, the world-famous mime. On his father’s side, eight family members perished in the Holocaust. Mora recounts on his website, “In 2010 I visited Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps for the first time and filmed the visit. I knew many of my relatives had been killed there. Incredibly, that year I also found over 250 documents from Poland and Leipzig, documenting the fate of seven Morawski family members. In 2012, I revisited the camps again with my friend Harald Grosskopf, with whom I had made the documentary German Sons. The two visits triggered an ongoing personal investigation into the matrix of Holocaust Restitution, with the Morawskis, my murdered family, as a portal into the shocking world of Nazi barbarism and looting. With billions of dollars unaccounted for, for millions of victims and heirs, the issue remains an open wound, the legacy of unprecedented crimes against humanity. This film documents this odyssey into the heart of evil, past and present.”
“Three Days In Auschwitz” debuted at the New Horizons International Film Festival in Poland on 24 July 2015. Since then, it has garnered rave reviews on the film festival circuit and in the U.K. upon it’s DVD release. It’s available now in the U.S. and Canada on DVD and VOD from all major retailers.
On September 9 and 23, special “Three Days in Auschwitz” theatrical events will take place in select U.S. cities. Included in the showing is a Q&A with Mora and short film segments from “Monsieur Mayonnaise,” the director’s new film about how his father, who was part of the French resistance, saved several with an unlikely tool – mayonnaise, and “German Sons,” about the relationship between Mora and the son of a Nazi, who discuss their past together.
Eric Clapton’s haunting score can only be heard by viewing the film. It is not available for sale in physical or digital editions.
Cinemas Showing Three Days In Auschwitz On September 9:
Movies of Del Ray
7421 W Atlantic Ave
Delray Beach, FL 33446
Kew Gardens Cinemas
81-05 Lefferts Blvd.
Kew Gardens, NY 11415
Bow Tie Cinemas
20 Tower Place
Roslyn, NY 11577
Bow Tie Cinemas
86 Temple St
New Haven, CT 06510
The State Theatre
1307 J Street
Modesto CA 95354
Lark Theater
549 Magnolia Ave
Larkspur, CA 94939
Cinemas Showing Three Days In Auschwitz On September 23:
Last Picture Show Theater
10036 West McNab Rd
Tamarac, FL 33121
Sundance Cinemas Seattle
4500 9th Ave NE,
Seattle, WA 98105
Sundance Kabuki
1881 Post St
San Francisco, CA 94115
Sundance Houston
510 Texas Ave
Houston, TX 77002
Cinema Paradiso
503 SE 6th Street
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
Movies of Del Ray
7421 W Atlantic Ave
Delray Beach, FL 33446