Class of 2024
B.A. in Visual & Media Studies: Cinematic Arts
Project Eubigheim is a documentary film project being conducted in partnership with my close friend and collaborator, Ethan Grossman. Last January, his family rediscovered tapes from 1994 in which his great grandmother, known as Grandma B, recounts the rise of National Socialism and the circumstances that led to her family’s persecution and escape from Eubigheim, Germany in 1938. Our goal is to create a film that both reopens discussion about this family history once thought lost to time and to also bring the footage into conversation with the present identity of Eubigheim and the global context.
Ethan and I started this summer by watching the 7.5 hours of Grandma B archival footage, building our knowledge of the family history and town itself. Then, in August, we flew to Eubigheim where we met our cinematographer, Lilit Danielyan. Together, we spent a week exploring the town of Ethan’s ancestors, visiting the family’s house, speaking with the residents of the town, and asking questions about the way Holocaust history is taught and discussed in Eubigheim, Germany, and the world. Overall, we were met by the community members with kindness and a willingness to delve into this history, despite its discomfort. Each day, we partook in various activities in the small agrarian town, ranging from a welcome party on the first day to interviews with town elders to a tour of the historical Jewish landmarks. By the time we finished our week in Eubigheim, we had shot over 20 hours of footage and felt like we had met the majority of the town residents.
Now, we have entered the period of post-production. Starting this Fall, we will begin to tackle the 20+ hours of footage captured in Eubigheim and brainstorm how best to structure the film. We will follow a line of inquiry, asking ourselves which themes to emphasize in the film and which storylines to pursue. Whittling the footage down from hours to 30 minutes will require an incredible amount of care and precision, but we are excited nonetheless about the work we have in store and, hopefully, to return to Eubigheim to screen the final product.