First-Ever Digital Release of SHOAH
with the Oscar®-Nominated Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
a Vital Educational Counterpart
Special offer | Available in North America only
ABOUT THE FILMS
Claude Lanzmann’s groundbreaking monumental film, SHOAH (1985), a 9-and-a-half-hour, two-part powerful testimonial documentary, is a life-altering resource about the Holocaust, which is shockingly relevant today. The film has recently been revived as a digital release for the first time ever and still ranks among the greatest documentaries ever created.
Abstaining any historical footage, Lanzmann’s epic documentary spanned 12 years of research and shooting, yielding almost 350 hours of individual testimonies with survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators in 14 countries.
Its cinematic counterpart, the 40-minute Oscar-nominated short Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah (2015), is a key educational resource for institutions focused on teaching about genocide and the Holocaust. The breakout phenomenon, as well as the first major documentary to be made on the life of the late filmmaker, became the first motion picture to be turned into an NFT in 2021.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Claude Lanzmann
Claude Lanzmann, son of a Jewish immigrant-family from Easteran Europe, was a French filmmaker, known for the Holocaust documentary film SHOAH (1985). While his family disguised their identity and went into hiding during World War II, he joined the French resistance at the age of 17, along with his father and brother, and fought in Auvergne. Lanzmann was the chief editor of the journal Les Temps Modernes, founded by Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. He was a lecturer at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. Lanzmann, who died in 2018, aged 92, has won the prestigious BAFTA, Berlinale and César awards, among many more.
Adam Benzine
Adam Benzine is an Academy Award-nominated, British-Canadian filmmaker and journalist, based in Toronto. As a filmmaker, he made 2020’s groundbreaking COVID-19 documentary thriller The Curve, as well as the Oscar-, Grierson- and IDA-nominated ZDF/HBO documentary Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah. As a journalist, he has written for publications such as the National Post, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The Independent, MOJO, Music Week, The Hollywood Reporter, Realscreen, Indiewire and Variety.
“Claude Lanzmann dramatically changed the way in which people commemorated and remembered the Holocaust” Liat Benhabib, Director of Yad Vashem’s Visual Center
“Utterly powerful… a unique distillation of a creative process that yielded one of the most powerful cinematic documents of our time.” Variety
“Will come as a stunning revelation to both people who have seen Shoah and people who have not.” The Toronto Star
“Taut and focused… think of it as an essential supplement to one of the most important documentaries ever made.” NOW magazine (4 stars out of 5)
SELECTED AWARDS
SHOAH
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
Flaherty Documentary Award Winner
BAFTA Awards 1987
Caligari Film Award Winner
FIPRESCI Prize Winner
OCIC Award – Honorable Mention Winner
Berlin International Film Festival 1986
Best Documentary Winner
Boston Society of Film Critics’ Awards 1986
The Influentials Award Winner
Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US 2014
Honorary César Winner
César Awards, France 1986
IDA Award Winner
International Documentary Association 1986
Best Documentary Winner
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 1986
Special Award Winner
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 1985
Best Documentary Winner
National Society of Film Critics’ Awards, USA 1986
Best Documentary Winner
New York Film Critics Circle Awards 1985
Film Hall of Fame Motion Picture Winner
Online Film & Television Association 2019
Best Documentary Winner
Rotterdam International Film Festival 1986
Best Documentary Short Subject Nominee
Academy® Awards 2016
Best Newcomer Documentary Nominee
British Grierson Documentary Awards 2016
Best Direction in a Documentary Program Nominee
Best Picture Editing in a Documentary Program or Series Nominee
Best Original Music for a Non-Fiction Program or Series Nominee
Barbara Sears Award for Best Visual Research Nominee
Canadian Screen Awards 2017
Best Short Film Nominee
IDA (International Documentary Association) Documentary Awards 2015
Best Short Documentary Winner
Warsaw Jewish Film Festival 2016
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking Nominee
Cinema Eye Honors 2016
Best Editing in Documentary – Short Form Winner
Canadian Cinema Editors Awards 2016
Audience Award for Best International Short Documentary Winner
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival 2016
Best Mid-Length Documentary Competition Honorable Mention
Hot Docs 2015
Best History & Biography Program Rockie Award Nominee
Best Francophone Program Rockie Award Nominee
Banff World Media Festival 2017
Best Short Film of the Year Winner
Los Angeles Italia Film Festival 2016
