Oma and Bella is an intimate portrait of two elderly Jewish women in Berlin with humor, powerful stories, and a deep fondness for good food. As the documentary follows them through their daily lives, a portrait emerges of two Holocaust survivors who stayed in Germany. They answer questions of heritage, memory and identity, ultimately, through the re-creation of the sumptuous foods from their childhood. This film, made by Oma's granddaughter, follows them as they struggle to retain a part of their past while being very much engaged in the present.
"For everyone who had a Jewish grandmother, or wanted one," writes Variety's Jay Weissberg, "there's Oma & Bella to help them remember." Alexa Karolinski's fond documentary tribute to her Berlin grandmother Regina and Regina's best friend Bella is tonight's entry in The Belcourt's "25 New Faces of Independent Film" series, which ends next week. The trailer above looks completely disarming. Here's the description from The Belcourt's website:
Oma & Bella is an intimate glimpse into the world of Regina Karolinski (Oma) and Bella Katz, two friends who live together in Berlin. Having survived the Holocaust and then stayed in Germany after the war, it is the food they cook together that they remember their childhoods, maintain a bond to each other and answer questions of heritage, memory and identity. As the film follows them through their daily lives, a portrait emerges of two women with with a light sense of humor, vivid stories, and a deep fondness for good food. Created by Oma's granddaughter Alexa, the film captures their ongoing struggle to retain a part of their past while remaining very much engaged in the present.
Co-sponsored by the
Nashville Jewish Film Festival, the movie screens tonight at 7 p.m. preceded by Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari's documentary short
"Aquadettes."Check out this list of today's events from Artober Nashville.
