"Stars," a Bulgarian film set during the Holocaust, will be shown following a panel discussion with three German scholars Monday,. Despite being heavily censored in Bulgaria, the film won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1959.
A haunting film directed by East German director Konrad Wolf, "Stars" tells the tragic love story of a Nazi officer who falls for a Greek Jewish girl in transit to Auschwitz.
Originally banned from Bulgaria for its purportedly humanistic portrayal of Nazis and representation of Bulgarians as collaborators, "Stars" has faced a number of copyright complications. As a result, it has eluded public screenings for some time.
Although Professor of German and Humanities Emerita Helen Cafferty vowed to bring the film to Bowdoin when she saw it for the first time, it has taken her 10 years in order to do so.
"People will not regret going to this," she said.
A panel discussion will precede the film and a question-and-answer session will follow its conclusion. Both will feature freelance German writer Otto Emersleben, Cafferty, and Professor of German Steven Cerf—the son of two Holocaust survivors—who will introduce the film.
"Those of us who are interested in the continent-wide implications of the Holocaust in World War II will be fascinated by this multi-lingual film in German, Bulgarian, Ladino, Yiddish, Greek and Hebrew," said Cerf. "Students of film should not miss this movie: it is a path-breaker on all fronts."
The screening and discussion will take place from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in Smith Auditorium in Sills Hall. The 92-minute film will be presented with English subtitles.