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Thom Vander Beken

De laatste Joodse zomer (The Last Jewish Summer)

Director Thom Vander Beken Composer Jago Moons
106' - 2024 - Documentary - Format: DCP - Dialogue: Dutch
Eighty years after the tragic summer of 1942, when the Antwerp police assisted in the arrest of thousands of Jews, students from a superdiverse school are uncovering the poignant history of their city. Through their exploration, they connect with descendants of both the victims and those complicit in the atrocities. What does this dark chapter mean to them today?

In the summer of 1942, Antwerp authorities collaborated with the German occupiers to round up and deport more than 10.000 Jews. Only 500 of them would return after the war. This black page in Antwerp's history has long been hushed up, but now a group of sixth-formers from a super-diverse school is bringen this painful past to the fore. They meet relatives of both the Jewish victims and the police officers involved. For these young people, the past may not be their own history, but it is a history that affects them. As in The Interview (about Afghan refugees) and Lost in Transition (about a lost generation of Serbs), Thom Vander Beken once again interweaves past and present to shed critical light on underexposed traumas in a way that sometimes makes it hard to shirk one's responsibility.

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Credits

Directors

Thom Vander Beken

Composers

Jago Moons

Scenario

Thom Vander Beken

Director of Photography

Charlie Speeckaert

Editors

Arnaud Bellemans

Producers

Marc Goyens

Production studios

Quetzalcoatl

Distributor

Quetzalcoatl

More info

Dialogue

Dutch

Countries of production

Belgium

Year

2024

Filmography

Thom Vander Beken
Alice (Short 2004), I Know You Are There (2017), The Interview (Short 2024), De laatste Joodse zomer (2024)

Technical Specs

Format
DCP