Six Million and One

After the death of his Jewish father, who survived the Holocaust in Austria, director David Fisher was the only one of his siblings to read his father's memoirs. For his film, David visits key locations in Austria and speaks with the elderly veterans in the United States who freed his father from the concentration camp. When he gets permission to visit the tunnel in Gusen, where his dad performed forced labor, he takes his two brothers and his sister along. On the way, the four discuss, argue, give each other the silent treatment, and laugh openheartedly about the different ways in which they see each other, their childhood, and the significance of this journey. In voice-over, David reads from his father's memoirs, often from the very place that is getting described. Old photographs illustrate the dark past in Gusen, an unfathomable contrast to contemporary life in Austria and the peaceful beauty of the surroundings. During the intimate and often difficult conversations, David's brothers find communicating difficult. But then there's the cynical humor and the liberating laugh that brings the four back together again. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)