23.LFF
Opatija
26.-30.08.2025.

Film

Return to Auschwitz

LFF12, Out of competition, Regionale

LFF LAUREAT

Film je na 12. LFF-u osvojio:

  • posebno priznanje - regionalni film

ABOUT THE MOVIE

„Return to Auschwitz“is a documentary film that takes us back almost seventy years to a time when the life of an individual was nothing but a number and to a place where the destiny of manybecame a part of the frightening statistics of Nazi death camps and their “industry of death”. Our protagonist, Mr. Oleg Mandic, who was eleven years old at the time of his imprisonment, along with his mother and grandmother became the last prisoner who left the largest and the most infamous Nazi camp alive. The moment of their official liberation is captured on film by a Russian news camera as you will see in this film. Now, seven decades later, we return to Auschwitz along with Oleg who is a bridge between our present and the terrifying past he witnessed. On the one side we have Oleg as an eleven-year-old boy fighting for his life and on the other our contemporary who leads us through the camp and his incredible story. This documentary film surpasses our protagonist as an individual because the Auschwitz prison camp gate that closed behind him as he left that place as the last prisoner marked an end and a beginning of a new era.

Igor Paulić

born in 1973 in Rijeka, Croatia. Currently mployed as a TV cinematographer at Kanal Ri boadcasting company. Author of several award-winning films: „LOST“(short film, first place at the International Film Festival MOVIEPOET, USA, 2013), „DRIP“(short film, GRAND PRIX at the International Amateur Film Festival KRAF in Rijeka 2011 and second place at the Amateur Film Festival "Moj film festival" in Umag 2012), „M&M FOREVER“(short film, second place at the International Amateur Film Festival KRAF in Rijeka 2010, official selection at the Orange Rid Film Festival, Ohio, USA 2011), „BUS STATION“(documentary, third place at the International Amateur Film Festival KRAF 2009).

Title: Return to Auschwitz
Year of production: 2014
Duration: 43
Director: Igor Paulić