56 | APRIL 21 • 2022 ARTS&LIFE FILM FESTIVAL continued from page 54 history of his childhood home and Nasielsk’s Jewish commu- nity. ” Kurtz’s work on the nonfic- tion text ensued after Chandler’s granddaughter Marcy Rosen was directed to the three-min- ute film through the web browsing of friend Jeffrey Widen. She recognized her grandfather because of resem- blances to relatives and got in touch with Kurtz to thank him for making the film pub- lic through the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Mine was the first in a series of amazing steps, and that was wonderful, ” Rosen said. “That’s why the film is so special. It takes this tiny piece and makes it a little bit bigger. You can see a little bit more into this world. “I think it’s so often when we are learning, studying or think- ing about the Holocaust, we’re seeing it from a very particular angle. We look at everything that was lost, and the film does show us everything that was taken away. “We can also look at the things we still have with these little glimmers into Jewish life. We can try to understand the places that we came from and contributions of people who are nameless but helped preserve us — like the woman who helped save my grandfather. ” Stigter approaches the film from the viewpoints she holds as a longtime historian and cul- tural critic in the Netherlands. “I always want to know what it was like before — what was there before, ” she said. “We know what happened after- wards. ” In taking on this project, Stigter also was affected because the vacation film was in color. “We tend to see the world from before 1950 in black and white, ” she said. “Here, you suddenly see it in color, and that made it very vivid for me. I want viewers to understand that the film [vividly] shows a different world and a different time as proof of what really happened and then not to for- get it. ” As both an historian and filmmaker traveling to festivals, Stigter expresses concerns about advancing technology distorting film content such that movie viewers can turn skeptical about what they see or react to the distortions that actually pro- mote propaganda. Chandler, who divides his time between Michigan and Florida, has been impressed with Stigter’s persistence and efforts in establishing the con- tent for the film narrated by Helena Bonham Carter, but as one of the few Nasielsk surviv- ers, he has a stronger overall message. “We have to think about survival every day,” Chandler said. “We have to look out for the Jewish people.” tation of Three Minutes: A Lengthening, a documentary with Detroiter connec- tions to Poland before the Holocaust. Famed filmmaker Bianca Stigter, based in the Netherlands, appears for the showing and discussion session that includes author Glenn Kurtz, who wrote the book Three Minutes in Poland: Discovering a Lost World in a 1938 Family Film (see accom- panying story). Among the films filling out the festival in theater are The Levys of Monticello, about a Jewish family that preserved Thomas Jefferson’s home; Tiger Within, about the friend- ship shared by a Holocaust survivor and homeless teen; The Conductor, about a woman breaking the orches- tral glass ceiling; and One More Story, about a skeptic’s encounter with love. The virtual presentations include A Common Goal, about Muslim members of an Israeli soccer team, and Love and Mazel Tov, about romance amid comedic mis- understandings. Still shot from the film The Conductor Details Three Minutes — A Lengthening can be seen at 7 p.m. Sunday, May 1, in the Berman Center for the Performing Arts at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield. $12. To buy tickets, go to theberman. org/on-sale. Masks are required. Maurice Chandler shares his story at Hillel Day School surrounded by great-grandson Lev Eisenberg, granddaughter Marcy Rosen and daughter Evelyn Rosen. FILM FESITVAL continued from page 53 DETAILS To get a full list and synopsis of films, go to jlive.app/ organizations/118. To buy tickets, go to theberman. org/on-sale/. Prices range from $5 (virtual) to $12 (in person). Masks are required at the JCC.