European Film Salons - Portraying Perpetrators: 2 or 3 things I know about him

12 May 2014
Starting this academic year, the European Institute will be hosting a regular Film Salon. During these events, we will screen films produced in and with diverse topics of wider European relevance, in all genres. All screenings are free and will be followed by discussion.

Film: "2 or 3 things I know about him" - "2 oder 3 Dinge, die ich von ihm weiß" (Germany, 2005)
German filmmaker Malte Ludin explores the questionable legacy of his father, executed Plenipotentiary Nazi Party Minister Hanns Ludin, in this documentary that delves into a dark family history while exploring just how stories are passed down through the generations. It's been 60 years since the end of World War II, and though the story of Hanns Ludin is now a matter of public record, his family continues to whitewash their history and deny the brutal facts.
German with English subtitles
Prior to the event Alexandra Senfft will be in conversation with Stephanie Bird, UCL. Alexandra Senfft has written a sensitive and intriguing memoir, Schweigen tut weh (Silence is painful) coming to terms with the troubled life and tragic death of her mother, who was the daughter of a senior Nazi, Hanns Ludin, and was unable to come to terms with his crimes. Senfft is also the niece of Malte Ludin.

This event is linked to a half day conference for which entitled:

• The transmission of a troubled past: Between the personal and professional (registration required)

• PDF Flyer

The first season in our Salon Series is dedicated to films in documentary and experimental, semi-documentary formats engaging with the legacy of war. More concretely, the selected films focus not on victims but on perpetrators: on those who did not suffer but commit crimes during war and dictatorship, and the ways both their families and society at large are coming to terms with these acts across the generations.

6 June Film: The Act of Killing
(Denmark, Britain, Norway, 2012)
In this chilling and inventive documentary, executive produced by Werner Herzog, Errol Morris and André Singer, the unrepentant former members of Indonesian death squads are challenged to re-enact some of their many murders in the style of the American movies they love.

16 June Film: La Sierra
(Colombia, 2005)
A documentary on 3 young people who live in Medellin, Columbia, in an area ruled by a gang with ties to the paramilitary armies
Spanish with English subtitles