Stars

Dir. Konrad Wolf
East Germany, 1959, 92m
16mm

This gripping drama, based on personal experiences of screenwriter Angel Wagenstein, is set during a chapter of the Holocaust in the Balkans that sheds light on the experience of Sephardic Jews. It was awarded the Special Grand Jury Prize at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival.

Stationed in a secluded Bulgarian village in 1943, Walter—a German Wehrmacht sergeant and artist—lives in almost idyllic distance from the war. Then a transit camp is set up for Jews arriving from Greece. When Ruth, one of internees, asks Walter to help a pregnant woman, the two form an unlikely bond.