In Silence (2014)

A docudrama of enormous intensity and beauty, IN SILENCE depicts the shattered lives of Jewish artists whose dreams and destinies were tragically cut short by the Holocaust.

With the rise of Fascism many Jewish performers fell into disfavor, and were barred from working in their profession and ultimately deported to death camps. The filmmakers approach this well-chronicled subject with invention, employing lyrical cinematography and first-person narration to tell the true stories of Czech and German artists who faced Nazi persecution. Among them are acclaimed concert pianist Edith Kraus (Judit Bárdos), aspiring teenage ballerina Alice Flachová (Valéria Stasková), the vocal ensemble Comedian Harmonists, conductors, composers and theater artistes. As the film’s title implies, the onscreen characters remain silent, their thoughts shared instead through voiceover. Most striking is the film’s juxtaposition between the carefree, prosperous pre-war days, and the suffering and humiliation of Terezín, where music was permitted as a momentary escape from the camp’s grim realities.

Originally intended as a documentary, IN SILENCE is inspired by the research of Slovak musicologist Agata Schindlerová and masterfully directed by Czech Academy Award-winner Zdenek Jiráský.