Garry Beitel This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Cleveland Jewish News.com -- News

   www.clevelandjewishnews.com/di - [Cached]

   Published on: 12/18/2001   Last Visited: 12/18/2001

   The couple's nephew, Montreal filmmaker Garry Beitel, has now brought their story to the screen in ``My Dear Clara," a moving and mesmerizing documentary that packs the power of a box office blockbuster into only 44 minutes.
   
   It's a love story, says Beitel, that also teaches a lot about history.
   
   ...
   ``This is a story that I grew up with," Beitel told JTA. ``I always imagined that it would make a wonderful feature film shot on location in Canada, Europe and Russia -- a passionate love story told amidst the backdrop of the Second World War.
   
   ``But as a documentary filmmaker, I couldn't imagine how I could possibly tell such an epic story until my aunt died in 1998 and I discovered several boxes of love letters, family photos and official correspondence," he said.
   
   ``As I started to translate these wonderfully poetic love letters which my uncle wrote from Poland to my aunt in Montreal, I realized that I had the raw material with which I could construct an archivally based love story," he said.
   
   The movie blends excerpts from these letters, read by an actor, with photographs, on-screen interviews with friends and family members, and rare archival film.
   
   ``It was fascinating for me to discover the romantic, poetic side of an aunt and uncle that I knew very differently as I was growing up with them," Beitel said.
   
   ``Especially my uncle, who had become much more disillusioned after the war -- the letters revealed a young man deeply in love with my aunt, a forward-looking man for whom no obstacle was a deterrent to his optimism, a plumber with astute observations about the situation of Jews in Poland and the deteriorating world situation.
   
   ``He was also my mother's brother so I was learning about her and her world," he said. ``It felt like a real privilege to be allowed inside their world, inside my family's personal history as it was being lived."
   
   Beitel's personal involvement imbues the movie with a sense of discovery that is almost painfully palpable.
   
   ...
   Beitel said the exploration had a profound effect on his family as a whole.
   
   ``As I was reading the letters and reconstructing the events they experienced between 1938 and 1947, I felt like I was becoming the family historian, retrieving a history from which we had become disconnected, a history told to us in fragments as we were growing up but one we never really integrated," he said.
   
   But, he said, the story of his aunt and uncle had a much broader meaning and shed new light on the experiences of Jews in Europe during the Holocaust.
   
   ``Telling this story enabled me to retrace the survival stories of Polish Jews who had escaped the Nazis to the Soviet Union -- Holocaust stories that have been so rarely told," he said.
   
   ``I grew up feeling that Holocaust survivors were those people who had survived the camps and that my parents weren't really Holocaust survivors because they had been in Russia," he said.
   
   ``Now I understand that their stories of survival are equally important as stories of resourcefulness and ingenuity in the face of the horrors in Europe and that their subsequent sadness and devastation after the war is so important for us, as their children, to understand."
   
   ``My Dear Clara'' has been made in both French and English language versions. In November, it was featured at two Montreal film festivals. It is due to appear this winter on Canadian television. JTA END

2. 2. Nephew documents wartime romance in a new film about his aunt and uncle (February 08, 2002)

   www.jewishsf.com/bk020208/sup0 - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/6/2002   Last Visited: 6/6/2002

   The couple's nephew, Montreal filmmaker Garry Beitel, has now brought their story to the screen in "My Dear Clara," a moving and mesmerizing documentary that packs the power of a box office blockbuster into only 44 minutes.
   
   It's a love story that also teaches a lot about history, said Beitel, who is hoping to get it screened in this year's S.F. Jewish Film Festival and San Jose Jewish Film Festival.
   
   ...
   "This is a story that I grew up with," Beitel said in an interview. "I always imagined that it would make a wonderful feature film shot on location in Canada, Europe and Russia -- a passionate love story told amid the backdrop of World War II.
   
   "But as a documentary filmmaker, I couldn't imagine how I could possibly tell such an epic story until my aunt died in 1998, and I discovered several boxes of love letters, family photos and official correspondence," he said.
   
   "As I started to translate these wonderfully poetic love letters, which my uncle wrote from Poland to my aunt in Montreal, I realized that I had the raw material with which I could construct an archivally based love story," he said.
   
   The movie blends excerpts from these letters, read by an actor, with photographs, on-screen interviews with friends and family members and rare archival film.
   
   "It was fascinating for me to discover the romantic, poetic side of an aunt and uncle that I knew very differently as I was growing up with them," Beitel said.
   
   "Especially my uncle, who had become much more disillusioned after the war. The letters revealed a young man deeply in love with my aunt, a forward-looking man for whom no obstacle was a deterrent to his optimism, a plumber with astute observations about the situation of Jews in Poland and the deteriorating world situation.
   
   "He was also my mother's brother, so I was learning about her and her world," he said. "It felt like a real privilege to be allowed inside their world, inside my family's personal history as it was being lived."
   
   ...
   Beitel said the exploration had a profound effect on his family as a whole.
   
   "As I was reading the letters and reconstructing the events they experienced between 1938 and 1947, I felt like I was becoming the family historian, retrieving a history from which we had become disconnected, a history told to us in fragments as we were growing up but one we never really integrated," he said.
   
   But, he added, the story of his aunt and uncle had a much broader meaning and shed new light on the experiences of Jews in Europe during the Holocaust.
   
   "Telling this story enabled me to retrace the survival stories of Polish Jews who had escaped the Nazis to the Soviet Union -- Holocaust stories that have been so rarely told," he said.
   
   "I grew up feeling that Holocaust survivors were those people who had survived the camps and that my parents weren't really Holocaust survivors because they had been in Russia," he said.
   
   "Now I understand that their stories of survival are equally important as stories of resourcefulness and ingenuity in the face of the horrors in Europe and that their subsequent sadness and devastation after the war is so important for us, as their children, to understand."
   
   "My Dear Clara" has been made in both French and English language versions. In November, it was featured at two Montreal film festivals. It is due to appear this winter on Canadian television.

3. 3. Nephew documents wartime romance in a new film about his aunt and uncle (February 08, 2002)

   www.jewishsf.com/bk020208/sup0 - [Cached]

   Published on: 2/10/2002   Last Visited: 2/10/2002

   The couple's nephew, Montreal filmmaker Garry Beitel, has now brought their story to the screen in "My Dear Clara," a moving and mesmerizing documentary that packs the power of a box office blockbuster into only 44 minutes.
   
   It's a love story that also teaches a lot about history, said Beitel, who is hoping to get it screened in this year's S.F. Jewish Film Festival and San Jose Jewish Film Festival.
   
   ...
   "This is a story that I grew up with," Beitel said in an interview. "I always imagined that it would make a wonderful feature film shot on location in Canada, Europe and Russia -- a passionate love story told amid the backdrop of World War II.
   
   "But as a documentary filmmaker, I couldn't imagine how I could possibly tell such an epic story until my aunt died in 1998, and I discovered several boxes of love letters, family photos and official correspondence," he said.
   
   "As I started to translate these wonderfully poetic love letters, which my uncle wrote from Poland to my aunt in Montreal, I realized that I had the raw material with which I could construct an archivally based love story," he said.
   
   The movie blends excerpts from these letters, read by an actor, with photographs, on-screen interviews with friends and family members and rare archival film.
   
   "It was fascinating for me to discover the romantic, poetic side of an aunt and uncle that I knew very differently as I was growing up with them," Beitel said.
   
   "Especially my uncle, who had become much more disillusioned after the war. The letters revealed a young man deeply in love with my aunt, a forward-looking man for whom no obstacle was a deterrent to his optimism, a plumber with astute observations about the situation of Jews in Poland and the deteriorating world situation.
   
   "He was also my mother's brother, so I was learning about her and her world," he said. "It felt like a real privilege to be allowed inside their world, inside my family's personal history as it was being lived."
   
   ...
   Beitel said the exploration had a profound effect on his family as a whole.
   
   "As I was reading the letters and reconstructing the events they experienced between 1938 and 1947, I felt like I was becoming the family historian, retrieving a history from which we had become disconnected, a history told to us in fragments as we were growing up but one we never really integrated," he said.
   
   But, he added, the story of his aunt and uncle had a much broader meaning and shed new light on the experiences of Jews in Europe during the Holocaust.
   
   "Telling this story enabled me to retrace the survival stories of Polish Jews who had escaped the Nazis to the Soviet Union -- Holocaust stories that have been so rarely told," he said.
   
   "I grew up feeling that Holocaust survivors were those people who had survived the camps and that my parents weren't really Holocaust survivors because they had been in Russia," he said.
   
   "Now I understand that their stories of survival are equally important as stories of resourcefulness and ingenuity in the face of the horrors in Europe and that their subsequent sadness and devastation after the war is so important for us, as their children, to understand."
   
   "My Dear Clara'' has been made in both French and English language versions. In November, it was featured at two Montreal film festivals. It is due to appear this winter on Canadian television.