Tekst (smal)

Three Minutes selected for Toronto

Bianca Stigter's documentary Three Minutes – A Lengthening screens at the Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival, the hub for Canadian and international transformational cinema, is set to take place between September 9th and 18th. The festival has selected Bianca Stigter's Three Minutes - A Lengthening to be presented in the TIFF Doc Programme.

Written and directed by Bianca Stigter, Three Minutes - A Lengthening, after its world premiere in Venice, is also selected for Toronto International Film Festival. The film presents a home film, shot by David Kurtz in 1938 in a Jewish town, somewhere in Poland and tries to postpone its ending. The film is a haunting essay about history and memory. As long as we are watching, history is not over yet. The three minutes of footage, mostly in color, are the only moving images left of the Jewish inhabitants of Nasielsk before the Holocaust. The existing three minutes are examined moment by moment to unravel the stories hidden in the celluloid. Different voices enhance the images: Glenn Kurtz, grandson of David Kurtz and Maurice Chandler, who appears in the film as a young boy. Actress Helena Bonham Carter narrates the film essay. Stigter adds:

“The three minutes of film shot by David Kurtz in the Polish town of Nasielsk in 1938 were meant for his family and friends. In Three Minutes – A Lengthening these three minutes last more than one hour and can reach a new audience. I am delighted Three Minutes is selected for the Toronto International Film Festival and Venice Giornate Degli Autori.”

The film is produced by Family Affair Films (The Netherlands, Floor Onrust) in co-production with Lammas Park (United Kingdom, Steve McQueen) and has been made with the support of the Netherlands Film Fund and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts. International sales are handled by Autlook Filmsales.

For more information on Toronto International Film Festival, click here.