Mărculești
In film and television
Filmmaker Matthew Mishory's 2015 documentary Absent was filmed in Mărculești, the site of a horrible atrocity in 1941 in which all of the village's Jews were massacred by the Romanian army. The film introduces the current residents of Mărculești, some of who seem to be unaware (or unwilling to discuss) what happened. Mishory's own grandparents lived in the village, escaping to Israel just before the start of the Holocaust. In an interview with Tablet, Mishory discussed the complex emotions of filming there: "The history of Mărculești and the Holocaust pose impossible intellectual and theological questions. All I can say is that my feelings about what happened in Mărculești are complicated. I remain a practicing Jew. And I also have serious doubts about human nature. I'm angry that people who live overlooking a killing field lie about their history. But I also have a lot of empathy for the current residents of the village and their difficult circumstances". The film had its world premiere at the Astra Film Festival in Sibiu, Romania and led to efforts to preserve Mărculești's abandoned Jewish cemetery.
References
- ^ "Lista primarilor aleși în cadrul Alegerilor Locale Generale din 14 iunie 2015" (in Romanian). Central Election Commission of Moldova. 2015. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
- ^ Results of Population and Housing Census in the Republic of Moldova in 2014: "Characteristics - Population (population by communes, religion, citizenship)" (XLS). National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova. 2017. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
- ^ "Markuleshty; Memorial to a Jewish Colony in Bessarabia (Marculesti), Moldova". www.jewishgen.org. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
- ^ "Absent: A Dark Episode in Moldo-Romanian History". Cineuropa - the best of european cinema. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
- ^ Eckerling, Debra L. (2018-05-16). "Moldovan Jews' Tragic History in 'Absent'". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
- ^ "Now Streaming on Amazon, Masterful Documentary Captures the Haunting History of Moldovan Jews". Tablet. Retrieved 2018-09-28.
- ^ "The 22nd Astra Film Festival kicks off". Cineuropa - the best of european cinema. Retrieved 2018-09-28.