As the world struggles with the current refugee crisis, a powerful new film serves as a timely look at a family besieged by war who finds peace across an ocean. It’s called Red Trees, a film with “of-the-moment resonance” (The Hollywood Reporter), arrives on Cohen Media Group Blu-ray and DVD, as well as digital platforms, on January 23. Save the date. It’s important.
Award-winning filmmaker Marina Willer creates an impressionistic visual essay as she traces her father’s journey as a member of one of only 12 Jewish families to survive the Nazi occupation of Prague during World War II. Photographed by Oscar nominee César Charlone, the film travels from war-torn Eastern Europe to the color and light of South America and is told through the voice of Willer’s father, Alfred (narrated by Tim Piggot-Smith), who witnessed bureaucratic nightmares, transportations and suicides but survived to build a post-war life as an architect in Brazil.
Sophia Cowley of Film Inquiry says, “With Red Trees, Marina Willer does something both intimate and daring. Its vivid shots ensure the entire film plays out like a series of moving paintings.” “In many ways, this is the most powerful anti-fascist film you will see this or any other year,” wrote Louis Proyect of Counterpunch.org.
CMG’s Blu-ray and DVD of Red Trees include an interview with director Willer.