Sobibór, 14 octobre 1943, 16 heures

SOBIBÓR, 14 OCTOBRE 1943, 16 HEURES centres on Yehuda Lerner, one of the participants in the Sobibór uprising, and on Claude Lanzmann's belief in testimony as a way of preserving history. Rather than reconstructing events through archival footage or reenactments, the film relies on Lerner's recollections, Lanzmann's restrained questions and present-day images of Sobibór. Lerner recounts his repeated escape attempts, the separation from his family and the path that led him to the extermination camp. From there, the film follows the planning and execution of the revolt, revealing how extraordinary acts of resistance emerged under impossible conditions. Originally assembled from interviews recorded for SHOAH, the film premiered out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Like Lanzmann's larger body of work, SOBIBÓR, 14 OCTOBRE 1943, 16 HEURES is less concerned with reconstructing history than with preserving the voices of those who lived through it.