After the war: memoirs of exile [extended trailer/anamorphic] | P.J. Marcellino

At the end of WWII the Red Army advances on the Prussian front. Georg, a young German officer, father of two, is shot dead by marauding soldiers in front of his Jewish-heritage Ukrainian wife, and his eldest daughter. The bereaved family heads west to Westphalia, and years later arrives in Canada. Departing from a collection of period artifacts, this film explores family historiography and memory in a post-war setting, dealing with the complex layers and dilemmas of identity, place- and memory- making, the inter-generational transmission of trauma and memory, and the struggles to reconstruct life and home after conflict. On the occasion of the 70th Anniversary of D-Day, and in the aftermath of the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea, these dilemmas are as current as ever.