French-Israeli film maker Sharon Ryba-Kahn was born in Munich, Germany and now divides her time between Europe and Ballarat. In her film ‘Displaced’, Sharon shares her personal journey as a third generation Holocaust survivor.
When her estranged father Moritz contacts her again after seven years, it becomes an impetus for her to reconstruct her father’s family history. Moritz was born in a Bavarian displaced persons’ camp in 1947, the son of an Auschwitz survivor. From here a journey begins in which Sharon tries to understand who her father is and who his parents were - a family history that has rarely been openly discussed. After having survived the Holocaust, her father’s parents, who were originally from Poland, arrived in Munich in the American zone. Sharon travels from place to place, from person to person, trying to understand how the Shoah (Hebrew for Holocaust) has impacted her father’s family. Living in Germany, her journey also leads her to confront her non-Jewish German environment.
‘Displaced’ had its world premiere online in May 2020 at the DOK. fest in Munich. It was nominated for the prestigious First Steps award and screened at the Max Ophüls Film Festivals in the ‘MOP Watchlist’- a section dedicated to the best films of the last year. Sharon studied at the prestigious MA program in documentary film directing at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf in Potsdam where she directed ‘Displaced’ which was produced by the award-winning production company Tondowski Films.
A Ballarat Harmony Fest event presented by the Eureka Centre.
After the screening, Dr Anna Hirsh, Manager of Collections & Research at Melbourne Holocaust Museum will discuss the film with Sharon, who will join us live via Zoom from Germany.
Image: Film still from ‘Displaced’ by Omri Aloni
