THE KARSKI REPORT

A film by Claude LANZMANN

2010 / documentary / 48’ / Color / status : completed / medium-lenght film

This unique documentary brings to life key moments in diplomatic history through the presence of Jan Karski himself. Gain an exclusive perspective on his important 1944 meetings with President Roosevelt and Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter. This raw document is a powerful historical account, with meticulous details and great dignity and depth in its testimony. THE KARSKI REPORT offers an experience far more immersive than any reenactment.

Based on the rushes of SHOAH, this documentary is about the Polish resistance fighter Jan Karski, a witness to the Warsaw ghetto and former courier for the Polish government. Exiled in London, Jan Karski alerted the Allies, particularly President Roosevelt in Washington on 28 July 1943, to the atrocities being perpetrated against the Jews of Europe. In 1978, Claude Lanzmann filmed Jan Karski at his home in Washington. He tells the story.

Press

“A brief and brutally direct essay on the frontiers of belief”

Film Comment