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Oma & Bella NL Premiere
Documentary | Alexa Karolinski | Germany, Canada | 2012 | 75 min | German spoken | English subtitlesVoorstelling: Sunday 24 March 14:45 | Studio/K 1
Oma and Bella are two typical Jewish grandmothers, and the best of friends. They live together in Berlin and spend their time chatting about the turbulent present and their far-from-easy past as they cook. Filmmaker and granddaughter Alexa captures how closely food and memories are intertwined.
The elderly women come from Poland and Lithuania and met during the Second World War. After Oma’s hip operation, she asked if Bella would move in with her. They now live together and, they say, everyone is jealous of their friendship.
The seniors seem to relish the role of stereotypical grandmothers. They force filmmaker Alexa to drink her orange juice and nag her until she tries their homemade biscuits and tells them how good they are. Meanwhile, they tell their bizarre life story.Anecdotes from the ghettoes and camps begin suddenly, almost casually. Between touching images – such as when the friends remove the last hairs from cows’ feet using Ladyshaves – a portrait emerges of a stolen youth and unprocessed trauma. Oma and Bella have prudently learned to live with it. For better or worse…
A sunny disposition helps in any event! And so cracking jokes, the ladies visit a hilarious German hairdresser and dispute his claim that it is too early for a shot of vodka. Oma & Bella is a film about memories, identity, good food, bad luck and happiness. Above all, it is an ode to the love that only an overindulgent grandmother can provide.
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