The Leo Baeck Institute London would like to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on Saturday 27th of January 2024 by inviting you to a special free online screening at the LBI Film Club. We hope that all the film lovers among you will continue to enjoy our selection of interesting and thought-provoking films linked to the immensely rich, diverse and multi-faceted Jewish experience and will relish this latest, gentle, funny and profoundly moving offering in our LBI Film Club programme:
Oma & Bella (2012) is an intimate glimpse into the world of Regina Karolinski (Oma) and Bella Katz, two friends who live together in Berlin. Having survived the Holocaust and then stayed in Germany after the war, it is through the food they cook together that they remember their childhoods, maintain a bond to each other and answer questions of heritage, memory and identity. As the film follows them through their daily lives, a portrait emerges of two women with a light sense of humour, vivid stories, and a deep fondness for good food. Created by Oma’s granddaughter Alexa, the film captures their ongoing struggle to retain a part of their past while remaining very much engaged in the present.
Oma & Bella was Alexa Karolinski’s first feature-length documentary film. It premiered at the Berlinale 2012 in the Culinary Cinema section. Alexa Karolinski was honoured with the Grimme Award for this film. The recipes cooked by Regina Karolinski and Bella Katz were published in the book ‘Oma & Bella: das Kochbuch’. Oma & Bella was also selected for the HotDocs 2012, Silverdocs 2012 and Dokfest Munich festivals.
Directed and produced by: Alexa Karolinski
Co-Produced by: Maro Chermayeff, Jeff Dupre
Music by: Annette Focks
Camera by: Alexa Karolinski, Alexander Malecki, Bella Lieberberg, Günther Berghaus
Sound by: Bella Lieberberg, Marco Heyer, Robert Vogt, Robin Leo Knauth, Simon Konrad, Michael Müller
Edited by: Alexa Karolinski
Documentary, 76 min, 2012, Germany / USA
Languages: German with English subtitles
We wish to thank Sydney Neter at SND Films for supporting us and organizing access to this film for our viewers.
Further LBI Film Club screenings will be announced via our LBI website, Instagram and Facebook in the future. Please keep checking!
