Featuring the voices of two-time Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley (Atonement) alongside Academy Award nominees Brenda Blethyn (Pride and Prejudice), Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda), and Academy Award winner Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge!), this stunning animated drama brings to life the remarkable true story of Charlotte Salomon, a young German Jewish painter who created an extraordinary masterpiece during the turmoil of World War II. Born into a wealthy family in Berlin, Charlotte is preternaturally gifted, with a wild imagination and grand ambitions. But in 1933, at age 16, she sees her dreams suddenly dashed. The antisemitic laws and violent mobs of the Nazis, who have seized power in Germany, force her out of school and later spur her to leave for the South of France, where, despite relative and temporary safety, life for Charlotte becomes increasingly difficult. Struggling to comprehend — and come to terms with — both a traumatic past and present, she sets out to paint her autobiography. Within 18 months, Charlotte completes nearly a thousand gouaches depicting the lives of everyone near and dear to her. By the time of her death at Auschwitz, she’d left behind her extraordinary expressionist “Song-play”: Life? or Theatre? With stunning artistry, directors Eric Warin and Tahir Rana bring justice to their subject’s work and deliver a powerful story of determination.

Accompanying the film premiere is a discussion with directors Tahir Rana & Eric Warin, producer Julia Rosenberg and moderator Danny Reed, director of Cultural Arts & Adult Programs at the Miami Beach JCC. To view the conversation please click here.

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The 2022 Miami Jewish Film Festival virtual program is made possible with the generous support of Benjamin Nahum and Tamar Roodner.