Yael Hersonski's powerful documentary achieves a remarkable feat through its penetrating look at another film-the now-infamous Nazi-produced film about the Warsaw Ghetto. Discovered after the war, the unfinished work, with no soundtrack, quickly became a resource for historians seeking an authentic record, despite its elaborate propagandistic construction. The later discovery of a long-missing reel complicated earlier readings, showing the manipulations of camera crews in these "everyday" scenes. Well-heeled Jews attending elegant dinners and theatricals (while callously stepping over the dead bodies of compatriots) now appeared as unwilling, but complicit, actors, alternately fearful and in denial of their looming fate. ——Written by Sundance Film Festival
Big Baby tells the story of Adam Lewis, a successful horror screenwriter struggling for inspiration for his latest script. After a graphic and realistic nightmare of a hulking man dressed in a baby mask and onesie who axe murders his girlfriend Kate in the middle of the night, Adam gets the inspiration he needs for his new screenplay. Excited about the direction his story is taking, he starts losing himself in his script. Things are better than ever for Adam and Kate until “Big Baby” starts appearing in real life and tormenting and killing victims fueled by his own revenge. Characters from Adam’s script begin to pay him visits pleading for their lives, and he quickly realizes he holds their fate in his hands. Power and fear completely consume Adam until his girlfriend Kate is terrified of the man she once loved.