'After Auschwitz' at the Sheffield DocFest Videotheque

And so the day has finally come. From tomorrow, Saturday 7th June, my documentary 'After Auschwitz' will be available to view at the Sheffield Videotheque at this year's DocFest.

The Perimeter Fence at Auschwitz 1

It's been a long road in getting it this far. We began production of the project way back in January 2013 when I flew out to Auschwitz with my wonderful sound operator Euan Tennant and along with the Holocaust Educational Trust. We were carrying nothing but a canon 7D and a zoom H4N.. And not nearly enough batteries.

As the project picked up pace in April we were privileged enough to speak to three amazing holocaust survivors who feature in the doc. You can find out more about their stories via the website (link at the bottom of this post). It left me extremely humbled to have heard three harrowing yet inspirational testimonies first hand as they recalled painful memories of atrocities that seem unimaginable - and now you can hear them too. 

Rt Hon. Theresa May

May was a busy month. We travelled to St Andrews, Scotland to speak to contemporary violence expert, Jeffrey Murer and Golden Dawn Academic, Ffrossyni Charitopoulou. Following this, there was even time for a quick pitstop at home-town Maidenhead to steal some time away from the busy schedule of our Home Secretary, Theresa May. 

Editor: Kamal Shaddad

Now the pace really got going. June brought with it the opportunity to air the film on Freeview as part of my end of university Degree Show 'R13' at Ravensbourne which saw extensive hours in the edit suite, racking up a huge 176hrs in just 8days. This saw the collaborative efforts of 5 fellow students and even my mum, in gaining access and usage rights to images and video footage that showed examples of violence in Modern Europe. It also saw the extensive scouring of archive footage reels and of VoiceOver talent. With absolutely no time to spare we passed QC and aired at 9pm on June 12th.

Since then, the film has undergone many changes. From the colour grade, to sound balancing, to revised graphics, a newer cut and perhaps most notably, the VoiceOver. At this stage I was lucky enough to have an amazing VoiceOver artist Karoline Newman approach me and record a version. Her voice is one that I feel offers a resonance and relativity to the subject matter as well as maintaining an authoritative yet sympathetic tone that is so important when dealing with sensitive content.

And so, this last week has been spent editing together a trailer to attempt in 3mins to show some of the most striking attributes of the film. It's been a huge learning curve for me as a young producer and the final result is one that I feel immensely proud of, whatever may come next. I am extremely grateful for all those who helped make it possible and truly cannot think of better people to have shared the process with.

So without further ado, here it is - the 'After Auschwitz' Trailer. See you in Sheffield!

After Auschwitz Trailer from Kat Mace on Vimeo.

For more information visit:

Http://www.katmace.co.uk/ReadMyBlog/after-auschwitz

The film is now available here (Login to view):

Http://videotheque.sheffdocfest.com

I will be at the festival this weekend so if you like the film, or if it sparks an interest, I'd love to engage in conversation over a beer or a coffee in Sheffield centre. Get in touch!