This short animation is director Ann Marie Fleming’s animated adaptation of Bernice Eisenstein’s acclaimed illustrated memoir. Using the healing power of humour, the film probes the taboos around a very particular second-hand trauma, leading us to a more universal understanding of human experience. The film sensitively explores identity and loss through the audacious proposition that the Holocaust is addictive and defining.
Ages 14 to 17
Study Guide - Guide 1
Ethics and Religious Culture - Religious Diversity/Heritage
Geography - Human Geography
History - World War II
Pre-teach: The Holocaust, its inception, and long-term effects on the Jewish people. Post-viewing: Suggest reasons why the narrator compares her search for understanding to an addiction and her parents to drug dealers. In what ways is this an accurate description of her search? By the end of the film, what revelations about her ancestry does she come to understand? Are these helpful to her as a Jewish woman? If so, how?