Filmmaker Statement

I discovered a cassette tape recording of an interview between my grandfather Eddie, his American wife Bea, and their Ghanaian-American teenage neighbor from 1995. I was struck by Eddie’s recollections of his time in Dachau, but also by the stilted manner that he and Esi communicated. Eddie - a traumatized survivor, and Esi - a young Black woman, both immigrants to the US, but with entirely different generational and historical/political circumstances. There is a great deal of dialogue happening right now about anti-semitism, racism and relations between Black and Jewish communities in the United States. I think there is enormous potential for deep allyship, yet it often feels lacking because of different but overlapping experiences of marginalization in America. This film is a small encounter within a larger conversation about intergenerational memory, personal and collective trauma, family, and the idea that sometimes language fails us when we try to connect to those around us.