Memorandum (film) explained

Memorandum is a one-hour 1965 documentary co-directed by Donald Brittain and John Spotton, and produced by John Kemeny for the National Film Board of Canada.^[1] It follows Bernard Laufer, a Jewish Holocaust survivor, on an emotional pilgrimage back to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.^[2] Considered by many critics to be Brittain's finest work, the film's title refers to Hitler's memorandum about the "final solution."^[3]

A detailed analysis of the film's structure is available in Ken Dancyger's The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory and Practice.^[4]

Awards

• Venice Film Festival, Venice: First Prize, Lion of St. Mark, 1966
• Golden Gate International Film Festival, San Francisco: First Prize, Essay, 1966
• Vancouver International Film Festival, Vancouver: Certificate of Merit, Television Films, 1966
• Montreal International Film Festival, Montreal: Special Mention, Medium-Length Films, 1966^[5]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Memorandum . onf-nfb.gc.ca . National Film Board of Canada . 3 February 2023.
2. Web site: Memorandum. Collection. National Film Board of Canada. 2009-10-09.
3. Encyclopedia: Donald Brittain . Canadian Film Encyclopedia . Film Reference Library . 2009-10-09 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070926231304/http://www.filmreferencelibrary.ca/index.asp?layid=46&csid1=9&navid=46 . 2007-09-26 .
4. Book: Dancyger, Ken. The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory and Practice. Elsevier. Burlington, MA. 2002. 3rd. 302–314. Analysis of documentary sequences: Memorandum. 0-240-80420-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=RFszBZIqf40C&q=Memorandum+Brittain&pg=PA302.
5. Web site: Memorandum . onf-nfb.gc.ca . National Film Board of Canada . 3 February 2023.