Benjamin Steinmann will visit us in Houston from May 10th to 14th for the screening of his film “In Memoriam”, on Thursday May 12th.
Schedule:
6:30 p.m.: welcome at the Lenôtre Culinary Institute.
7 p.m.: dinner.
8 p.m.: screening of the film followed by a discussion with the director (for non-French speaker, the film has English subtitles).
Price: $35.50 + sales tax. This includes the dinner, 2 glasses of Alsace wine and the screening of the movie. More wine can be purchased for an additional cost.
Suggested donation for the movie and the association: $10.
In the shoes of a "Malgré-nous" ("despite-us") deserter.
August 1942, Alsatians and Mosellens are forcibly incorporated into the German army during the Second World War. Some are incorporated into the units of the Wehrmacht, the Kriegsmarine (German navy), the Waffen SS called elite units, many found themselves mainly on the Russian fronts to fight the army of Joseph Stalin. André Balzinger, a young incorporated Alsatian, decides to desert the Russian fronts to join the Resistance or Free France. Accompanied by other Alsatian soldiers, they leave on the way back, without identity, without homeland. Treated as cowards by the Germans and enemies by the Soviets, these soldiers are condemned to advance in uncertainty and the doubt of losing their lives at every moment.
Director's biography
Benjamin Steinmann, graphic designer, is now a cameraman and director for the production company Theim Productions on France 3 Alsace. He lives in Hunspach, his childhood village. Directing a film from a script written when he was 12 was his dream. A real film, with real cameras and actors. Fascinated by the "Malgré-nous" (the Alsatian and Moselle people incorporated by force into the German army) and the stories his grandmother told him, Benjamin embarked on this somewhat crazy adventure. "My grandmother had a particular way of explaining her youth, the life of her village, she spoke of her incorporated father, of the mistrust between families, of partisans and of others. It was really interesting to have her felt; she had trouble with these things, I saw that there was a lot of pain, but she explained them anyway. I wanted to keep this emotion in In Memoriam. I relied on the words of my Grandmother."
At 29, he spends his savings (8,000 euros) to make his film and his dream come true. Benjamin Steinmann looked for available actors. "In fact, I booked my childhood friends, those from my village, all concerned with forced incorporation; I asked them to block dates, a year in advance, so that at that time there, they're not doing anything but my film." The costumes and accessories were loaned by the Weitbruch Reenactors Association and the Hatten Shelter Museum. The scenes were shot near Wissembourg, in the Black Forest on the German side, at the Col du Linge, a Mecca of the First World War, towards Munster and at Schoenenbourg on the Maginot Line.
A big thank you to our sponsors for the event!
