JIFF25: Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire

Australian premiere 

Elie Wiesel’s autobiographical memoir Night, first published in English in 1960, is a foundational Holocaust text. In just over 100 pages, it describes Wiesel’s experiences as a teenager in the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–45 in sparse, heartrending prose. 

Not only did its publication break the dam for more Holocaust survivors to start sharing their stories, but it also launched Wiesel into a lifetime as a human rights activist and spokesperson. Along with dozens of awards he received throughout his life, Wiesel was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for speaking out against violence, repression and racism.  

With unprecedented archival access, this poignant documentary uses family photographs, recordings of Wiesel’s own voice, original interviews and striking hand-painted animation to create a holistic portrait of a notoriously private man who became one of the world’s most public Holocaust survivors. 

English, French, German with English subtitles