In Theaters April 2nd – 2021 Oscar® Nominated Short Films
COLETTE
As a young girl, Colette Marin-Catherine fought the Nazis as a member of the French Resistance. Since 1945, she has refused to set foot in Germany. That changes when a history student named Lucie enters her life and encourages her to visit the concentration camp where the Nazis killed her brother.
Directed by Anthony Giacchino
Winner of the Best Documentary Short AwardBig Sky Documentary Film Festival
Winner of the Young Cineastes AwardPalm Springs International ShortFest
Winner of Best Documentary ShortSt. Louis International Film Festival
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OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT SUBJECT DOCUMENTARY ‘COLETTE’ ON LESSONS FOR YOUNGER GENERATIONS FROM WORLD WAR II HISTORY
FILM PROFILES ONE OF THE LAST LIVING MEMBERS OF THE FRENCH RESISTANCE
“The living memory of WWII will soon be extinguished, so our hope was to make this living history – embodied by Colette herself – accessible to younger audiences before it’s too late.”– Writer and Director Anthony Giacchino
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
“When I first met Colette in the fall of 2019, one of the first things she told me was: “When it’s your turn to live through a war, you’ll see you don’t have time to feel anything.” It was quite an introduction. While making the film, I learned that only one percent of the French population had actively resisted the Nazi occupation. Colette — as a young girl — was one of those resisters. She had so much to tell us about the war. I was particularly interested in her immediate family, as they all played their part in the Resistance. In fact, Colette’s 17-year-old brother, Jean-Pierre, was captured by the Gestapo and died a gruesome death in a German forced labor camp. Seven full decades beyond the events of Colette’s youth, the war’s aftermath remains as a dramatic, living thing to filmically explore. And the terrific reality is that war, at its core, is a universally human experience, that stays inside all who go through it.”
– Anthony Giacchino, Writer and Director
SYNOPSIS
Ninety-year-old Colette Marin-Catherine is one of the last surviving members of the French Resistance. As a young girl, she belonged to a family of Resistance fighters that included her 17-year-old brother Jean-Pierre. The last time Colette saw Jean-Pierre was in 1943, when he was arrested by the Gestapo and “disappeared” into the Nazi concentration camp system, never to be seen by his family again. The family was inwardly shattered, but outwardly stoic. No tears. Never permitted. For the past 74-years, Colette has never allowed herself to put one foot in Germany. But that’s all about to change when a young history student named Lucie enters her life. Lucie is researching the camp in Germany where Jean-Pierre died. Tracing the story of Jean-Pierre is, in fact, her special assignment. The film follows Colette as she travels with Lucie to what remains of the forced labor camp near Nordhausen, Germany. It’s a journey of discovery on many levels, but the film’s greatest revelation is Colette herself, who at 90, is finally ready to let go of what she has, for over seven decades, held so tightly inside. Lucie’s youth and genuine concern has pierced the armor. The ultimate discovery of the film is Colette’s to make. That some wounds can only be healed if we allow them to be re-opened.
For more information, please visit: www.colettedoc.com
