Abraham Ravett was born in Poland in 1947, raised in Israel and emigrated to the United States in 1955. He holds a B.F.A and M.F.A. in Filmmaking and Photography and has been an independent filmmaker for the past twenty years.
Mr. Ravett has received grants for his work from The National Endowment for the Arts, The Artists Foundation Inc., The Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities, The Japan Foundation, The Hoso Bunka Foundation, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture.
His films have been screened internationally including the Museum of Modern Art, Anthology Film Archives, The Collective For Living Cinema, Pacific Film Archives, S.F. Cinematheque, L.A. Forum, Innis Film Society, and Image Forum in Japan.
Mr. Ravett teaches filmmaking and photography at Hampshire College, Amherst, MA.
Half Sister (1985)
At 26, Abraham Ravett learned that his mother had previously been married and lost her family at Auschwitz, including his half-sister, Toncia, who was killed when she was 6 years old. At age 36, Ravett saw a photograph of his half-sister for the first time. Half Sister is a cinematic amalgam of memory and imagination, inspired by Ravett’s conception of a life that would have been.
Everything’s For You (1989)
Ravett attempts to reconcile issues in his life as the child of a Holocaust survivor in this experimental non-narrative film. Ravett reflects upon his relationships with his family, from his now-deceased father (who survived both the Lodz Ghetto and Auschwitz) to his own young children. He utilizes family photographs and footage, archival footage from the Ghetto Fighters’ House in Israel, cel animation by Emily Hubley, and computer graphics, to create a film about memory, death, and what critic Bruce Jenkins calls “the power of the photographic image and sound to resurrect the past.”
In Memory (1993)
n this non-narrative short, footage of life from the Lodz Ghetto is juxtaposed against the chanting of “Kel Maleh Rachamim,” a plea to God to let the souls of those “slaughtered and burned” find peace. Images include winter street scenes, women drawing water from a well, men breaking up ice, a Nazi roundup and a mass hanging. The message of this tribute to members of Ravett’s family (and to all those who perished under Nazi occupation) is “may their memory endure.”
The March (1999)
Both my parents were in Auschwitz and survived “The Death March.” My father, deceased since 1979, never spoke about his experiences. My mother, on the other hand, continuously made references to the “miracle” of her survival and recounted in vivid detail what it was like to walk for miles in the bitter cold with just a blanket and a pair of wooden shoes (“Trepches”). She tells a story of how one night when the entire column of inmates took a rest at a nearby farm, she found a small sack of sugar cubes in a hay loft, which kept her and a companion alive for several days. She recalls how the German soldiers would confront a weakened inmate who paused for a moment’s rest with the following shout: “Kanst du lofen?” (can you walk?) If the reply was negative or not forthcoming, she would be shot on the spot.
I’ve made six films which reflect on how the Holocaust affected my parents, our evolving relationship, and my own psychological and emotional response to their experiences. The March continues this cinematic exploration by detailing one woman’s recollections of that experience. It also serves as a meditation on time elapsed and the fragility of personal memory.
Utilizing a series of recorded film interviews conducted with my mother over thirteen year period (1984-1997), I ask the following question each time: “Mom, what do you remember about the March?” The complexity of her responses, the visible emotional toll experienced with each reply, and the ensuing portrait of her aging process, form the core of this twenty five minute 16mm film.
Lunch with Fela (2005)
Lunch With Fela, is the filmmaker’s response to the passing of his parent, Fela Ravett. Utilizing a combination of DV footage shot during her stay at a nearby nursing facility, excerpts from previously made 16mm films, animation sequences, plus remaining family memorabilia, the film renders the presence and absence of a much loved parent.
