La Mémoire de mon père

One day, I decided I would start trying to film rather than photograph my father. The professional-like relationship we established (with me sheltering behind the camera) finally enabled us to talk, but without openly admitting it. I still was not aware of the fact he was sick. We carried on a series of interviews up to his death in September 1996 (…) In March ’96, using a tripod-mounted camera and a microphone, I set about questioning my father. He agreed to speak to me about his parents deported to Auschwitz, his sister and himself (…). I asked him questions about his own father and what had happened to him during the war… me, who had already photographed hundreds of Jewish people in an attempt to discover what being Jewish meant (…) One year after my father’s death, I came back to all this footage and decided to make a film focusing on the father-son relationship, on memories and handing down what fathers pass on to their children. This is precisely what I must now do with my own son, as I in turn have since become a father.’ (Patrick Zachmann)