Margot Friedländer with actor Peter Lewis Preston Photo: Olaf Selchow
By Pauline von Pezold
The documentary about the life of Margot Friedländer (102) premiered on Tuesday. Especially in times like these, it seems appropriate to honor the film adaptation of the story of the Holocaust survivors with a big celebration – but ZDF saw it differently.
As the documentary’s commissioner, the premiere was originally supposed to be hosted by the public broadcaster. Because he thought it was “too dangerous,” the Margot Friedländer Foundation had to step in to organize it.
Margot Friedländer is at the premiere of “I am! “Margot Friedländer” is visibly touched that at the age of 102 she can still be part of the film adaptation of her life. The fact that the premiere takes place exactly one month after the Hamas attacks in Israel once again underlines the importance of the topic – and the message from Friedländer: never to forget what happened back then.
Margot Friedländer in the Humboldt Forum Photo: Olaf Selchow
The fact that ZDF is now choosing security aspects as an argument for not staging a premiere for the documentary seems absurd. When asked by BZ, a station spokeswoman said: “ZDF has hardly held any premieres for years.” When asked about the security argument, it was said that this could not be confirmed.
However, BZ knows: A big premiere was planned in one of the York cinemas. Concrete discussions have already taken place between UFA and ZDF. It was only canceled two weeks before the premiere date, which Margot Friedländer was very disappointed about.
The Margot Friedländer Foundation then spontaneously stepped in and had to finance the entire evening itself – with the foundation’s assets, which have so far been provided entirely from Friedländer’s private assets.