Tacheles - The Heart of the Matter

North American Digital Festival Premiere

Three generations removed from the Holocaust, Yaar is a young Jewish Berliner desperate to leave the past behind him. Along with his friend Marcel, they develop a computer game set in 1940s Germany featuring a young Jewish girl based on Yaar’s grandmother Rina, and an SS officer inspired by Marcel’s ancestor, in which Jews can defend themselves and Nazis can act humanely. Yaar’s father is shocked, and the work opens up old family wounds. Thus begins a painful confrontation with history that will forever change Yaar’s relationships with his father and his friend: the grandchildren of victims and perpetrators. As the game ceases to be a game, Tacheles – The Heart of the Matter explores with growing self-awareness how trauma of survivors is inherited, and asks the burning question from the perspective of a 21-year-old: what does the Holocaust have to do with me?

“Tacheles is a very important film. It shows how crimes and injustice can ruin the lives not merely of the survivors but also of the following generations decades after they took place.” - Wenzel Michalski, Germany director, Human Rights Watch

• Thank you to everyone who joined our digital film festival screening + live Q&A on May 22. You can still watch the film at your own pace until May 27, and view the recording of the Q&A with filmmakers Jana Matthes & Andrea Schramm, film participant Yaar, and Wenzel Michalski, Germany Director at Human Rights Watch. here on our Vimeo page.

We do not want the cost of entry to be a barrier for participation in the festival. If the price of buying a ticket to this film would prevent you from participating, please email the following address (filmticket@hrw.org) + you will receive an auto-reply email with a free ticket code. We have set aside a set # of tickets per film on a first come first-served basis. Once the free tickets are no longer available, the code will no longer work. For anyone that purchases a ticket, we appreciate your support. Your ticket purchase enables us to make tickets free for those who might otherwise be unable to watch. This also allows the festival to support the filmmakers for sharing their work in our festival and for the festival to cover the cost of hosting the films online.