Drawing by Cappy Coates
WORLD PREMIERE
In 1906, Irmi Selver was born into a comfortable Jewish family in Chemnitz, Germany, where she grew up, married and began her own family. Nothing prepared her for the upheavals and tragedy that were in store for her, or for the many times she would have to start her life over on unfamiliar ground. IRMI is a deeply personal film made by a daughter who is inspired by her mother’s story and her spirit. It explores the way in which unexpected events and chance encounters can both shape a life and reveal its true nature. Using Irmi’s own memoir—beautifully read by the actress, Hanna Schygulla and with a richly emotional score by composer, Todd Boekelheide, IRMI takes us on her unique journey. It is a portrait of a woman whose strength, resilience and perhaps most stunningly, whose joie de vivre could not be vanquished even in the face of unimaginable loss.
Following the film, join filmmakers Veronica Selver and Susan Fanshel in a live virtual conversation with Jay Rosenblatt, Program Director.
This digital screening is presented free of charge, courtesy of JFI. Reserve your space now by booking a ticket. A link to watch will be sent to you prior to the start date. Viewing will be enabled between Thursday, July 16 12:01am – Sunday, July 19, 11:59pm.
Following the suggested 3pm start time, there will be a live, virtual Q&A at 4:30pm on Friday July 17th with filmmakers Veronica Selver and Susan Fanshel moderated by Jay Rosenblatt, Program Director.
VERONICA SELVER is a Bay Area filmmaker who has specialized in social issue documentaries. Her own films include KPFA On The Air, Raising the Roof, and Cape Song. Films she co-directed and co-edited include You Got to Move, First Look, and Columbia duPont Excellence in Broadcast Journalism winner Word is Out. Selected editing credits include On Company Business, winner of the FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin Film Festival, Berkeley in the Sixties, an Academy Award nominee and American Cinema Editors nominee for best edited documentary; Columbia DuPont winner Harry Bridges: A Man and His Union, IDA award winner Absolutely Positive, Peabody Award winner Coming Out Under Fire, and Blacks and Jews. Veronica was also an editor on Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin and A Fierce Green Fire, and creative consultant on Regarding Susan Sontag and Free For All. Though Selver began her film career in New York and Paris, she has long been based in the Bay Area.
SUSAN FANSHEL is an independent documentary filmmaker and editor whose award-winning films include: A Weave of Time, The Story of a Navajo Family; Nevelson in Process; Voulkos and Company; Made in the Bronx; Six American Families: The Kennedy’s of New Mexico; and The Odyssey Tapes. The films she has edited have received the highest honors in broadcast journalism including: The George Foster Peabody Award (3); Alfred Du Pont-Columbia Award (2); The Emmy Award (2); The John O’Conner Film Award; and The Banff World Television Award. Selected editing credits include: Robert Capa in Love and War; Innocence Lost, The Plea; Saving Elian; The Last Queen of Hawaii and FDR-a 4 part series for PBS. Fanshel began her career in the San Francisco Bay Area after graduating from U.C. Berkeley with a Masters Degree in Fine Art. She currently resides in New York City.