FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT
'Until I was seven or eight, I thought it was always night during the war'
From Darkness to Light is my latest independent project. It tells, in an intimate way, the impressive story of Jewish war child Timna, who liberates herself from the dark shadow of the Holocaust through art.
It is 1942 when Timna is born in a boarding house full of Jewish refugees in Amsterdam. At only fifteen months old she and her mother are deported to Camp Westerbork, but released after three months. Her father is killed in Auschwitz, along with his entire family.
In the post-war years Timna feels the dark shadow of the war. It seems like her mother and stepfather are still in hiding. The house is dark, the window covered by a piece of dense lace curtain, in which she pokes holes to look outside. She is a somber, angry and scared little girl, haunted by nightmares.
Liberation
A huge turning point comes when she discovers abstract art. The lack of reference to reality puts her anxious mind at ease. It means a real liberation for her.
When at a later age she herself starts painting, everything falls into place.
The personal angle and the positive twist make From Darkness to Light more than only a war story. Alongside the trauma of war and persecution, it is also a story about the power of art, and the universally recognizable search for identity and a place in life.
TRAILER
FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT
Netherlands, 2019, 43'45"
Directed, filmed and edited by MARC LANSU
Colourgrading GERALD VAN LEIPSIG
Sound post-production MARK MEEWIS
Producer MARC LANSU
A WESTERDOC production
Made in collaboration with TIMNA VAN DAM
