Anne Frank Remembered

Anne Frank Remembered is a 1995 documentary film, made by Jon Blair, about the life of the diarist Anne Frank.

Related Topics:
1995 - Documentary film - Jon Blair - Diarist - Anne Frank

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The documentary was made in association with Anne Frank House, Walt Disney Pictures and the British Broadcasting Corporation, and was distributed by Sony Pictures. It runs for 122 minutes.

Related Topics:
Walt Disney Pictures - British Broadcasting Corporation - Sony Pictures

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Blair has explained that he read Frank's diary as a child, and had a very clear image of what she was like. He had seen dramatisations and documentaries in which children's voices were used to read extracts from the diary, and he believed that this robbed the viewer of their own impression of Anne Frank. For this reason he determined that the diary should be read by an adult, and selected Glenn Close as the voice of Anne Frank. The film was narrated by Kenneth Branagh.

Related Topics:
Glenn Close - Narrated - Kenneth Branagh

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Miep Gies, the woman who had helped shelter the family, and who had saved the diary after the group was betrayed, collaborated with Blair and is interviewed about her memories of hiding the Frank family. Blair also uses interviews with Hanneli Goslar and Jaqueline van Maarsen, two of Anne Frank's friends, and noteably uses archive interviews of Otto Frank to retell Anne's story.

Related Topics:
Miep Gies - Otto Frank

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Blair filmed in the real locations of Frank's life; including the neighbourhood Anne grew up in, the "Achterhuis" of 263 Prinsengracht (where she and her family lived in hiding) in Amsterdam, and the Westerbork and Auschwitz Concentration Camps. Blair commented that Auschwitz had been filmed a number of times, for many reasons, however he wanted to suggest something of the "ghosts" of the people that had passed through there, and so he determined that the only way to do this would be to film at night. He was also able to obtain a train similar to those used during World War II to recreate the scenes of people being transported to Auschwitz.

Related Topics:
Prinsengracht - Amsterdam - Westerbork - Auschwitz Concentration Camp - World War II

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As the film was made in association with Anne Frank House, it was able to include the only known film footage taken of Anne Frank. The short film was made in 1941 of a wedding in the Amsterdam suburb where the Frank family lived. The camera cuts for just seven seconds to a balcony, where Anne Frank stands watching the bride and groom on the footpath below.

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The film won an Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 1996. The award was jointly collected by Jon Blair and Miep Gies, who received a standing ovation.

Related Topics:
Academy Award for Documentary Feature - 1996

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