Hava Kohav Beller is a filmmaker primarily known for three

documentary films A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

: '' The Restless Conscience'' (1991), ''The Burning Wall'' (2002), and ''In The Land of Pomegranates (2018).''

Early life

Beller was born in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

am Main, Germany, and grew up in

Geva Geva ( he, גֶּבַע, ''lit.'' Hill) is a kibbutz in the Jezreel Valley in Israel. Located near the city of Afula, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gilboa Regional Council. In it had a population of . History Geva was founded in 1921 by J ...

, Israel. She studied at the

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

School, where she studied music, ballet and modern dance. Hava Beller lives in New York City.

Career

Beller was a dancer and choreographer, and had her own dance company in New York. She acted in off-Broadway productions. From 1979 to 1981 she studied filmmaking with Arnold S. Eagle at the New School for Social Research. In 1991, after nine years in the making, Beller finished the film ''The Restless Conscience''. The film examines the Nazi terror and those who fought it from within. In 1992, ''The Restless Conscience'' was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

as Best Documentary Feature. In 1993, Ms. Beller was decorated by then President of Germany Richard von Weizsäcker with the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit (Das Grosse Bundesverdienstkreuz). It was screened nationally on PBS and has been on television in over twenty countries worldwide. ''The Burning Wall'' depicts the development of the GDR—its founders and those who opposed it, as it emerged from the ashes of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It charts its political and social evolution through various stages, including the 1956 uprising and the building of the Berlin Wall. Particular attention is paid to the life of

Robert Havemann Robert Havemann (; 11 March 1910 – 9 April 1982) was an East German chemist and dissident. Life and career He studied chemistry in Berlin and Munich from 1929 to 1933, and then later received a doctorate in physical chemistry from the Kaise ...

, whose biography threads these episodes together. The film's latter part focuses on the work of the Stasi, with many original interviews with former Stasi discussing their cases and methods, as well as interviews with the subjects of their surveillance. It premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and the

Film Forum Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater at 209 West Houston Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a $19,000 annual budget. Kare ...

in New York. In 2002, the film won the Best Documentary Prize in the Hollywood Film Festival. In 2003, it won Best Documentary The Anchorage Film Festival. After a 16-year gap, Beller finished a third documentary, about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, titled ''In the Land of Pomegranates'' (2018). It premiered at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York City on January 5, 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beller, Hava American documentary filmmakers German emigrants to Israel Israeli emigrants to the United States Juilliard School alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany