No Place on Earth
Janet Tobias
2012 - 85 min - Couleur - États-Unis

In 1942, 38 men, women and children slide down a cold, muddy hole in the ground, seeking refuge from the war above in a pitch-black underground world where no human had gone before. These five Ukrainian Jewish families created their own society where young men bravely ventured into the harrowing night to collect food, supplies and chop firewood. The girls and women never left; surviving underground longer than anyone in recorded history. Held together by an iron-willed matriarch, after 511 days, the cave dwellers, ages 2 to 76, emerged at war’s end in tattered clothes, blinded by a sun some children forgot existed. Despite all odds, they had survived.
The remarkable true story of "No Place on Earth" starts out as a mystery. While exploring some of the longest caves in the world in southwestern Ukraine in the 1990s, American caver Chris Nicola stumbled onto unusual objects…an antique ladies shoe and comb, old buttons, an old world key. Was the vague rumor true, that some Jews had hid in this cave during WWII and if so, had any survived to tell their tale?
67 years later, Chris leads four of the survivors back to Ukraine to say thank you to "the cave".



Author-Director : Janet Tobias
Photography : César Charlone, Eduard Grau, Sean Kirby, Peter Simonite
Editing : Deidre Slevin, Claus Wehlisch
Original Music : John Piscitello
Delegate Producer : Sierra/Tango Productions
Co-producer : Magnolia Pictures
Co-producer : History Films

Distribution


Distributor : Sierra/Tango Productions