It’s dark in the Central in the heart of Linz, a woman stands alone on the stage in the spotlight. With closed eyes, which she only opens at a very specific point in the song that is being played. The camera focuses on her. From the music you could already tell who the woman is. It’s Ina Regen, a successful and highly acclaimed singer and musician.
It was no coincidence that the Upper Austrian was visiting her home yesterday. She plays an important role in the documentary “Ode to Remembrance”, for which producer Robert Hofferer and his team are currently shooting in the state capital. With “Elisabeth tanzt” Ina Regen wrote a song that has to do with one of the central characters in the film (see below).
The film, which will be completed by March next year at the latest, contains real stories by people who experienced the Nazi reign of terror as children, animation art and the interpretation of well-known artists who react artistically to the stories and thus transform them into a transfer another form of truth, as Hofferer says. “It’s happening from a different perspective.”
High responsibility
The moment Ina Regen was asked to contribute to this film, she felt a great deal of respect. “I had a lot of feelings inside me at the same time,” she recalls in the OÖN interview. “It was completely clear to me that as an artist I have a responsibility to think about topics like this more than other people. On the other hand, I immediately worried that I knew far too little to take this topic seriously And then it was clear to me that if I do it the way I do, which is with dedication and great truthfulness, then I’m going to have to penetrate into corners of the soul that are difficult to look at.” But: “Having courage means being afraid and doing it anyway.”
How hard was it for you to engage with another person and their life story and to tell a story that has to do with someone else? “Surprisingly light,” Regen says without hesitation. For months she read, watched documentaries and videos, and went to Auschwitz with her philosophy and history teacher. But it was crucial to see the “lively, fun-loving Elisabeth” in the video sequences. “It was breathtaking how someone who has experienced so much horror at such a young age can have such a glow and shine. That was inspiring.” That is why the topic of the film is so important, because contemporary witnesses are living history. “That’s the big bonus of this film. If we don’t learn from history, then we’re doomed to repeat it, so it’s up to us to pass this on to the next generations with such urgency,” says Regen.
Source: Nachrichten
