"NANA"
“NANA” is an award-winning transgenerational documentary on Auschwitz survivor Maryla Michalowski-Dyamant.
Serena Dykman
“NANA” is an award-winning transgenerational documentary on Auschwitz survivor Maryla Michalowski-Dyamant. The film, directed by 25-year-old Serena Dykman, documents her journey with her mother Alice retracing her grandmother’s Auschwitz survival story, and investigating how her lifelong fight against intolerance can continue to be taught to the new generations, against the backdrop of current events.
Maryla Michalowski-Dyamant, Dykman’s grandmother, born in Będzin, Poland, survived Ravensbruck, Malchow, and Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she was the forced translator of the “Angel of Death”, Dr. Mengele. She dedicated her post-war life to publicly speaking of her survival to the young generations, so that it would never be forgotten or repeated.
Alice and Serena, her daughter and granddaughter, explore how Maryla’s activism and crucial message can continue today, in a world where survivors are disappearing, and intolerance, racism and anti-Semitism are on the rise.
Having our Polish premiere at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial was very important to us. My grandmother’s story started in Bedzin, only 50 km away from the place that would change her life forever. We shot a part of the film in Auschwitz, and it simply makes sense to bring the film to this place of personal and historical significance. Through the documentary and the screening, we hope to be able to share Maryla’s story and crucial fight for remembrance with future generations.