Mint’s latest feature documentary, ‘The Jewish Nazi?’, has won an award at the Montreal International Film Festival.
The judges voted it the best edited documentary of the festival. It was edited by Mark Middis, whose credits include previous Mint titles – ‘Brilliant Creatures’ (2014), ‘Breaking the Silence’ (2015), ‘Streets of Your Town’ (2017), ‘The Pool’ (2019) and ‘The Bowraville Murders’ (2021).
The award comes after the feature documentary won the Gold Remi Award at Worldfest in Houston and Best Feature Documentary Award at Cannes World Film Festival. It was also a finalist for best feature documentary at the Screen Producers Australia awards.
‘The Jewish Nazi?’ premiered last November as the closing night film of the Jewish International Film Festival in cinemas around Australia. It has since been selected for festivals in America and Europe, New Zealand and now Canada.
It tells the staggering story of Melbourne’s Alex Kurzem, who claimed he witnessed his family being massacred in Byelorussia in 1941, escaped to the freezing forest as a young boy but was captured by a Latvian battalion who – instead of killing him – made him their toy soldier, their ‘Mascot’.
Somehow, he managed to hide his Jewish identity and dupe the battalion into believing he was a Russian orphan. The battalion, which was later absorbed into the Waffen-SS, gave him a new name, a fake birth date, mini unform and a shorn-off gun.
After the war he emigrated to Australia and kept his secret for 50 years before revealing it to his family. It set off a search for his real identity, which resulted in multiple false names, a family reunion that wasn’t and a DNA revelation with a blistering sting in the tail.
What unfolds is a gripping true crime-esque investigation. It follows director Dan Goldberg as he delves into the mystery of the man dubbed ‘The Mascot’ and the decade-long search by Dr Barry Resnick, who didn’t believe the story, and Dr Colleen Fitzpatrick, a renowned American forensic genealogist who cracked the DNA code to reveal his true family.
A one-hour version was screened on SBS as part of its ‘Australia Uncovered’ series earlier this year.
It was financed by SBS and Screen Australia in association with Screen NSW. Abacus Media is the international distributor.
