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Punch Me in the Stomach

Directed by Francine Zuckerman
Adapted from the successful 36 character off-Broadway play.
Website
Official Website
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Overview

Genre
Cultural History, Docu-Fiction, Religion, and Human Rights
Synopsis

Adapted from the successful 36 character off-Broadway play, Punch Me in the Stomach, is the triumph of one man a Polish born concentration camp survivor, as told by his comedienne daughter, Deb.

Deb Filler gives a virtuoso performance as she magically transforms herself into the various members of her extended family. Her family is our family. There is something strangely familiar about all of them. Through her uncanny gift if mimicry, she expresses humour, love, passion and pathos in character after character.

Punch Me in the Stomach travels to New Zealand, New York with utmost poignancy, journeys back to Poland, to Auschwitz, where father and daughter revisit the camps together. There they end their voyage of discovery. It is a voyage filled with pain- a voyage that ends miraculously in healing laughter, not just for them, but for the audience as well.

"Extraordinary work, extraordinary story teller...We laugh, we weep"
The Village Voice

Stage
finished
Running time
72 and 58 minutes

Credits

Production Details

Prod. Co.
Z films inc.
Country
Canada
Years of Production
1996
Locations
Canada and New Zealand
Prod. Partners
Zee Films, New Zealand, New Zealand on Air

Distribution Details

Release year
1996
Festivals
Official selection of the London International Film Festival; Official selection of the Madrid International Film Festival; ]Official selection of the Melbourne International Film Festival; Seattleā€™s International Film Festival - Women in Cinema series
Distribution
National Center for Jewish Film
Broadcast (Prod.)
CBC, TV3 New Zealand
Broadcast (Acq.)
PBS
Language
English

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