Pass Pass Għal Auschwitz : The art of the best Maltese documentary - An interview with Jonathan Farrugia

 

Poster from Pass Pass Ghal Auschwitz

Written by Greg Italo

On Saturday, 29^th January 2022, the Malta Film Awards took place in the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta. Various artists won prestigious awards such as the “Best Male Actor in a Leading Role” which went to Harvey Keitel, “the Best Director” which went to Davide Ferrario, director of Blood of the Crown that unveils the story of the Maltese independence. One of these incredible awards was the “Best Documentary” in the Malta Film Industry. The latter went to the director Pass Pass Għal Auschwitz (Step by Step to Auschwitz). Winning this award was not only a victory for Jonathan Farrugia but also for his entire team who have worked very hard: they not only gathered all the necessary information but also wrote and shot the documentary. They managed to bring out the importance of such a historical period as Auschwitz. In this article, thanks to an exclusive interview with the outstanding director Jonathan Farrugia, we are going to define and analyze the pilot episode of the first documentary which entered the Malta Film Award history.

Jonathan Farrugia just receiving the award

First of all, let’s focus on the definition of a documentary and its aim. Olga Khrustalev in The ethics of filmaker-subject relationship in documentary films tries to define this type of film: “There have been attempts to define documentary film since its genesis as a genre in the beginning of the 20^th century. At that time, when cinema in general was only emerging, documentary film was treated as a form or art. One of the first attempts to explain documentary film was made in John Grierson’s book First Principles of Documentary (1933) [...].” Olga Khrustalev continues to quote Grierson’s book: “One of Grierson’s main points is that cinema has the capacity for getting around, for observing and selecting from life itself, [and] can be exploited in a new and vital art form [...] He says that documentary captures the living scene and the living story.” Jonathan Farrugia makes a difference between these two types of films: “Fiction film is a film that is based on an unreal story but this is a documentary that has documented many of the stories that happened in Auschwitz with exclusive interviews [...]”It echoes Olga Khrustalev’s definition: “Using archival footage and interview with witnesses and experts, filmmakers were able to create a more objective picture while at the same time participate more in the process.” Bill Nichols, American film critic and specialist of documentary film, completes that definition saying the documentary “has become the flagship for a cinema of social engagement and distinctive vision” and for him this genre “challenges the impression of reality”. After having seen all of the 13 episodes of Pass Pass Għal Auschwitz, we can assert that Jonathan Farrugia’s documentary fulfils all these functions

After this little art reminder, let’s quickly remember what was Auschwitz-Birkenau. Most of all, it corresponds to an important memorial site inscribed on the World Heritage list in 1979. More precisely, it “was the principal and most notorious of the six concentration and extermination camps established by Nazi Germany to implement its Final Solution policy which had as its aim the mass murder of the Jewish people in Europe.” (UNESCO 2020). The camp where victims were detained was divided into 3 parts, as you can see on this picture. Firstly, Auschwitz I: The Stammlager or the main camp but also the oldest part of the concentration camp complex. Himmler was the head of the SS who ordered the construction of the camp the 27^th April 1940. Originally, the concentration camp complex was not built as such. It is only later that it became an extermination camp for the Shoah. Indeed, it was gradually turned into it because Auschwitz I was extended according to the Nazi needs. On the picture taken by the Americans during summer 1944, you can also see Auschwitz II. This largest site of the camp complex of Auschwitz was built in autumn 1941 in the small village of Birkenau. It was composed of 3 parts: the first part was ,on the one hand , dedicated to men and on the other hand dedicated to women; the second part, meanwhile, was occupied by different types of prisoners: Gypsies, Byelorussians and Poles; and the third part called “Mexique” was used as transit camp for Jews. The last part of the camp complex, Auschwitz III, also called Monowitz, was established in October 1942 to provide the Buna factory with forced workers. Firms such as IG Farben could thus benefit from free labor.

Picture taken by the Americans on 26th June 1944

It is often said that images are more meaningful than words. So, let’s analyze the pictures as well as the witnesses in the first documentary which entered the Malta Film Award history: Pass Pass Għal Auschwitz (Step by Step to Auschwitz). Made with an adequate budget and a lot of passion, it is a 13 episode documentary made by Flash Productions and Public Broadcasting Services Ltd Malta. It consists in a series of episodes interviewing prisoners of the Auschwitz camp. All the explanations and details were verified by specialist historians of that period: Martin Winston, Ewa Junczyk, Dan Stone and Jakub Nowakowski. All of the episodes are presented by Joe Dimech, the veteran journalist worked for PBS Ltd.

One of the episodes relates how Adolph Hitler carried out the worst atrocities against humanity. The episode begins with the opening titles. The name of the Flash Production and the director appear on the screen, under sounds of the walking victims to Auschwitz. And so it starts with the fragment of the Lily’s Ebert’s interview quoting the name of Doctor Mengele who used Jews as guinea pigs for his experiments. A white text on a black background emerges at the centre of the screen: “Step by step to Auschwitz”. The documentary opens with a long shot on the presenter Joe Dimech presenting in a few words the Auschwitz camp. It is necessary to underline that it is a Maltese documentary. This is why the presenter Joe Dimech speaks in Malti (Maltese language) but thanks to the coordinator scriptwriter, Alexis Callus who translated all episodes in the documentary, there are subtitles in English displayed at the bottom of the screen. As opposed to what one might think, the subtitles do not disturb the viewer watching the episode because only the presenter speaks Malti. The other speakers use English, which allows the foreign viewers to stay focused on what’s happening on the screen, for example the archive footages and the historical reconstruction scene. We will develop this interesting subject later. But let’s come back to the structure of this first episode good, effective and easy to understand: the first part explains the travel and the arrival of the victims at Auschwitz. The second part focuses on the Nazi selection and the victims going to the gas chamber. Lastly, the third part shows the victims going to work in the factory where lots of people lost their lives because of inhuman working conditions. All those three parts are illustrated and told by witnesses such as Lily Ebert (Auschwitz prisoner), Renee Salt (Auschwitz prisoner), Arek Hersh (Auschwitz prisoner), Bernard Offen (Auschwitz prisoner), Iby Knill (Auschwitz prisoner) and Jeffrey Cymbler (son of Auschwitz victim). Obviously, Jonathan Farrugia managed to follow the rules of the shooting documentary. When they appear on the screen, all witnesses are filmed with a medium fixed shot in order to convey their emotion as they tell their true stories. But the three parts are also historically detailed by the specialist Daniel Burns (Holocaust Research Worker) who was filmed in Auschwitz with Joe Dimech. Once again, Jonathan Farrugia made sure to make the documentary respecting its codes. Long and follow shots show on the screen the two men explaining and tracing the path of the victims from the train (part one) to the gas chamber (part three). Finally, according to the reconstruction scene, Jonathan Farrugia and his team chose to tell the true story inserting shots that illustrate what the witnesses and the presenter are talking about. These shots were either archive footages or reconstruction scenes. These ones were filmed with extras, around 100 actors played lots of different roles. On the one hand, the reconstruction scenes were not only shot in Poland but also in Malta. For example, some of the shots in the train were provided with an agreement from another producer under Jonathan Farrugia’s direction in a set in Poland. On the other hand, the team made lots of constructions in Malta, such as the escape from Auschwitz, some prisoners in camp and the prison scenes. These latter were filmed in Malta in Old Fort in Kalkara. In regards to archive footage, Jonathan Farrugia respected one more time the documentary rules mixing reconstruction scenes with true shots or picture. One good example is Doctor Mengele photography’s after Lily Ebert pronounces his name. At this moment, his face appears at the centre of the screen with an archive picture but also with the character played by an actor who looks like him in the reconstruction scene. Finally, it should be pointed out that the reconstruction scenes are efficient thanks to the costumes. In fact, the production bought many Nazi costumes supervised by the costume designer Mary Grixti. The SS symbols and uniforms need to be analysed. In fact, Hitler and the Nazi Party adopted the logo and the black uniforms in 1932. The following year, the SS black runes insignia that we can see on the man’s shoulder was introduced. The production of the documentary made sure to highlight the details of the costumes, such as the SS eagle and the Prussia Totenkopf on the kepis. Concerning the prisoner’s outfits, the actors of the reconstruction scenes wear the notorious striped pyjamas. We can notice the Nazi concentration camp badges. As we can see in the documentary, the system of identification in German camps (triangles, colours and letters) was used to differentiate the various types of prisoners.

The aim is to explain and to give a real testimony about this camp of the death which has become an attraction that keeps bringing many tourists to Poland. Nowadays, this excess of tourist’s interest is increasingly transforming the Auschwitz camp site into an essential point of “dark tourism” (in Dark Tourism, The attraction of death and disaster by John Lennon and Malcolm Foley, 2000; and in «Dark Tourism Spectrum: Towards a Typology of Death and Macabre Related Tourist Sites, Attractions and Exhibitions», Tourism, by Philip R. Stone, 2006). Historians and specialists of this period often want to remind us of the real facts and the importance of the historical memory. Those aims are at the centre of Pass Pass Għal Auschwitz. 

From the left to the right: Alexis Callus, Joe Dimech, Jonathan Farrugia, Dixon Vella

All cast and crew of this documentary helped to win the Malta Film Award. We can quote Alexis Callus (on the left on the picture), coordinator scriptwriter, who translated the script from English to Maltese. We can also mention Dixon Vella (on the right), scriptwriter and cinematographer as well as the presenter Joe Dimech (in the centre next to Jonathan Farrugia). Moreover, the first edition of the Malta Film Awards was a good initiative after 100 years of film making in Malta and this was possible thanks to the Film Commissioner Mr Johann Grech. Dr. Mark Summit who was appointed as PBS Chairman, helped a lot to internationalise the product. The PBS Board was part of the sale of the documentary and, thanks to them, Pass Pass Għal Auschwitz is the first one that was aired on local TV and distributed abroad. Lastly, we have to talk about the director and producer Jonathan Farrugia. All documentaries were without doubt works of art. The nominees were: Ittri Għal Erika, Kuzra, L-Ittra ta’ Napuljun, Pass Pass Għal Auschwitz and The Final Journey: The Phoenician Shipwrek. The Honourable Carmelo Abela, “Minister Within The Office Of The Prime Minister”, who was chosen to give this prestigious award to Jonathan Farrugia. Just after having received the awards for “Best Documentary”, the director made a friendly speech marked by passion and joy for this long and successful project. He claimed: “I am honoured to receive this award. It was one of my biggest projects and production, I think. And I need to say thank you for Dixon Vella, Alexis Callus and Joe Dimech cause they were part of this documentary.” But let’s give him the floor to explain how hard work leads to an award. Below you will find the whole interview with the director of Pass Pass Għal Auschwitz, the first “Best Documentary” in the Malta Film Awards history.

Official picture during the Malta Film Awards

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Greg Italo: Can you introduce yourself? How old are you? What is your nationality? Where were you born? Where did you study drama, cinematography and directing? How did you begin your career?

Jonathan Farrugia: My name is Jonathan Farrugia, I am 34 years old from Tarxien Malta, a small village in which it also includes megalithic temples which are among the oldest in the world. I was born in Pietá Malta. Honestly, I always wanted to get into the media and television field but when I finished school and wanted to choose where to continue my studies, there were no courses in Malta College for Arts Science And Technology College that had anything to do with it share with this sector because it was just starting out and so I took the line of Electrical and Electronics Engineer. I spent about 4 years studying and graduating with a BTEC Diploma in Electronics but it was not my line. In 2006 I started working with a small local station as a full timer as well as going to work as an EXTRA in films that came to Malta such as WWZ, SINBAD, AGORA, RISEN, 13HOURS and with this aim I started to gain experience as directors and foreign crew, including how to direct extras, what equipment they use etc…. In 2008, she opened a small local station and issued a call for programs, and I applied to do a short 5-minute program called "DID YOU KNOW?" that means Do you know….? And this was chosen by the station and for this purpose I set up your production house under the name of Flash Productions. Flash because I was a fan of the movie Flash  and I always felt that the work of this industry must be short-lived and you can't go wrong. This was a huge success and we produced over 500 episodes of 5 minutes each. Also this was nominated as BEST EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM in the MALTA TV AWARDS back in 2009. After that I started another program called HISTOROGRAPHY where it was also nominated as BEST SCRIPT in MALTA JOURNALISM AWARDS.

After 3 years I was running this program, I was going to PBS like every year, for programs and I applied to start producing HISTORGRAPHY on TVM one of the PBS stations. As I was new to the industry on the local main station, I thought it would be difficult to get in but after a few months I received that my production had been hit and I started working on this production for TVM2 but soon it started broadcasting on TVM. Since then, in addition to producing our own programs, we have also been producing their own programs for other producers. Over the years on TVM we have produced various programs including HISTORIOGRAPHY, 112, MALTIPUR, THE THESIS but the biggest project we did was STEP BY STEP FOR AUSCHWITZ which took us about a year of work with many contacts and weeks of work.

GI: Mr Farrugia, you won the best documentary in the Malta Film Awards. How do you feel being the first winner ever in this category? What do you need to do to win this award?

JF: Step by Step To Auschwitz has won several honours including BEST DOCUMENTARY as well as BEST INSPIRATIONAL film at VEGAS MOVIE AWARDS which was our first archive. Regarding MALTA FILM AWARDS, first of all I would like to thank the Malta Film Commission under the leadership of the film commissioner Mr Johann Grech who took the initiative to host this event. I am honoured that for the first time that MALTA FILM AWARDS has been made we will be the first production house to be listed in the history of the BEST DOCUMENTARY AWARD. To win such an award, I believe you have to have confidence in what you are doing.

GI: A documentary is not a fiction film. What are the differences between these two types of film? (About the work, the preparation, the shooting, the aim...)

JF: Fiction film is a film that is based on an unreal story but this is a documentary that has documented many of the stories that happened in Auschwitz with exclusive interviews with prisoners in Auschwitz as well as research based on interviews with historians from various universities in London. Honestly, both me and Dixon Vella, who was with me from the first day we started working on this production, worked hard for this production, and then we were joined by Joe Dimech, a veteran journalist who did a good job and after the production was edited, joined our production team Alexis Callus that his job was to translate the series from English to Maltese. Then we also don't forget the many people who came to do the voicer overs to broadcast it in English in Maltese. We spent about a year in preparation, researching and writing, most of which the scripting was done by Dixon Vella, and then we consulted with Mr. Jeffrey Cymbler, one of whom had studied extensively on the Holocaust because his father had been killed in Auschwitz, and so on. We filmed in Auschwitz which at first was not so easy but then we got all the permits we even went to the place with one of the prisoners who was in Auschwitz where he explained to us every place he was staying in. As filming on-location, we took about 18 hours a day in both interviews and stand uppers with Joe Dimech and filmed everything in 3 weeks both in England and in Auschwitz and Poland in various locations. After that, I did about 5 months of editing, music, translation into Maltese as well as voice overs. From my side as a director and producer was not that easy, because although I had all the filming notes and what I had in mind, on-location the story was different. We had to search for places that were filming-friendly such as no noise, no people crossing and also places that looks old and not modern style.

GI: Pass Pass Għal Auschwitz is a documentary with interviews of real Auschwitz prisoners. How did you contact the actors of the documentary? For these people, victim in Auschwitz, and for you and the crew of this documentary, is it not too difficult to make a historical documentary about this sensitive and controversial subject, about such a sad period?

JF: First of all, all the people we interviewed were not actors, but real people who lived in Auschwitz. It was difficult for us to interview them, especially those who had someone in their family murdered when they came down to Auschwitz. Many times while listening to the interview we would end up with tears in our eyes because they themselves would start to cry because they would remember that particular moment. As contacts, we started by contacting every Holocaust Centre in England, Denmark, Poland as well as Italy and we started to see who was willing to help us. I can say that we had a response from every country but then we chose the countries that had the most people because of the limited time we had. So we chose to film survivors from England as well as Holocaust professors from the University of London as well as survivors from Poland. As for the actors, we did a casting call where hundreds had come and we selected several people to do reconstructions of some scenes that we could not find videos from the archives.

GI: Do you have an anecdote, any commentary, a good memory about the production or the making of this documentary?

JF: A wonderful memory I have in this documentary when we met the survivors as well as when we went to Auschwitz with one of the survivors where I can say it was a warm day in August and at one point he told us “this place does not deserve he sees the sun but only deserves to see a storm and black clouds”and after a few minutes the weather turned black and a heavy rain began to fall which we got wet and we had to continue the day with wet clothes. That's important.

GI: What are your future projects in your career? Will you continue directing documentaries or would you prefer directing movies (fiction film)?

JF: The future for my career, hmm, is a tough question because I'm always dreaming of new projects. I can only say for the time being that I am currently working on a similar documentary but on a completely different event that also took place outside Malta which, like Pass Pass Għal Auschwitz (Step by Step to Auschwitz), will consist of interviews with historians, survivors as well as exclusive footage on the spot. Regarding the other question, I think I will continue to focus on a non-fiction documentary because there is more satisfaction behind them.

GI: Do you have any advice for all directors? What is necessary for a documentary project to be successful? What are the most important qualities for a documentary film maker?

JF: My advice to all other directors, especially those who are just starting out, do not be discouraged from focusing on this work, take it seriously and I’m sure to succeed. Production work especially. The satisfaction behind a documentary is very great, because in addition to being a long road and there is a lot of research on both history and how to find the best people and meet people who have gone through that time later and lets you think about what you have worked before.

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