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Not that I’m biased, but Judenstaat would make a terrific movie. Its heroine is a film archivist, and there’s plenty of opportunity for black-and-white historical footage to be interspersed with the noir-style, semi-grubby, Eastern-bloc-style late 1980s present. I even have a soundtrack. My very hip older sister recently compiled a Judenstaat mix-tape of Schumann, Eisler, East-German underground punk rock, Yiddish ballads, and some Queen (one character’s favorite band!).Visit Simone Zelitch's website.
As for casting, Judit Klemmer the archivist/widow heroine would need to be introverted, dogged, and secretly beautiful . Claire Danes (with brown hair) would be perfect. I can imagine her wrapped in her dead husband’s overcoat, and casually addressing his ghost. She could play Judit as a college girl, in awe of her Hannah Arendt-like, brilliant, cynical, professor, Anna Lehman (as played by Kathy...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: Judenstaat.
My Book, The Movie: Judenstaat.
--Marshal Zeringue