NOBODY'S BUSINESS

"So much of my father's life has been a mystery to me. I've always needed to know why he's chosen to live the way he's living - reclusive, pessimistic and cynical about life."

In Nobody's Business, internationally acclaimed as a groundbreaking film within the genre of family documentary, Alan Berliner takes on his reclusive father as the reluctant subject of this poignant study of family history. Fascinated by the Polish origin of his grandparents, he is trying not only to understand himself through understanding his father, but also to track his family genealogy and reach out to his father in his final years. But Oscar Berliner has a completely different idea on the matter. If he is convinced of only one thing, then it is that his life is "nobody's business" and far too ordinary to be of any interest: "I got married, I raised a family, worked hard, had my own business, that's all. That's nothing to make a picture about." However, the director doesn't give up that easily.

The painful Oedipal drama is lightened by ironic cutaways of two boxers fighting which interrupt the verbal battles between father and son. Oscar's experience turns out to have a fascinating richness that spans many of the century's big themes, from the immigration of European Jews to America, to World War II and the Holocaust.  What unfolds in front of the viewer's eyes is the biography of a truly ordinary man with universal resonanceand the revelation that all lives have stories to tell.

"Mr. Berliner's confrontation between father and son lights up with verbal and cinematic humor as it delves into the family's past, its psychological and societal roots and the father's broken marriage and its repercussions [...] Alan Berliner illustrates the power of fine art to transform life." (The New York Times)

"I know no one working in personal films today who can do so well what Alan Berliner does: bring dramatically alive the intense agony and ambivalence and love within families. His dazzling technical mastery of the relation between sound and image is always kept in the service of deep psychological truths." (Film Comment)

Awards: Fipresci-Award, Caligari Award and Award of the Ecumenical Jury, Berlin 1997; Golden Spire and Golden Gate Award, San Francisco 1997; Grand Prix, Nyon 1997; Gold Apple, National Educational Media Network 1997; Audience Award, Florida Film Festival 1997; Best Documentary, Jerusalem 1997; Emmy Award 1998; Director's Choice Award, Charlotte Film and Video Festival 1998

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