Micha Shagrir Film Collection

Tour de Finaly

81 Minutes, 2007
Genre:
Documentary
  • Rate
Directed by: Micha Shagrir
Production Company:Tapuz Communications Ltd.
Photographer: Meni Elias
Original Music: Shlomo Mizrachi
Language: Hebrew
|
Subtitles: English, Hebrew

Grenoble, France, late-1943. Dr. Fritz and Annie Finaly handed over their children – two-and-a-half year old Robert and eighteen-month-old Gerald – into the guardianship of a neighbor. In February 1944, Fritz and Annie were arrested by Gestapo agents and never seen again. Records show they were killed in Auschwitz. Robert and Gerald were later sent to the local abbot, who placed them in the Catholic Church orphanage in Grenoble. At the end of the war, a relative requested that the children be returned to her, but her request and those of other family members, were ignored. Robert and Gerald were formally baptized. The following years saw a fierce, long and exhausting battle to return the children to Judaism and their family in Israel.
In the autumn of 2006, the Finaly brothers confront their past for the first time, in the Grenoble courtyard of the Catholic orphanage. 64-year-old Gad is now a Kiryat Haim pensioner, and 66-year-old Robert is a senior physician at the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.
The film “Tour de Finaly” recounts the journey of Robert and Gad Finaly – now adults with children and grandchildren of their own – to the geographical milestones of their childhood. The film winds between France, Israel, Italy and Austria, incorporating rare archival footage. It brings the brothers together with the people who participated in the struggle over their rescue and identity – attempting to portray their story from a contemporary point-of-view.

You may also be interested in ...

Subscribe to our mailing list and stay up to date
הירשמו לרשימת התפוצה שלנו והישארו מעודכנים

This will close in 0 seconds