Oscar Nominee Adam Benzine Unveils Director’s Cut of His Claude Lanzmann Documentary
EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Adam Benzine is releasing an expanded director’s cut of his acclaimed documentary about Claude Lanzmann, the influential French writer, philosopher, and filmmaker behind the Holocaust epic Shoah.
The new version, which widens the film from a 40-minute feature to a longer, more in-depth exploration, premieres on VOD this Sunday under the title The Death and Love of Claude Lanzmann (La mort et l’amour de Claude Lanzmann). The release coincides with a decade since the original release, Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah, which earned Benzine an Academy Award nomination.
A clip from the director’s cut is available below for viewers to preview.
Benzine commented, “In the ten years since we first released the film, Claude Lanzmann’s significance as a filmmaker and historian has only grown. People have often wished for a longer version, and this expanded cut fulfills that desire by delving deeper into the turbulent journey that culminated in Shoah, while restoring the film’s original title.”
He continued, “Releasing this new version to mark Lanzmann’s centennial birth year, alongside the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the 40th anniversary of Shoah’s 1985 premiere, underscores the enduring relevance of the film’s themes.”
The original project featured extensive interviews with Lanzmann about Shoah, including discussions on secret filming of former Nazis, the challenges of persuading traumatized survivors to speak, the project’s length and cost debates, and the exhausting task of documenting one of history’s greatest atrocities, as well as moments that nearly jeopardized Lanzmann’s life.
Since its world premiere at Hot Docs in 2015, Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah sparked a competitive bidding war, with HBO acquiring rights. The film has earned numerous honors worldwide, such as Best Documentary Short at the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival and the Audience Award at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, and has been nominated for multiple Canadian Screen Awards, the IDA Award for Best Short Documentary, and the Cinema Eye Honors.
I spoke with Benzine in 2015 after his Oscar nomination for the documentary. He recalled his time with Lanzmann as a rare blend of brilliance and complexity.
“Working with him was perhaps the interview of my life,” Benzine said. “He was as lucid, poetic, and thoughtful as I’d hoped. The rapport we built—and the depth of my research—made the conversation feel authentic, and I’d like to think that he recognized that commitment.”
Discussing Lanzmann and Shoah, Benzine noted that the Holocaust was not an abstract topic for Lanzmann, who in real life was a French Jew and a member of the Resistance. He emphasized that, had Lanzmann been captured, his fate could have mirrored that of countless others—an element that adds weight to his on-screen conversations with former Nazis.
Beyond Lanzmann’s testimony, the original and extended versions of Benzine’s documentary include never-before-seen outtakes from Lanzmann’s team in the 1970s. These clips have been digitally restored to full HD with the aid of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The Death and Love of Claude Lanzmann will be available through lanzmannfilm.com and major VOD platforms.
Created by Adam Benzine (writer, producer, director) with co-producer Kimberley Warner and executive producer Nick Fraser, the project features an original score by Joel Goodman and editing by Tiffany Beaudin. Cinematography is by Alexander Ordanis. International sales are managed by Cinephil with educational distribution via Film Platform.
Claude Lanzmann passed away in 2018 at the age of 92. In a newly released clip from The Death and Love of Claude Lanzmann, he discusses his relationship with Simone de Beauvoir, his partner from 1952 to 1959.
