The Future is Behind You

In 1932 the Grünig family lived in Bavaria, near the border with Switzerland. For three generations the family have not given a thought to their Jewish origins. However in the spring of 1934 their windows are broken during an attack on local Jews. The father of the family doggedly refuses to speak about any possible danger, so home film recordings show no traces of nervousness or fear. The Grünigs go on picnics, attend the fair and laugh with family and friends. These happy scenes only serve to make what follows more chilling: narration by a family member informs us of growing discrimination against the Jews, and finally of deportation of the family's grandmother, uncle and aunt to Dachau. In The Future is Behind You, the renowned experimental film-maker Abigail Child tackles the question of how to interpret private and public history. Using home movies of the 1930s she has created her own fictional yet "probable" version of historical events.