In 1945, following Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender to Allied military forces, the U.S. Army assigned Nathan Hilu, a young New Yorker, to be one of the guards of former Nazis imprisoned at Nuremberg and on trial for war crimes.
Over the next seventy years, Nathan Hilu became a prolific but mostly unknown “outsider artist.” Working with basic supplies in his New York City apartment, he obsessively turned Nuremberg memories into visual depictions and text narratives. Here are two samples of his work:
And now you can see a new, already-acclaimed documentary film, “Nathan-ism,” that portrays the aging artist, studies his art as creation and archive, and explores his need to cope with and share memories and thoughts of immersion in history and horror.
Here is the film trailer:
“Nathan-ism,” which is deeply powerful, will be playing this weekend at Quad Cinemas in Greenwich Village. Here are details:
https://quadcinema.com/film/nathan-ism/
On Saturday, following the 6:30 p.m. showing, I will participate in a Q&A session with “Nathan-ism” director Elan Golod and producer Melanie Vi Levy.
I strongly commend their work, hope that you will see “Nathan-ism,” and encourage you to spread the word.
For further information, here is a recent podcast interview with Elan Golod: https://soundsoffilm.com/.
