In 1981 Lisa Lewenz was visiting Baltimore, nosing around her family’s attic, when she discovered dozens of forgotten home movies her Jewish grandmother, Ella Arnhold Lewenz, had made in Germany in the 20s and 30s. The films included footage of Ella’s prominent upper-class family’s daily life in their Berlin mansion (now a part of the city hall), parties attended by distinguished guests like Albert Einstein and Brigitte Helm, a gesticulating Hitler, and anti-Jewish signs. Making such movies was declared illegal in 1933, but Ella persisted. “She recognized the importance of history and felt it needed to be recorded,” says Lewenz.
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A Letter Without Words will be shown Sunday at 2:30 at the Film Center at the School of the Art Institute, Columbus at Jackson (312-443-3737). Admission is $7. — Cara Jepsen
