263 Nights

Directed by Irina Tarasova

With Anna Kozlova

This Belorusian animated documentary is narrated by the People’s Artist of Russia Aristarkh Livanov. It is an actual story of the 26 prisoners of the Minsk ghetto who have voluntarily confined themselves in the basement, short on food and water — and waited for the Red Army to arrive. They have spent the terrible 263 days and nights there. The youngest son of the stove maker Pinchus Dobin, who built that heaven-sent and hell-bent basement, is still alive.