Interview Ari Folman (Where is Anne Frank)

Film director Ari Folman has taken on the monstrous task of translating one of the most widely read and acclaimed diaries in human memory into animated film. If that isn’t challenging enough, he does it again with a new twist, as the film doesn’t take Anne’s perspective but that of her imagined friend Kitty.

The Israeli Folman is best known for his film ‘Waltz with Bashir’ (2008), which won one international prize after another, including a Golden Globe and two Baftas. This animated documentary (contradictio in terminis?) delves into Folman’s traumatic experiences during his military service in the Lebanon War. He then went the extra mile in terms of experimentation by coming out in 2013 with ‘The Congress’ (2013), a combination of live-action and animation based on the novel ‘Insane World – From the Memoirs of Ion Tichy’ (1971). by Stanislaw Lem. The writer Lem is also the man behind the science fiction novel ‘Solaris’ (1972), which has been filmed several times, by Andrei Tarkvosky and Steve Soderbergh, among others. It resulted in a drug-like version of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (Robert Zemeckis, 1988). With his mature work, Folman shows how much more animation has to offer than what the big animation studios in Hollywood present us every year.

The diary

When asked how Folman first came into contact with Anne Frank’s diary, he does not have to dig deep into his memory. “As a young teenager I had to read the book in school, like everyone else in Israel. To be honest, I don’t remember much from that first reading, also because I come from a family of Holocaust survivors, including my own parents.” That is why Folman heard so many horrific stories from relatives that they somewhat drowned out Anne Frank’s story. He adds that Anne’s diary is mainly about the Secret Annex and not about the last seven months of her life in the camps at all.

New perspective

It is therefore remarkable that ‘Where is Anne Frank’ does not stop where Anne’s diary was forced to do so, after the betrayal in the Secret Annex. This is a pretty bold choice, especially for a youth film. It therefore took Folman a lot of time whether he wanted to take on this project. “If you do it, you have to add something new to all the books and films that already exist about Anne Frank. That is why in ‘Where is Anne Frank’ Kitty has the storytelling perspective and not Anne. Kitty is her invisible friend and therefore a fantastic opportunity to bring Anne’s story to life with animation. By using animation you also break the iconography around Anne Frank and she becomes more human again: intelligent, complex but also very funny and a bit mean. She has a very round character, very suitable for film.” In addition, the addition of the last seven months has never been shown on the big screen before, not even in director George Stevens’ first major Hollywood film adaptation, ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ (1959). And that this is not included, was actually commissioned by Otto Frank, according to Folman. “Stevens had filmed that pitch-black period, but father Frank asked for it to be removed. Mainly because the test audience had reacted very emotionally to this and Otto Frank was afraid that this would hurt the box office too much.” Finally, Folman wanted to make a connection between Anne’s story and the European immigration crisis of 2013-16. About how Folman came up with the idea of ​​connecting the film to the immigration crisis, the director says: “When I wrote the script, the immigrant crisis in Europe was very relevant. But unfortunately there are always humanitarian disasters, because you can now see how Anne Frank’s story resonates with the war in Ukraine during the film release.

The comment that, in addition to the willing reception of Ukrainian refugees, there are simultaneously immigrant pushbacks at Europe’s borders shows the ambiguous willingness of the West to help refugees. Folman believes that it is easier for Europeans to identify with people from Ukraine than, for example, from Syria. “Would Hungary still be so open to it if it hadn’t been Ukrainians? Some people look back at the Holocaust and wonder why people hadn’t resisted more. But that turned out not to be so easy, for almost no one.” Folman tells about the Polish Catholic Jan Karski from the Second World War. “Through the Polish resistance, Karski managed to tell the story about the Jewish persecution to Western top politicians, but could not persuade these rulers to intervene more. They just didn’t listen.” This has made Folman think differently about resistance in extremely complex crises, even if it takes place before your very eyes. “In addition, people are quickly fatigued by the constant news about war. It becomes almost mundane, banal.” A deep sigh follows.

The Comic Books: Polonsky and Guberman

Folman says the following about the relationship between the film and the two comic book novels: “They are fairly intimate, but not inextricably linked.” One is an adaptation of the diary itself and he realized it together with David Polonsky while convincing the distributors that an animated film is commercially possible. Polonsky also played a pivotal role in animation in ‘Waltz with Bashir’ and ‘The Congress’. The second comic novel is based on the script of the film, so almost a copy in style and story structure, and Lena Guberman was responsible for this graphically. According to Folman, Guberman was invaluable to the film. He calls her a genius. Above all, Guberman has a style well suited to animation: “Very pleasing to the eye, but more stylized than realistic.”

No budget makes a difference

Somewhat giggly, Folman responds to the observation that the animation style of ‘Where is Anne Frank’ differs considerably from ‘Waltz with Bashir’. “Let’s face it,” he begins, “Waltz with Bashir had a budget of $1.5 million and we made it using free software, a simple technique to animate with. And this made it to the Oscars (nominated) at the time, it was a huge gamble.” Journalists then often asked Folman: “Do the soldiers walk so slowly because they are traumatized?” “No, they do that because the budget was low.” ‘Where’s Anne Frank’ is somewhat the opposite of ‘Waltz with Bashir’ in terms of budgeting. For this production, the animation team had the luxury of trying out different styles, animating frame by frame and developing a combination of 2D characters and stop motion backgrounds. Folman says with pride, “The Secret Annex has been converted to animation in London using miniatures and stop motion by the team behind ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’ (Wes Anderson, 2009).”

Every movie is a child

In terms of animation style, ‘The Congress’ seems much closer to ‘Where’s Anne Frank’. Folman thinks this is somewhat correct. “It’s much more stylized, closer to something like ‘Betty Boob’ and ‘Popeye’. The story is about identity, about control and drug use, so you have to be a bit more free in animation style. Each film represents a child, and ‘The Congress’ is the wild son who always messes up at school and surprises you every day. When I distance myself, this one is most like me.” In addition, there seems to be a similarity between ‘The Congress’ and ‘Where is Anne Frank’: the fictional identity that Anne Frank assumes on the basis of Kitty is also reflected in Robin Wright, the actress who is being digitized. It’s kind of like a second persona. Folman finds it an interesting association and adds: “Kitty is Anne Frank’s alter ego and imagination is a form of escapism, a way to survive, especially in her precarious situation. When Kitty wants to leave the Secret Annex, it’s actually about Anne Frank.”

Soldiers as gloomy gods

Folman was at an impasse about how he wanted to portray the German soldiers in ‘Where’s Anne Frank’. Finally, he asked his mother for advice. Folman’s mother was slightly older than Anne Frank during the war and is now 99. “According to her, the soldiers looked like gods, not people. They had the perfect proportions and looked beautiful. On the brink of starvation and death, his grandmother and other relatives saw the German soldiers as all they were not.” Grandson Folman took this description to heart and translated it into the film. And when it comes to the soldiers’ facial expression, a personality, Folman abstained. “After all, everything I would do here would yield a moral point of view, so better not to have a face.” Thus, the depiction of the German soldiers has a strange ambiguity. They are repulsive, at the same time they have a kind of attraction.

Keeping stories alive

What can adults get out of ‘Where is Anne Frank’? “First of all, I want parents to take their children to the movies. It is made for children, but it also gives the elderly things things.” When making the film, Folman mainly thought about how future generations can understand and tell the story of Anne Frank’s ordeal. “When the last Holocaust survivors are gone, it becomes more difficult for young people to empathize with what happened then. That’s what this movie was made for. Young people can identify best with Anne and Kitty’s emotions. This is how we want to keep these stories alive.