THE LAST MUSICIAN OF AUSCHWITZ HITS UK CINEMAS
Cosmic Cat, the theatrical distribution specialist for award-winning cinema documentaries and feature films, has secured the rights to distribute the ‘extraordinarily powerful’ documentary The Last Musician Of Auschwitz across UK cinemas. The film will launch on 8 May and run in cinemas across the UK throughout the year. It will be accompanied by a programme of discussions to facilitate conversations around this film which reviewers have said ‘will stay with you forever’.
The Last Musician of Auschwitz tells the extraordinary story of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch who, along with other victims of Auschwitz, played and created music amidst the terrors of the Holocaust. The film reveals how music became a lifeline and form of resistance amid the Holocaust's horrors. At its center is 99-year-old cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, the last living survivor from the camp orchestras, whose testimony frames this powerful documentary.
The film examines the SS's perverse relationship with music—forcing prisoners to perform for their entertainment and accompany slave labourers, turning art into another form of torture. It also celebrates three other remarkable musicians—Ilse Weber, Szymon Laks, and Adam Kopyciński—whose compositions are brought to life in moving performances by contemporary artists, including Anita's son Raphael Wallfisch.
Filmed in locations surrounding Auschwitz, these deeply emotional performances explore themes of loss, memory, and resilience. Through this innovative approach, the documentary illuminates music's extraordinary power to preserve humanity in its darkest hour - offering not just testimony to suffering, but a profound spark of hope and defiance that continues to resonate today. Not only does the film’s screening mark the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation, it also marks, in July, the 100th birthday of Lasker-Wallfisch.
Ged Fitzsimmons, Founder/Director, Cosmic Cat said: "We are very honoured to be releasing Toby Trackman's incredible, critically acclaimed documentary, The Last Musician of Auschwitz, in UK cinemas and in festivals around the world. As an ‘impact distributor’ we tend to focus on films with strong social impact potential and we are keen to see the positive impact that screenings of film will have in the many towns and cities it is playing in from May. As well as regular screenings, we have curated a series of events where the makers of the film will be joined by musicians and historians to provide a meaningful dialogue about how we challenge the darkness of the past with a more positive vision of the future."
A number of screenings in the film’s release programme are accompanied by discussions and Q&As, including:
● A live talk with Jacqueline Luck, daughter of Auschwitz survivor Lela Black née Amiel - Act One Cinema, London, 17 May
● Live Q&As with Director Toby Trackman at:
○ JW3, London, 18 May, hosted by Dr Julia Wagner
○ Curzon Soho, London, 21 May, hosted by Hugo Rikfind of The Times
○ Midland Arts Centre, Birmingham, 8 June
○ Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle, 1 July
The film is also released with an accompanying resource pack - a Discussion Guide to encourage venues to facilitate their own dialogues locally around the film’s screening, including suggestions for discussion themes, activities and event extensions.
Toby Trackman, Director, The Last Musician Of Auschwitz, adds: “We feel privileged to have been able to tell Anita’s story and showcase the music which she and others created in such horrifying circumstances. We know from the response we have received already that this film can have a profound impact on those who see it, which I hope audiences will find is amplified by experiencing it in cinemas. It has already created a huge amount of discussion which we’re keen to build on, inviting a deeper examination of the themes explored in the film - whether educational, musical or emotional. I really hope to involve interfaith organisations and community groups, to give those conversations as wide a geographic and social footprint as possible. It’s wonderful to be involved in this kind of initiative across UK cinemas.”
The Last Musician of Auschwitz is co-funded by BBC Arts and Classical Music and Access, also a funder of Oscar-winning Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest.
Co-Executive Producers Lady Emily Blavatnik and Danny Cohen, President, Access, add: “Preserving the memories, stories and truths of the Holocaust is critically important. It's something that the Blavatnik Family and Access Industries are profoundly committed to. This documentary and its musical testimonies resonate deeply when experienced in a shared, collective setting, which is key to furthering holocaust remembrance.”
A full list of screening dates and times is available here - https://www.cosmiccatfilms.com/last-musician-of-auschwitz
The Last Musician of Auschwitz is Executive Produced by Alan Clements for Two Rivers Media. Danny Cohen and Emily Blavatnik are the Executive Producers for Access. It is Produced by Deborah Lee and Directed by Toby Trackman.