Poorhouse International: Catalogue results

	TITLE: Mendelssohn, the Nazis and Me
	Director: Sheila Hayman Genre: Music Documentary Format: HD Composer: Contributors: Company: Renegade Pictures Runtime: 60' minutes. ID: 499.

SYNOPSIS

When Felix was still a child, his Jewish father Abraham had him baptised Felix Mendelssohn, adding the surname Bartholdy. That mixed Christian/Jewish identity gave rise to Felix's life-long struggle, to integrate these two worlds in his music. A century later Nazi Germany banned his music as 'Jewish', and his descendants were caught up in a frantic attempt to prove that their “mixed blood” was Aryan enough to avoid deportation. Decades later, director Sheila Hayman inheriting this sense of not quite belonging anywhere, decides to investigate. She comes across stories of shattered childhoods, meets scholars who piece together the bizarre story of Nazi “musical apartheid” and meets the great musicians, including Steven Isserlis, Daniel Hope and Kurt Masur, whose love for Felix´s music transcends time, nationality and politics.