In Heaven, Underground: The Weissensee Jewish Cemetery

About The Film

Perhaps the most uplifting movie ever made about a graveyard, this enchanting journey takes viewers inside the breathtakingly beautiful Weißensee Jewish Cemetery, the oldest and largest Jewish burial grounds in Europe. Opened in 1880 amidst the woodlands of a north Berlin neighborhood, the secluded one-hundred acre site has endured, miraculously surviving the Nazi and Communist regimes. Lovingly restored, the sacred grounds are today a hub of life where tourists, mourners, neighbors, groundskeepers, students and artists share a repository of collective memories, from troubled and tragic to sentimental and joyful. Gorgeous imagery of serene wildlife and crumbling headstones evokes a space timeworn and timeless, resilient and regenerative. Utterly absorbing and impeccably directed by Britta Wauer, IN HEAVEN, UNDERGROUND: THE WEISSENSEE JEWISH CEMETERY is the Panorama Audience Award winner for Best Documentary at the Berlin International Film Festival.