Info
Logline
A fascinating documentary about an author who initially wrote under a pseudonym, but later revealed his true and not unblemished identity.
In 1945, after his liberation from Auschwitz, Yechiel De-Nur starts writing books. He publishes them under the pseudonym Ka-Tzetnik ("the man from the camps"). His books sell millions of copies and are translated into 32 languages. It is not until the trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1961, where he gives testimony as a witness, that his identity becomes known, because there as in his books, he describes Auschwitz as "the other planet". He treats his traumas with LSD and writes an account of his experiences that changes everything: "I Am an SS Man".
Meet the director
Assaf Lapid
Assaf Lapid, born in 1978, is an Israeli screenwriter, director, and editor. He graduated from the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Jerusalem in 2008, where is now a lecturer and project consultant. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called his highly acclaimed documentary FAREWELL, HERR SCHWARZ "a masterpiece". Lapid received the DEFA Award at DOK Leipzig 2013, Haifa IFF, DIALOUGE Award - Cottbus FF, and many more. The film CAUSE OF DEATH, which Assaf co-wrote and edited, premiered at IDFA in 2018 and received the Impact Docs Award. BORN IN DIER YASSIN, an Israeli film nominated for an Academy Award, received a special mention at the Jerusalem Film Festival. Currently, Assaf is co-editing Oscar nominee Dror Moreh's latest project, "Corridors of Power", an eight-part documentary series for SHOWTIME, BBC, and the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (KAN). The series will air in 2023. THE RETURN FROM THE OTHER PLANET is Assaf's debut film as a director.