Lost Town

How far will you go to find yourself?

Avrom Bendavid-Val obsessively searches for the lost Polish town of Trochenbrod – made famous by Jonathan Safran Foer’s book, Everything is Illuminated – to understand better his deceased father. All but 33 of Trochenbrod’s 5000 Jewish townspeople were killed by Nazis. His search for the town, and efforts to recreate its stories and sense of community triggers a resurgence of interest in it. He documents the stories of the few remaining survivors who haven’t seen each other in more than 60 years, and brings them together at the now empty site where Trochenbrod once stood. Lost Town uses original animation and survivor testimonials to tell this story of how far one man will go to find and claim his identity and to connect to his past.