Nina & Irena (film)

Nina & Irena is a 2023 American short documentary film directed by Daniel Lombroso. It was produced by Devon Blackwell for The New Yorker and executive produced by Errol Morris.

The film was Shortlisted for the 96th Academy Awards in the Documentary Short Film category.

Synopsis
Holocaust survivor Nina Gottlieb, who is getting close to turning 90, tells her grandson (Daniel Lombroso) the tragic story of her sister Irena going missing during the Holocaust. After emigrating to the United States in 1951, Nina never mentioned the fact that she had lost 25 members of her extended family.

Release
The film had its world premiere at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival on March 1, 2023, and also made its Los Angeles premiere on November 1, 2023, at the Museum of Tolerance. It was also screened at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, Brooklyn Film Festival, Mountainfilm Festival, Nantucket Film Festival and the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, among others.

The film was publicly released on November 15, 2023, by The New Yorker as part of The New Yorker Documentary. The film is available for students worldwide, with a free educational study guide.

Reception
David Sugarman of the Tablet wrote: "Lombroso’s success at presenting his grandmother this way—as more than an object of history—is one of the major accomplishments of the film." Eric Althoff of Screen Comment called it an "It’s another extraordinary effort from this most talented of filmmakers." Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, who said of the film, "It's the absence of tears that gives it such extraordinary poignancy."