Ida Haendel is considered a legend among professional musicians and listeners of classical music alike. This documentary utilizes footage that was shot between 2009 and 2017, showing the life and work of British-Polish violinist Ida Haendel.

After having given her final performance, her everyday life oscillates between nostalgia and joy of living, between loneliness and hopefulness. Ida Haendel is a person of wisdom and humor, whole-heartedly accepting the challenge of spending her remaining years in a self-determined way. Though at some point she has to accept she can’t play the violin anymore, she refuses to stop singing.

“The Haendel Variations” is not an ordinary music documentary, it is not just another portrait of a world-renowned classical musician. Its rather restrained, more intimate approach focuses on the inner life of an extraordinary woman and on the two things that still give her life meaning: her love for music and for her fellow human beings.

In the 1920s, Jewish businessman Max Emden made a fortune with department stores such as KaDeWe or Oberpollinger and was one of Hamburg’s most important patrons. On Lake Maggiore he led a glamorous life with speedy boats and beautiful women, but the long arm of the Nazis reached him there too – Emden lost everything. To this day, his heirs are fighting in vain for adequate compensation.

After a traumatic encounter, a young, gay Egyptian joins the LGBT rights movement. When his safety is jeopardized, he must choose whether to stay in the country he loves or seek asylum elsewhere as a refugee. HALF A LIFE is a timely story of activism and hope, set in the increasingly dangerous, oppressive, and unstable social climate of Egypt today.

Film Festivals & Screenings

*2017 MOMA
*2017 Docfest Sheffield
*2017 International Animation Film Festival Annecy
*2017 Frameline
*2017 Outfest