Produced and Directed by Dana Plays (62min, 2026)
Awards and Screenings
- Berlin Women Cinema Festival
Berlin, Germany, February 14, 2026
Won: Best Web-Series-Pilot - Doc.London
London, United Kingdom March 28, 2026
World Premiere – DOC LONDON DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
Tarkovski Grant, Official Selection - Toronto Film Week
Toronto Canada April 13, 2026
North American Premiere
Won: Audience Choice Award, Tarkovski Grant, Official Selection - Madrid Arthouse Film Festival
Madrid, Spain April 20, 2026
Winner – Episodic/web series contents – Award - Hong Kong Arthouse Film Festival
Hong Kong, China. July 1, 2026
Asian Premiere
Official Selection, Tarkovski Grant - Venice Film Week
Venice, Italy August 16, 2026
Italian Premiere
Official Selection, Tarkovski Grant
OTTILIE MOORE’S PROTÉGÉ CHARLOTE SALOMON reveals the role of my grand aunt Ottilie Moore, American Gentile heiress of German descent, as benefactor, rescuer, and protector of German Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon, enabling Salomon’s development of her magnum opus Life? or Theater? (Leben? oder Theater?: Ein Singspiel) (Attributed/Dedicated by Charlotte Salomon to Ottilie Moore).
Charlotte Salomon embarked on the creation of widely eccentric artistic endeavor to save her own life after learning she was the sole survivor of her maternal line all of whom committed suicide. That endeavor was Life? or Theater? – an epic autobiographical work of art created by German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon between 1940 and 1942 while in hiding in the South of France, consisting of over 1300 gouache paintings, of which 769 were selected accompanied by text overlays and musical annotations, which narrate her life story, family tragedies, and experiences in Nazi Germany.
Ottilie Moore sheltered Charlotte Salomon from 1938-1943, during WWII. “Life? or Theater?” Charlotte Salomon’s magnum opus, dedicated to Ottilie Moore, was created between 1940 and 1942 (eighteen months at L’Hermitage and four months at nearby Hotel Belle Aurore in Saint Jean Cap-Ferrat in the Cote d’Azur).
OTTILIE MOORE’S PROTÉGÉ CHARLOTTE (2026) ©Dana Plays 2026
Texts and images by Charlotte Salomon, Collection Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam© Charlotte Salomon Foundation; Photographs concerning the life of Charlotte Salomon: Collection Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam.
The goal of the film is to highlight Ottilie Moore’s important role as a benefactor, and supporter of Charlotte Salomon and the development of her epic work Life? or Theater? (Leben? oder Theater?: Ein Singspiel) (Attributed/Dedicated to Ottilie Moore by Charlotte Salomon ). I chose to present this in operatic experimental form in keeping with the Ein Spingelspiel (Singing Game) approach of Salomon. The film functions as part of a larger project of connected films, the trilogy of features that double as episodes in the limited series I am currently developing. As the grandniece of Ottilie Moore this massive project is very close to my heart. After years of development, the current post production schedule is focused on completing all of these works and getting them out publicly.
- Distribution and Contact information
- Dana Plays
- danaplays@gmail.com
- © Copyright 2026. All rights reserved.