Followed by a ZOOM Q&A with director István Szabó and Professor Susan Rubin Suleiman
This drama, based on a true story, focuses on the American-led investigation of Wilhelm Furtwangler (Stellan Skarsgard), a famous German conductor suspected of working with the Nazis. Maj. Steve Arnold (Harvey Keitel) is charged with making an example of Furtwangler due to his status as a high-profile cultural figure, and pulls no punches in questioning him about possible ties to the Hitler regime. However, as Arnold presses forward, his assumptions about Furtwangler don’t necessarily hold up.
“That rare drama that’s both emotionally moving and intellectually thought-provoking.” – Capital Times
István Szabó gained international renown while still in his 20s, as part of the “Hungarian new wave” of the 1960s, then went on to make films in German (Mephisto, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, Colonel Redl, which was nominated for an Oscar) and English (Sunshine, Taking Sides, Being Julia) as well as Hungarian (Sweet Emma, dear Bobe among others).
Susan Rubin Suleiman, professor emerita of French and comparative literature at Harvard, is the author most recently of István Szabó: Filmmaker of Existential Choices. Her other works include the memoir Daughter of History: Traces of an Immigrant Girhood, which was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award in 2024.
Suleiman has won many honors, including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. In 2018, she was awarded France’s highest honor, the Légion d’Honneur. She lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
