Elsie Slonim: Meine ersten 100 Jahre (2018)

"Elsie Slonim: My First 100 Years" is a film about 100 years of Austrian, European and global contemporary history - told by the writer Elsie Slonim, an eyewitness to events throughout the 20th century, who was celebrating her 100th birthday in 2017. It's the story of a long journey, starting on November 21st 1917 in Brooklyn, New York; the journey of Elsie Slonim and her parents, originally from Austria, that will take them/her from Baden in Lower Austria to Hungary and Romania, back and forth to (and from) America, on to Israel and Palestine and finally to Cyprus. They lost everything in the process, but always picked themselves up and soldiered on. Elsie Slonim witnessed two world wars, the "3rd Reich", the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and more than one economic crisis. Since her husband David died in 2007, she and her dachshund "Schatzi" are the sole inhabitants of the restricted military zone on Cyprus, without assurances for safety and security. Chris Haderer filmed Elsie Slonim on location, in her house, located in the abandoned village quarter of Nicosia. A documentary film about the survival of an individual confronted with the political turmoil of a century - and about a steadfast and strong-willed woman defying all odds.