This unusual docu-drama chronicles events that took place during one remarkable summer, when American choreographer Tamar Rogoff staged a large-scale international theater production in a forest outside a remote, dirt-road village in Belarus.

The production was inspired by Rogoff’s first visit to Ivye in 1991 to see the home of her ancestors. Her father’s diaries from 1935 described Ivye as a place of great learning, culture and beauty. On arrival, she found an isolated country town with painted wooden houses and cars driving around cows in the road. When Rogoff inquired about her relatives, an old woman led her to the Ivye Woods, explaining that on a single day—May 12, 1941—2,524 Jewish residents of the town, including 29 Rogoffs, were killed there by the Nazis. From that moment, Rogoff conceived of a performance that would pay homage to these people and the layers of life that filled this once vibrant, predominantly Jewish town.

Three years later, she brought together an unlikely mix of actors—including renowned Lithuanian actor Kostas Smoriginas and Yiddish theater veteran David Rogow—dancers, musicians and local townspeople to create a performance that surrealistically echoed life in Ivye before World War II. With warmth and humor, the film captures the group’s attempts to transcend differences in language, religion and culture in order to tell a moving story of love and loss.

Produced by Lori Cheatle, Directed by Tamar Rogoff and Daisy Wright 2001, color, 57 min.