Film: La Derniere Lettre by Fred Wiseman

Based on a chapter from Vasily Grossman’s novel Life and Fate, "La Derniere Lettre" (2002) centers on a last letter from a doctor to her son in 1941, written just before she’s to be exterminated along with the other Jews in the Ukrainian town of Berdichev, which has fallen to the Nazis. "La Derniere Lettre" concludes a month-long series showcasing the films of Fred Wiseman, one of the world’s greatest living documentary filmmakers. Wiseman has won numerous awards for his work, including several Emmys, a Dupont Award, a MacArthur “genius” grant, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Peabody Award, among others. The series culminates in a free public lecture with Wiseman, who is making a rare trip to Dallas, on April 14 at 6:30 p.m. in the theatre of the Hughes-Trigg Student Center on the SMU campus.