‘Stumbling Stones’ Documentarian Maclovia Martel aims camera on Amsterdam’s tragic past
by Elka Worner Palos Verdes resident Maclovia Martel credits her artist grandfather with inspiring her to attend art school and her dancer mother for inspiring her to become a documentary filmmaker. Martel’s grandfather was Paul-Jean Martel, a 20th Century Impressionist who exhibited in Paris with Henri Matisse and Mary Cassat before immigrating to the United States. Martel’s mother was Carmen Gutierrez, the first Mexican dancer to appear on Broadway. She was in the original 1957 “West Side Story” cast. Even though painting and dancing ran in her family, Martel channeled her creative energy into the visual arts. Martel’s most recent documentary, “Tracks: Stumbling Stones Amsterdam,” won Best Short Documentary at the New York City Independent Film Festival in June. “Tracks” is the story of “Stolpersteine,” four-inch square brass plaques installed along the canals of Amsterdam, in memory of Holland’s 104,000 Holocaust victims. “Stolpersteine”is the German word for stumbling stone. The 10-minute work features interviews with historians, families of survivors and the artist who painstakingly engraves the small brass plaques, which are placed on the sidewalk outside the homes of…
Read this story on easyreadernews.com