Oscilloscope Acquires Acclaimed Documentary “Oma and Bella;” Film currently available on online platforms / November 1st, 2012

(New York, NY) November 1, 2012—Oscilloscope Laboratories announced today that it has acquired North American rights to Alexa Karolinski’s acclaimed documentary “Oma and Bella.” The film made its world premiere this past winter at the Berlin International Film Festival, and has been garnering consistent praise throughout the year at festivals such as Hot Docs, Silverdocs, and the Woodstock Film Festival. It will receive its New York City Premiere On November 10th as part of Doc NYC. Oscilloscope is making the film available across online transactional platforms starting today, and will continue to play more festivals and organize special screenings throughout the coming months.

Karolinski, who was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” of 2012, has made a feature debut that is at once deeply personal yet universally relatable. It centers around two older Jewish women who are best friends living together in Berlin (one of whom, Regina “Oma” Karolinski, is the filmmaker’s grandmother). Having survived the Holocaust and then stayed in Germany after the war, Oma and Bella spend their days telling stories, cracking jokes, dispensing advice, and devoting the majority of their time to their greatest love of all—cooking. Their cooking is a passion, a connection to their culture and heritage, a demonstration of their creativity and skill, and a showcase for some of the most unique and delicious-looking dishes we’ve ever seen on film. Through their cooking and their conversation, an intimate portrait emerges of two incredibly strong, funny, endearing women who look candidly at their lives as they both wrestle with the past and engage with the present.

The film was produced by Alexa Karolisnki along with Jeff Dupre and Maro Chermayeff of Show of Force. Karolinski, Dupre, and Charnoff negotiated the deal with David Laub and Dan Berger of Oscilloscope.