This heartbreaking documentary about another dark side of the second World War premiered at the 25th Documentary Film Festival in Ljubljana in March 2023 and was selected for the competition of the Festival L’Europe autour de l’Europe, held in Paris this year.

In 1942, around 30 "racially appropriate" Slovenian children were selected to become part of Lebensborn, an infamous Nazi programme designed by Heinrich Himmler. The film tells the story of four Slovenian Lebensborn children, the last surviving witnesses of this horrific racial experiment, for which those responsible were never punished.

"For me, this film has been in the making since 2014, when I completed Banditenkinder - Stolen Slovene Children. In it, I mentioned the story of the Slovenian babies from Lebensborn, and since then I have felt obliged to dedicate a separate project to this story," says director Maja Weiss in a statement.

Ida Weiss produced the film through Bela film in coproduction with Senca Studio, RTV Slovenija, Zavod Maja Weiss and Zavod Vesnik. The project was supported by the Slovenian Film Centre, while Studio Viba Film provided technical support.

Snatched from the Source was already released by Zavod Maja Weiss in art house cinemas from the Slovenian Art Cinema Association in the spring of 2024.

Maja Weiss, born in 1965, graduated from the Ljubljana Film Academy AGRFT. She is the first Slovenian female director to direct a feature film, Guardian of the Frontier (2002, Bela film), which won the Manfred Salzgeber Award for the most innovative European film at the 2002 Berlinale. Maja Weiss' extensive filmography includes over 40 films screened at more than 150 festivals worldwide. She is also recognised as one of the most prominent Slovenian documentary filmmakers.

Production Information:

Producer:
Bela film (Slovenia)
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Coproducers:
Senca Studio (Slovenia)
RTV Slovenija (Slovenia)
Zavod Maja Weiss (Slovenia)
Zavod Vesnik (Slovenia)

Credits:
Director: Maja Weiss
Screenwriters: Nataša Konc Lorenzutti, Maja Weiss
DoP: Mitja Ličen
Composer: August Adrian Braatz
Editor: Jurij Moškon
Sound designer: Julij Zornik
Cast: Ingrid von Oelhafen, Haymo Henry Heyder, Franc Zagožen, Ivan Acman, Georg Lilienthal, Dorothee Schmitz Köster, Gisela Heidenreich, Tone Kregar, Nataša Konc Lorenzutti