Book Release: HOLOFICTION — The Iconography of the Holocaust in Feature Film
We are excited to announce the upcoming publication of the book Holofiction. Die Ikonografie des Holocaust im Spielfilm, an in-depth extension of Michal Kosakowski’s film project. Bridging cinema, theory, and visual culture, the book opens a new chapter in the ongoing exploration of HOLOFICTION. Edited by my long-time colleague, film scholar Prof. Dr. Marcus Stiglegger. With contributions by film director Volker Schlöndorff (The Ninth Day) and Dominique Lanzmann, widow of Claude Lanzmann (Shoah).
Holofiction.
Michal Kosakowski
Edited by Marcus Stiglegger / With a foreword by Dominique Lanzmann and Volker Schlöndorff
208 pages, 150 x 220 mm, numerous partly color illustrations
Publication: September 2026
Price: €28
Pre-order available
ISBN 978-3-7410-0560-2
Available for pre-order now
The essay film Holofiction by Michal Kosakowski examines the power of images where words often fail and is dedicated to the cinematic representation of the Holocaust as one of the most sensitive subjects of modern times. Film scholar Marcus Stiglegger and director Michal Kosakowski trace the emergence of a distinct visual language that has developed within the media context since at least the 1970s, and explore the question of how the unimaginable has been made visible — and at what cost.
The book offers a compelling analysis of the development of an iconography between documentation and fiction, placing at its center the fundamental question of the representability of the Holocaust in film. From early cinematic approaches to influential film productions, it spans a broad historical arc within which both aesthetic strategies and ethical conflicts are examined.
In an in-depth discussion, the authors demonstrate how recurring images and narratives have become established. The foundation is an extensive research corpus of thousands of films and series, from which a unique archive of defining scenes and motifs emerges.
As a complement to Kosakowski’s film project Holofiction, this book opens up a new perspective on visual memory culture through a dialogue between scholarship and artistic practice. While Stiglegger provides the theoretical framework, Kosakowski contributes artistic and analytical practice, allowing hidden structures of cinematic memory to become visible.
HOLOFICTION, as both book and film, is thus a challenging work on images, history, and their impact — and at the same time a necessary contribution to the debate on art, memory, and responsibility. With contributions by film director Volker Schlöndorff (The Ninth Day) and Dominique Lanzmann, widow of Claude Lanzmann (Shoah).