Exclusive: Zeitgeist Films Acquires Hannah Arendt Documentary ‘Vita Activa’

Zeitgeist Films has acquired “Vita Activa: the Spirit of Hannah Arendt,” a documentary based on the spiritual life of Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt. The film will present rare archival footage of Arendt and track the connections between her life story and thinking — a trajectory that results in a resonant message concerning the nature of evil, pluralism and freedom. 

“We were thrilled to discover that there was such an enthralling and important documentary about Arendt,” said Co-Presidents of Zeitgeist Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo. “Having distributed Margarethe von Trotta’s feature about Arendt three years ago we realized that there is enormous interest and a thirst to know more of her story. This film satisfies those requirements.”

Gerstman and Russo negotiated the deal with Hedva Goldschmidt (Go2Films), director and co-producer Ada Ushpiz (AUfilms) and co-producer Ina Fichman (Intuitive Pictures). 

Zeitgeist Films will release the doc in March 2016.