Where Is Anne Frank: Ari Folman and Ruby Stokes on giving Frank’s story the ending she deserved

Where Is Anne Frank explores the contents of the famous diary Anne Frank wrote in hiding, when the Netherlands was under Nazi occupation. The diary was left in the care of her father after her death and published soon after the Second World War ended. Here, the narrative is brought to the screen in an animated format by director and animator Ari Folman, alongside illustrator Lena Guberman, and is told uniquely from the perspective of Frank’s imaginary friend, Kitty, to whom the diary entries are addressed. 

Pitched as a family feature, the reawakened memories recount the life Frank had prior to the Holocaust and her hidden life in the secret annexe, before her family were sent to a concentration camp.When Kitty wakes in the present day and finds out Frank is no longer alive, she sets on a quest to discover what happened to her creator. Her feisty nature ties modern activism in with recurring themes of past persecution and unfolds in a fairytale structure where wisps of ink leave the diary pages and fill the screen to form the figure of Kitty while other dreamlike images turn armies of swastika-emblazoned soldiers against troops of Hollywood stars and toys.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking to director Ari Folman about his initial reticence about bringing this story to screen, the unique filming process and how he approached the characters themselves. 

We also talked with Ruby Stokes, who voices Kitty, about the role, the importance of bringing the story into a modern world and giving Frank the ending she deserved.

Ezelle Alblas

Where Is Anne Frank is released in cinemas since 12^th August 2022. Read our review here.

Watch the trailer for Where Is Anne Frank here: