Under Newborn Stars tells a story of migration, loss & triumph. The film tells the story of photographer Maja Blumenfeld - from her upbringing in Berlin to her escaping Nazi Germany and resettling in New Zealand.  Maja’s granddaughter Roshannah Bagley - this film's Producer & Co-Creative Director- has spent the last five years discovering the names and stories with Maja to preserve and eventually share with the world for the first time.

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Directed by Hedvig Ahlberg Under Newborn Stars uses the trail of Maja Blumenfeld’s collection of previously hidden and largely unpublished photographic negatives to retell her life's tale.

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Born in Berlin in 1919, Maja trained as a photographer in her teens before being forced to flee Nazi Germany in 1938 with her family to Auckland, New Zealand. On arrival she took on a role at the local newspaper The Auckland Star as a photographer until her career was cut short due to the war. After moving back to Europe in the late sixties, she settled in London with her New Zealand husband and children in 1970. Now at age 102, Maja still lives an independent life in northwest London.

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