By Rafa Sales Ross

For more than half a century, the story of a lost film has puzzled Hollywood: What happened to Jerry Lewis' infamous black comedy "The Day the Clown Cried"? Filmed in Sweden in 1972, the film tells the story of a clown who is taken to a concentration camp and tasked with escorting children into gas chambers. Controversy in front of and behind the cameras kept the film from being released, with only a handful of people having seen snippets of its footage. Until now.

Eric Friedler and Michael Lurie’s documentary “From Darkness to Light,” which had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, shares excerpts from the 1972 film with audiences for the first time, as it chronicles the making and demise of the iconic film. “Anyone who’s interested in film has heard this story in one way or another. It’s always been fascinating to us. I grew up with Jerry Lewis and thought it was worth finding out a little bit more about the story,” Friedler told Variety.

"I heard about this interview that Eric had done with Jerry Lewis and decided I wanted to work with him on the documentary. It's a fascinating interview, the backbone of the documentary, and without it we wouldn't have such a rich story to tell," Lurie added. The interview, recorded with Lewis in 2017 shortly before his death, shows Lewis in a state of rare vulnerability as he discusses the "heartbreak" of not being able to finish and release the film. Other interviewees include the film's original cast and crew and Lewis' longtime friend and admirer Martin Scorsese, interviewed by the film's executive producer Wim Wenders.