Film About Ulma Family Denied Finance From the Polish Film Institute

During the War, Józef and Wiktoria Ulma, with their six children, lived in the village of Markowa in the Podkarpackie Province. From the autumn of 1942, they hid eight Jews in their farm - the Szall and Goldman families. The Ulma family were betrayed by a Polish policeman, Włodzimierz Leś. The Germans barged into their home just before dawn on 24th March 1944. They first murdered the Jews hiding there, then the entire Ulma family, among them Wiktoria who was in the final month of pregnancy. All the children were also killed, the oldest being eight years old, the youngest eighteen months. In 1995, Józef and Wiktoria Ulma were honoured with the title of Righteous Among the Nations.

The application to partially fund the film about the Ulma family was submitted by its producer in March 2015 as "Film Production Priority IV, Production of Documentary Films - a Film With a Historic Theme".  In their assessment, the Polish Film Institute's experts said, "The director states that the heroes are the Ulma family. However, the script also contains many other threads which, in this instance, causes an impression of indecision, rather than a multi-dimensional subject".

They summarised by saying that "there is nothing worse than a bad film on an important subject. It is simply a wasted opportunity."

In response to the criticism, director Mariusz Pilis said, "New threads have arisen in history as understood by Poles, pushing the action of the film towards German historical memory. The film is already in its advanced stages of production". He stated that, if there were any possibilities of appealing this decision, he would certainly take advantage of them after thoroughly analysing the documents from the Polish Film Institute.

The Ulma Family Museum of Poles Saving Jews is currently being built in Markowa. It is due to open in the spring next year.