17th Warsaw Jewish Film Festival

Redakcja / Editorial staff / English translation: Andrew Rajcher, 18 November 2019

The 17th Warsaw Jewish Film Festival is beginning, organised by the Kamera Dawida Foundation. It is held annually at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. This year's program includes films regarding the Holocaust and we make our recommendations as to what to see.

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This year's Festival is dedicated to Artur Brauner, a world-famous producer, born in Łódż. The Festival program includes over thirty of the latest films from, among other places, Israel, the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Czechia and Hungary. The opening ceremony, to be held at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, will feature the Polish premiere of the film "Crescendo #makemusicnotwar” directyed by Dror Zahavi.

Films With a Holocaust Theme - What's Worth Seeing

Among the films presented during the 17th Festival, we draw specific attention to:

Warszawa – miasto podzielone (Warsaw - a City Divided) (dir. Eric Bednarski, Poland 2019, 70’, documentary):

The year is 1941. Risking his life, a young Pole shoots an amateur film showing the reality of both sides of the Warsaw Ghetto wall. The discovery of the film tape, years later, motivated the director Eric Bednarski to pose the question - what does the separation into sections, the extermination of its residents and its detruction mean to the city, then and today. The poignant archiva - only non-Nazi and non-propaganda documentaryies - are interwoven into the film. making Warszawa - Miasto Podzielone into a silent witness of the tragedy. It is juxtapopsed with the memories of ghetto survivors and Warsaw residents, as well as the opinions of historians, architects and artists.

Film screening: 19th November 6:00pm at Kino Czary.

Malowany Ptak (The Painted Bird) (dir. Václav Marhoul, Czechia, Slovakia, Ukraine 2019, 169’, drama):

The dramatic story of a six-year-old Jewish boy who, during World War II, experiences unimaginable cruelty from the inhabitants of an anonymous village somewhere in Eastern Europe. This is a black-and-white film adaptation of Jerzy Kosiński's best-selling novel. The film's scipt received a distinction during the 7th ScripTeast in 2013. The film has been shown at film festivals in Venice, Toronto and now Warsaw in 2019. It is this year's Czech candidate for the Oscars.

Film screening: 20th November 8:00pm at Kino Helios.

Ziva Postec. Editor of the Film "Shoah” (dir. Catherine Hébert, Canada 2018, 92’, documentary):

Even though she remains in the shadow of Claude Lanzmann, Ziva Postec was irreplaceable in the creation of this monumental documentary about the Holocaust. She devoted six years to the editing of the 9-hour film, with 350 hours of interviews with witnesses to and participants in the Holocaust. In this moving account, she tells how this journey into the heart of darkness has impacted her life.

Film screening 23rd November 2:45pm at POLIN Museum.

We also recommend the Festival's closing film Mam na imię Sara (My Name is Sara), directed by Steven Oritt. The is a story based on fact. It concerns of 13-year-old Jewish girl who, during World War II, comes upon the house of a Ukrainian peasant. It stars Eryk Lubos, Michalina Olszańska and Paweł Królikowski. The film will be screened on 28th November 7:00pm at POLIN Museum.

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Admission to all festivakl screenings is fee. However, tickets must be obtained.