20th anniversary of the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival
The 20th anniversary of the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival, "DAVID’S CAMERA" will take place from 14-30, November 2022 at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Kinogram Cinema, JCC Warsaw, and online.
- 14-20 November 2022 – In cinemas.
- 21-30 November 2022 – Online.
- Festival program and descriptions of the competition films >>
"DAVID’S CAMERA" is the largest and oldest event of its kind in Poland, and one of the first in Europe. The organizers present to Warsaw audiences the most interesting contemporary productions on Jewish and Israeli themes. As well as engaged productions that address issues of anti-Semitism, homophobia, and other examples of exclusion.
The opening ceremony of this special anniversary edition of the festival will be highlighted by the Warsaw premiere of the film, "Edge of Light" ("Ukos światła"), directed by Wojciech Szumowski. The screening will take place at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews at 8:00 PM CET. The Tygodnik Powszechny Foundation is a partner of the opening screening. This year POLIN Museum commemorates another exceptionally important milestone. 10 years ago POLIN Museum became the main partner of the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival.
"Edge of Light"
The film is a story of reclaiming memory by a Podhale community gathered around Dariusz Popiela. Mr. Popiela is an Olympian mountain kayaker, winner of medals in Poland, Europe, world championships, and founder of the Popiel Family Center Foundation, initiator of the "People, Not Numbers" project. The documentary focuses on a group of young people who refuse to let the Nazi intention to obliterate Jewish history come true. Together they carry out work on an old forgotten Jewish cemetery in Czarny Dunajec.
The film documents the process of restoring a dignified memory of the people who lived here. By name and surname. The right slant of light makes it possible to read the obliterated letters on the stone matzevot. The effort to collect the stories of local residents restores the memory of Jewish neighbors who perished during the Holocaust. Here we will see unusual encounters, as it turns out, including those of the film's heroes themselves with the unknown history of their own family.
We all believe in the power of a story, which always triumphs over destruction. Such a story is "Edge of Light." Every selfless gesture was made with the victims of the Holocaust in mind, and is another step towards the fight against destruction.
The screening will be followed by a meeting with the film's star, director and producer.
Dariusz Popiela – born on 27 July 1985 in Kraków. Mountain kayaker, Olympian, winner of Polish, European and world championship medals. In 2018, he founded the Popiela Center Family Foundation. The main goal of the Foundation is to implement the project, "People, Not Numbers" – to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust by name, and to promote knowledge and restore the memory of national, ethnic, and religious minorities living on Polish territory in historical and contemporary terms. The activities of Dariusz Popiela and others involved in the project have contributed to the commemoration by name of several thousand Jewish residents of the Podhale region of Poland.
Winner of the Andrzej Wajda Award. Awarded by the Kyoto-Krakow Foundation for outstanding activity in the spirit of social solidarity, and sensitivity to the problems of minorities. And the POLIN Award for nurturing the memory of Jewish neighbors, and commemorating more than five thousand victims of the Holocaust.
The event's program includes thematic sections: German, "Voices of Women," "Short Forms," Israeli and culinary.
