2016 Non - Competition

2016 COMPETITION SCREENINGS
     Program 2016

Narrative features

POLIN Museum, Warsaw: Nov. 24, THURSDAY, 5:45PM

The Beheaded Rooster
Kogut ze ¶cięt± głow±
dir. by Radu Gabrea
Austria, Germany, Hungary, Romania , 2007, 98` (non-competition)

A moving coming of age story in a time of extreme change: on August 23, 1944 in a small city in Romanian Transylvania, the 16-year-old Felix Goldschmidt awaits his classmates for their traditional Exitus Party (school graduation). However, this very day the kingdom of Romania takes leave of its long-standing ally – Nazi Germany – thus ending the 800-year, highly successful story of ethnic German immigration at the feet of the Carpathian Mountains. Director Radu Gabrea scheduled to attend.

In partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute Warsaw


Language: German Subtitles: Polish



POLIN Museum, Warsaw: Nov. 27, SUNDAY, 12:00 PM

The Oath
Thkijes Khaf
dir. by Henryk Szaro, Zygmunt Turkow
Poland, 1937, 60` (non-competition)

A Polish-American feature film in Yiddish, created in 1924 and based on a play by Peretz Hirschbein. Two friends take an oath: their children will marry one day. Prophet Elijah himself is to oversee the oath’s fulfillment…

Language: Jidysz Subtitles: German, Polish




Feature documentaries

POLIN Museum, Warsaw: Nov. 26, SATURDAY, 6:00 PM
Warsaw Premiere

Aliyah DaDa
Za rok w Jerozolimie… Aliyah Dada
dir. by Oana Giurgiu
Romania , 2015, 115` (non-competition)

Aliyah DaDa presents a well documented history of Jews in Romania. In 1882, a small community in Moine?ti was leaving for the Holy Land, to establish one of the first settlements in Palestine. Since then, the path of Jewish Romanians towards Israel has been intertwined with the history of modern Romania through a love-hate bond, the influences of which might not be ever quantified. The historical tale is visually trimmed in the Dada style as a tribute to the pioneers of this movement, Tristan Tzara and Marcel Janco, two Jews of Romanian descent. Director Oana Giurgiu scheduled to attend.

Language: Romanian Subtitles: English, Polish

In partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute Warsaw


Jerusalem International Film Festival 2015


POLIN Museum, Warsaw: Nov. 26, SATURDAY, 12:00 PM

The Chronicles of Minsk Ghetto
Kronika Mińskiego getta. O honor i wolno¶ć
dir. by Vladimir Luckij
Belarus 2015, 50` (non-competition)

The documentary “The Chronicle of Minsk Ghetto 2. For Honor and Freedom ” tells about an opposition in Jewish ghettos built by Nazis in every Belarusian city and town. The heroism of the Jewish nation has never been covered in cinema, and until recently received an extremely scarce coverage in press and on TV. By means of our film a large audience would discover previously unknown facts. Underground organizations were organized in 80 ghettos across Belarus. Only in Minsk ghetto there were 22 active underground groups leaded by Isaya Kazinets, Girsh Smolyar and Mikhail Gebelev. Their battle count includes acts of sabotage on German factories and a railway junction, as well as thousands of people removed from ghettos to partisan troops. In total, there were somewhat from 10 to 15 thousands Jewish partisans in Belarus. Director scheduled to attend.

Language: Belarusian. Subtitles: English, Polish




POLIN Museum, Warsaw: Nov. 23, WEDNESDAY, 4:00 PM

Goldfaden's Legacy: The Origins of Yiddish Theater
Spu¶cizna Goldfadena: historia teatru jidysz
dir. by Radu Gabrea
Romania, 2004, 58` (non-competition)

This documentary explores the history of Yiddish theater from its beginnings in 19th-century Iasi in Northern Romania to 20th-century New York, as illustrated by the life of its founder, Avram Goldfaden. It is a fascinating journey in time, highlighting the close relations between Romanian and Jewish cultures, and the impact of the New York Yiddish Theater on American forms of entertainment. Director Radu Gabrea scheduled to attend.
Language: Romanian Subtitles: Polish

In partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute Warsaw






POLIN Museum, Warsaw: Nov. 24, THURSDAY, 2:00 PM
Polish Premiere

Hitler`s People
Ludzie Hitlera
dir. by Peter Hartl
Germany , 2016, 80` (non-competition)

This two-part documentary is an intimate and revealing portrait of the German people under Hitler. When Allied troops enter Germany in October 1944, a handful of US officers of the Psychological Warfare Division are given the unique task of gathering information on the German public’s state of mind. One of them is Saul K. Padover, a US-historian of German-Jewish origin. His observations provide the narrative framework for an “inside story of the Third Reich”. The documentary takes a look at the inner workings of this very particular dictatorship – a regime based on enthusiastic support, complicity, complacency. And indifference to the suffering of other people. Padover’s findings are complemented and commented on by eminent historians and social psychologists, and illustrated by official propaganda as well as private archive material. Q&A with director

Language: German Subtitles: English, Polish




POLIN Museum, Warsaw: Nov. 23, WEDNESDAY, 5:15 PM

Jews For Sale
Żydzi na sprzedaż
dir. by Radu Gabrea
Romania, 2012, 74` (non-competition)

The film approaches an unusual subject: the largest citizen sale operation ever employed by a European state. In 1974, a Romanian passenger carrying a diplomatic passport boarded a plane from Zürich to Bucharest. Once he arrived, he noticed that one of his suitcases was missing. It was a suitcase handed over by an old acquaintance shortly before his departure. The diplomat was General M., a commander in the General Office of Foreign Intelligence, the Securitate's espionage division. The suitcase contained one million dollars designed to facilitate the emigration of Jews to Israel. This is just one episode in the history of the human trafficking operations organized by the Romanian communist state: the sale of Romanian citizens to Israel.Director Radu Gabrea scheduled to attend.

Language: Romanian Subtitles: Polish

In partnership with the Romanian Cultural Institute Warsaw






Short fiction films and animations

Short documentaries

JCC Warsaw: Nov. 24, THURSDAY, 2:00 PM
European Premiere

We the People of the Revolution
My Naród Stanów Zjednoczonych Rewolucji
dir. by Daniel Strehlau
2016, USA , 34` (non-competition)

A short documentary portraying the followers of Bernie Sanders during his primary presidential rally in National City, Ca, May 21, 2016. The participants, waiting in miles-long lines, were asked about the reasons why they decided to attend the rally and support Bernie’s candidacy.


Language: English Subtitles: Polish




POLIN Museum, Warsaw: Nov. 25, FRIDAY, 1:45 PM

The Jews of Warsaw
Żydzi Warszawy
dir. by Daniel Strehlau
Poland, 1997, 38` (non-competition)

The film portraits the prewar life and culture of Warsaw Jews. It is, in a sense, a journey to world that does not exist anymore and that has been forgotten even by the inhabitants of today’s Warsaw. Archival photos become a symbolic bridge between the past and the present.

Language: Polish Subtitles: English