The history of the Festival idea
In 1998 my documentary Jews of Warsaw was awarded by the Judah Magnes Museum at the Festival of Jewish Videos in Berkley, USA.As I was presented the award I was wondering why there is no such festival in Poland and particularly in Warsaw. In the course of next years I realized my different projects and at the same time I stayed in touch with the friends and organizers of different Jewish film festivals that I had met in Berkeley. In April 2003 my other documentary „Hanukkah-a Double Time” received a special mention at the Festival in Lublin „Europe`s Point of Divergence / Convergence.
The 4 International Day`s of Documentary Cinema”. In April 2003 I was co-organizer of the Multiculture Festival GALICIA in south-east Poland as well. This work, the award and my stay at the Festival in Lublin was an impulse for me to start the preparation of the 1 edition of the Warsaw Jewish Film Festival. In May 2003 the first announcement about the Festival appeared on the Internet, on July 2003 the offical Festival web with all structure was lunched. Since then I began receiving entries from Polish and foreign film makers and declarations from foreign guests... The first edition of our Festival met with interest all around the world and we received the invitation to participate in the International Conference of Jewish Film Festivals in Boston, USA.