| Jewish Motifs International Film Festival | |
| Founded: | 2003 |
| Awards: | Warsaw Phoenix |
| Directors: | Mirek Chojecki- director, Magdalena Łazarkiewicz - art director |
| Date: | in 2019: 11–15 September (usually April/May) |
| Location: | Warsaw, Poland |
| Language: | Polish English |
| Website: | JewishMotifs.org.pl |
Jewish Motifs International Film Festival (Polish: Międzynarodowy Festiwal Filmowy Żydowskie Motywy) is a major Jewish-themed film festival held annually in Warsaw, Poland. The festival has been held every year since 2004.
"The biggest European festival focused on Jewish themes in contemporary cinematography"—according to the Polish Embassy in Bern.[1]
The 15th edition is scheduled to take place in mid-September 2019. Initially the Festival dates were around the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising that is why the precise dates are changing but always in same season (usually in April), since 2016 the festival takes place in late May. In September an exceptional change in dates occurred and Festival was moved for September.
thumb|Muranów Cinema in Muranów, WarsawThe festival organizers declare as the aim and objectives:[2]
Special focus of the festival films is on those produced in the Central-Eastern European region.Active participation of the audience is specialty of the festival, which organizes direct meetings with the film directors after each screening. Organizers and other experts participate also in the debates and meetings accompanying the shows and post-festival shows, which gives them opportunity for direct interaction. That is why the festival is often described as direct networking meeting and not the festival of red carpets.
The festival partners with other similar Jewish film festivals in Brighton, Vienna and Stockholm.[4]
The Festival was organized for the first time in 2004.
According to its director, Mirek Chojecki, it was supposed to be one-time event aiming in presenting tradition of the Jewish cinema, from pre-war Yiddish movies made in Poland up to modern cinema of the 21st century. The festival received such positive attention both from international guests and Polish local audience that at the closing ceremony Chojecki said "see you next year" and this promise he keeps continuing. The "Jewish Motifs" festival became an annual event[5] but only since 2004 as International Film Festival ("Jewish Motifs" International Film Festival).[6] [7]
Traditionally the opening and closing ceremonies are led by Andrzej Wajda (Polish film director) and (Polish-Jewish writer) Józef Hen.
From the beginning, the festival has taken place regularly in Spring, around the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 – which is celebrated as according to the Hebrew (not Julian) calendar.
| Festival's edition | Year | Festival dates | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2004 | 18-27 April[8] | |
| 2 | 2005 | 19–24 May | |
| 3 | 2006 | 11–16 May | |
| 4 | 2007 | 5–10 May | |
| 5 | 2008 | 22–27 April | |
| 6 | 2009 | 28 April – 3 May | |
| 7 | 2010 | 20–25 April | |
| – | 2011 | (this year festival has not happened) | |
| 8 | 2012 | 25–29 April[9] | |
| 9 | 2013 | 24–28 April[10] [11] [12] | |
| 10 | 2014 | 23–27 April[13] | |
| 11 | 2015 | 8–10 May | |
| 12 | 2016 | 18–22 May | |
| 13 | 2017 | 24–28 May[14] | |
| 14 | 2018 | 23–27 May[15] [16] [17] [18] | |
| 15 | 2019 | 11–15 September[19] |
| "Jewish Motifs" Association | |
| Formation: | 2004 |
| Headquarters: | ul. Wilcza 12C, PL 00-532 Warsaw, Poland |
| Language: | Polish |
| Leader Title: | President |
| Leader Name: | Ewa Szprynger |
| Website: | Jewish Motifs Association |
In 2004 the group of organizers of first event has founded The Jewish Motifs Association[20] which is a nonprofit organization responsible for organizing further editions of the festival. The Association organizes also post-festival shows and promotes festival movies at the other cultural events in Poland.
The program consists of the following sections: feature, documentary, experimental, animation, short.[21] [22]
All the films presented, regardless of the competitive or non-competitive category, are eligible for the Audience Award.
Different educational aspect is learning-through-participation: volunteership and internship program offered by the festival. Each year there were from 15 to 80 participants of volunteer and internship program editions.
In 2018, at its 14th edition, the Festival organized a Masterclass workshop in film making led by Israeli document films director and producer Barak Heymann.
Each year the festival is also accompanied by additional events: from kosher cuisine cooking workshops to expert debates on recent topics.
Awards are in several categories:
| Year | Film | Original Title | Director | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Hiding and Seeking |  | |||
| 2005 | Rosenstrasse | Margarethe von Trotta |  | ||
| 2006 | Portrait Photographer | Portrecista |  | ||
| 2007 | I only wanted to live |  | |||
| 2008 | To Die in Jerusalem | | |||
| 2009 | Po-lin | | |||
| 2010 | The Gift to Stalin |  | |||
| 2011 | |||||
| 2012 | Konserwator | Boker tov adon Fidelman | | ||
| 2013 | The Flat | | |||
| 2014 | Soldier on the Roof | | |||
| 2015 | Ronit Elkabetz, Shlomi Elkabetz | | |||
| 2016 | The Kozalchic Affair | Roni Ninio | | ||
| 2017 | Bogdan's Journey | Przy Planty 7/9 | Michał Jaskulski, Lawrence Loewinger | | |
| 2018 | Scarred Hearts | Radu Jude |  | ||
| 2019 | Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life | Tomer Heymann | , |
| Year | Film | Original Title | Director | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | silver statuette: Only Human | Seres queridos | Teresa De Pelegri, Dominic Harrari |   | |
| 2013 | When Day Breaks | Goran Paskaljević | |||
| 2014 | Youth | Tom Shoval | | ||
| 2016 | Deamon | Demon | Marcin Wrona | | |
| 2017 | One Week and A Day | שבוע ויום | Asaph Polonsky | | |
| 2018 | Scaffolding | Matan Yair | | ||
| 2019 | Longing | געגוע | Savi Gabizon | |
| Year | Film | Original Title | Director | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | silver statuette: Behind the enemy lines | Dov Gil-Har | | ||
| 2005 | bronze statuette: No. 17 | No. 17 | David Ofek | | |
| 2005 | bronze statuette: L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin! | Yale Strom |  | ||
| 2013 | Hitler’s Children | | |||
| 2014 | Ponevezh Time | | |||
| 2015 | Border Living | Ronit Ifergan | | ||
| 2015 | My Arab Friend | Noga Nezer | | ||
| 2016 | The Bentwich Syndrome | Gur Bentwich | | ||
| 2017 | Winding | Avi Belkin | | ||
| 2018 | The Impure | Daniel Najenson | | ||
| 2019 | Granny Project | Bálint Révész |  , |
| Year | Film | Original Title | Director | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | The Spoon of Life | Łyżeczka życia | Michał Nekanda-Trepka | | |
| 2013 | Catherine the Great | | |||
| 2015 | Ischler | | |||
| 2016 | Women in Sink | Iris Zaki | | ||
| 2017 | Transfer | Michael Grudsky | | ||
| 2018 | An Average Story | Yaniv Segalovich | | ||
| 2019 | Vanity of Vanities | Alexey Shelmanov, Alexey Turkus |  |
| Year | Film | Original Title | Director | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | No. 17 | No. 17 | | ||
| 2006 | Portrait Photographer | Portrecista | | ||
| 2007 | More Than 1000 Words | | |||
| 2008 | Souvenirs | | |||
| 2009 | Unsettled | | |||
| 2010 | 8 stories, that has not changed the world | 8 historii, które nie zmieniły świata | | ||
| 2011 | |||||
| 2012 | Blinky & Me | Krakowiaczek ci ja… | | ||
| 2013 | Hava Nagila | | |||
| 2014 | Dancing in Jaffa | | |||
| 2015 | In Silence | V tichu | Zdeněk Jiráský |  | |
| 2016 | Kapo in Jerusalem | Uri Barbash | | ||
| 2017 | Bogdan's Journey | Przy Planty 7/9 | Michał Jaskulski, Lawrence Loewinger | | |
| 2018 | 1945 | Ferenc Török | | ||
| 2019 | The Other Story | סיפור אחר | Avi Nesher | |
. Polish Film and the Holocaust: Politics and Memory. Marek Haltof. Berghahn Books. 2012. 9780857453563. 228.