Editor

In the competition will be 41 films from countries all over the world, including Israel, Czech Republic, Belgium, Slovakia, France, Germany, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Denmark, and Belarus. They present Jewish culture, history and presence, both in Israel and in the diaspora, in an interesting and intriguing, sometimes moving, sometimes amusing way. They tell the story of today's world - our identity, loneliness, decisions, and conflicts. They are always the most recent productions, from the last two years. Some of these have already won international prizes, and majority of them will be screened in Poland for the first time. The Festival gives the chance to meet and talk to the films' directors (almost all declared their attendance at the Festival and the meetings with audience).

At the Festival you can see the following films:

- "Valentina's Mother" - a bitter film on amity and addiction between an Israeli Holocaust survivor, born from Poland, and her young migrant worker from Poland.

- "Einsatzgruppen - The Death Brigades" - a 3-hour-long documentary (in two parts) on the "intervention groups", sent to exterminate Jews in Central Europe during the war. We can see some shocking archive materials and listen to the still alive Einsatzgruppen members.

- "The Klezmatics - on Holy Ground" - the European premiere of the documentary on Klezmatics - a Grammy Award winner group. Erik Greenberg Anjou, the director, has been with the artists for three years, creating a fantastic and full of music film.

- "Me and the Jewish Thing" - a personal and warm Danish film about looking for what it now means to be Jewish in Europe.

We will also screen the recent films by Paweł Łoziński ("Cataloguing"), Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz ("An Ordinary March"), Sławomir Grünberg ("The Peretzniks"), and numerous other documentary, feature, short and animated films.

The Honorary Guest of the 7th International Film Festival "Jewish Motifs" will be a splendid Polish director Edward Żebrowski. He was the scriptwriter of the majority of Krzysztof Zanussi's films. He also cooperated with Krzysztof Kieślowski (Three Colours), Stanisław Różewicz (Passion), and Andrzej Wajda (The Possessed). During his retrospective, we will show his three films:

- "Rescue" (1970)

- "The Hospital of Transfiguration" (1978, based on the novel by Stanisław Lem)

- "In Broad Daylight" (1980)

The Festival will take place on 20-25 April 2010 in Warsaw in Muranów Cinema. Entry to all screenings is free. The program and films' description are available on http://www.jewishmotifs.org.pl/

The Festival is financially supported by the Mayor of Warsaw, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, and Polish Film Institute.