On 9 May, the Belgian preview of the film The Zookeeper’s Wife will take place in the presence of Teresa ŻABIŃSKA (Zawadzka), the daughter of Antonina and Jan Żabiński, on whose life story the film is based. The film was directed by New Zealander Niki CARO and the main roles are played by Jessica CHASTAIN and Johan HELDENBERGH. After the screening, there will be a Q&A with Teresa Żabińska, moderated by the film critic Hugues Dayez. Before the screening, Polish historian Michał TRĘBACZ and a journalist from Flemish radio with a great knowledge of Poland, Marc PEIRS, will be discussing the historical context of the film.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
>>> Centre for Fine Arts – BOZAR (Rue Ravensteinstraat 23, 1000 Brussels), Chamber Music Room – see map
>>> Tuesday 9 May 2017
        18:30 – 19:30: Conversation between Michał TRĘBACZ and Marc PEIRS
        20:00: film
        22:00: Q&A with Teresa ŻABIŃSKA and Hugues DAYEZ
>>> €10 | €8 (buy your tickets online)

Zookeeper’s Wife (USA-UK-CZ/2017/127’/SUB: FR – NL)
Two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain stars in The Zookeeper’s Wife in the title role of Antonina Żabińska, a real-life working wife and mother who became a hero to hundreds during WWII. Niki Caro (Whale Rider, North Country) directed the movie, which was adapted froma screenplay by Angela Workman, adapted from Diane Ackerman’s non-fiction book of the same name which was based on Antonina’s diaries.
The year is 1939. The place is Poland, homeland of Antonina (portrayed by Chastain) and her husband, Dr. Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh, of The Broken Circle Breakdown). Devoted to each other, the couple thrive as personal and professional partners; the Warsaw Zoo flourishes under Jan’s stewardship and Antonina’s care. With her boundless energy, Antonina rises every day to tend to both her family and their menagerie, as the gates to the majestic zoo open to welcome the public…

…until the entrance is slammed shut and the zoo is crippled in an attack as the entire country is invaded by the Germans. Stunned, the couple is forced to report to the Reich’s newly-appointed chief zoologist, Lutz Heck (Golden Globe Award nominee Daniel Brühl of Captain America: Civil War). Heck envisions a new, selective breeding program for the zoo.
Antonina and Jan fight back on their own terms, and covertly begin working with the Resistance – realising that their zoo’s abandoned animal cages and underground tunnels, originally designed to safeguard animal life, can now secretly safeguard human life. As the couple puts into action plans to save lives out of what has become the Warsaw Ghetto, Antonina places herself and even her children at great risk.

+++ Have a look at the website of the film 

Casting

Marc PEIRS (°1966, Ghent) has been working as a journalist for 25 years. He has contributed on a freelance basis to several dailies, such as De Tijd and the weekend magazine ZENO by De Morgen, and to more than 20 magazines. At the same time, he is a journalist of VRT Nieuws, where he works as editor of the radio programme ‘De Ochtend’ and as a specialist on Poland. He spends part of his time living in Poland in order to feel the pulse of this rapidly-changing country, whose importance is growing and which took its rightful place in the heart of the European Union after 1 May 2004. He has given more than 2.000 lectures to cultural and educational organisations about Poland. Marc Peirs also writes crime novels. His debut novel was published in spring 2016 and his second novel was recently published.