Film Paint What You Remember (2007), dir. Sławomir Grunberg
Film Shimon’s Returns (2014), dir. Sławomir Grunberg and Katka Reszke

Part of Klezkanada Festival
August 24–August 30

Tickets are $20.
More information at www.klezkanada.org

Films are co-presented by KlezKanada and the Polish Cultural Institute New York

Paint What You Remember (2007; 30 min), directed by Sławomir Grunberg , portrays an extraordinary moment in the life of Mayer Kirshblatt. At the age of 73, and 56 years after his 1934 emigration from Poland to Canada, Mayer began to paint his childhood memories of prewar life in Opatow. Before WWII, Opatow had 10,000 inhabitants, more than half of them Jewish. Nowadays, little is remembered of the shtetl character of the town and of the town’s Jewish population that was wiped out entirely by the Holocaust. When, in 2007, 91 year old Mayer came to Opatow and organized a public showing of his paintings, he was welcomed with incredible enthusiasm.

Shimon’s Returns (56 min), directed by Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Sławomir Grunberg and Katka Reszke, tells the story of Shimon Redlich, a Holocaust survivor who returns to places from his childhood as well as different hiding places in his struggle to survive. The film features archival footage from the 1948 Yiddish film “Unzere Kinder,” where Shimon played a role as a child actor. A collector of memories and a seeker of good will, Shimon takes us on a journey through Poland and Ukraine, uncovering the brighter sides of dark times.

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