JIFF: Among Neighbors

Among Neighbors

“An evocative and heart-pounding murder mystery with urgent political relevance.” – Jewish Film Institute 

“Beautifully crafted.” – Film Threat

Australian Premiere

In the sleepy rural town of Gniewoszów, Poland, Catholics and Jews co-existed peacefully for hundreds of years before WWII. Today, there isn’t a single Jewish resident in the town. When descendants of some former Jewish residents travel to Gniewoszów from San Francisco to explore their family history, they uncover long-repressed stories of violence that occurred there, even months after the war ended.

Seamlessly integrating present-day interviews with archival materials and vivid animation, this award-winning documentary focuses on the last living Holocaust survivor from the town (who now lives in Israel) and a woman who saw Jewish people murdered by their Polish neighbours when she was young. This eyewitness risks her life to tell her story, as it’s now illegal under today’s far-right Polish government to accuse the country of complicity in the Holocaust, but she hopes to learn the fate of a Jewish boy she loved over 70 years ago.

Rating

Unclassified 15+

Duration

100 min

Country

Poland, United States

Language

English, Polish (English subtitles)

Director

Yoav Potash