“Bedrock captures the lived realities of people whose homes are on Holocaust sites,” reads a synopsis for Kinga Michalska’s feature film debut, an observational documentary that promises to take viewers “through landscapes in which traces of violence are intricately woven into the fabric of everyday life.” It is set to world premiere in the 75th edition of the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama Dokumente lineup on Tuesday, Feb. 18, shortly after the recent 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The movie paints a psychological portrait of Poland from the perspective of people living on Holocaust sites today. “Through a series of intimate vignettes, the film explores these shadows of the past,” the synopsis highlights. “A little girl visits her friend in a psychiatric hospital that once served as a concentration camp; a Polish Jew undertakes the Sisyphean task of recovering and preserving the scattered remains of countless Jewish victims from across the country; a Catholic family debates Polish complicity in a wartime pogrom as their town prepares for its annual commemoration. Meanwhile, (soccer) fans in the village of Birkenau celebrate their local team’s victory.”
THR can share an exclusive first-look trailer of the doc, produced by Filmoption in Montreal, Canada, that gives a sense of how the doc follows people navigating the complex terrain of memory, responsibility, and trauma, as well as how they learn to live with unsettling contradictions. “The echoes of a violent past reverberate in a dystopian present,” the Berlinale website notes.
Michalska, a Polish queer visual artist and filmmaker based in Canada, in their work examines “issues of memory, identity, displacement, and things that haunt us” given their interest in “who and what makes history.”
‘Bedrock’
Courtesy of Hanna Linkowska/Filmoption International
“I was born and raised in Poland and lived there most of my life, until I moved to Canada,” Michalska tells THR about the inspiration for the film. “I’m not Jewish, but I grew up with a general understanding of the Holocaust thanks to my family and school. The inspiration for the film came at a banal moment. I was planning a vacation with my family. We were going to visit Poland’s largest amusement park. As I was looking for accommodation, I was shocked to discover that the closest hotel was located in the city of Auschwitz. I told my mom, ‘We can’t go to this park. It’s only 20 kilometers from the camp!’ And she answered, ‘Well, if you can’t see it, then it’s far enough. We all live on Jewish graves anyway. How is this different from you going to the party in Warsaw’s Muranów district?’ This comment really hit me.”
Their mother reminded them that Auschwitz was, of course, the location of a horrible Nazi concentration and death camp, but also a city inhabited by people to this day. “It was a really intense moment of dissonance,” Michalska recalls. “We ended up going to the amusement park but did not stay in the city of Auschwitz. But it was the moment that I realized that there was a reality that was invisible to me and that I needed to make a film about it. How had I not seen this contrast that is so stark and so ubiquitous in Poland? And how am I judging these people living in the city of Auschwitz? I’ve never been there. So it really confronted me with my own prejudice and blind spots.”
The creative mostly works as a photographer but feels that film is a more appropriate medium to give voice to the Poles living on Holocaust sites. “At first, I tried to take some pictures, and then immediately realized that photos won’t translate the reality that I wanted to capture. So, I had to teach myself filmmaking.” And screenwriter and director Michalska worked closely with DOP Hanna Linkowska, and editors Omar Elhamy and Paul Chotel, saying: “I had many fantastic collaborators.”
Their hope is to encourage dialogue. “The Holocaust is still a very sensitive topic in Poland. It’s still very politicized,” Michalska tells THR. “I approached my participants with openness and curiosity. I tried to listen and understand where they were coming from, seeking to find a human connection. I did my best to present their points of view with respect. To me, it always comes down to having a dialogue.” The filmmaker also notes a conscious effort to show “a range of very different relationships and attitudes towards the subject.”
Bedrock reminds the viewer of the weight of history. “I feel it personally. I think that’s why I made this film,” shares the director. “I don’t think everyone feels this way. But I do feel this haunting. And I didn’t want to shy away from the Polish complicity. Denial of that is really strong (in some places).”
How early or late did the title Bedrock come about? “It came up quite late. What connects all these pieces and places is the land and what is underneath, all these bones buried in our soil. I was looking for a metaphor from geology that could capture the idea of layers of history. I like the double meaning of bedrock.”
Watch the trailer for Bedrock below.
