SYNOPSIS
These same homes and houses, these same streets where many years ago Jews spent every moment fighting for survival, are today inhabited by new residents. Before World War II, Baluty was a feared crime-ridden neighbourhood. Immediately after occupying Poland, the Nazis established a Jewish ghetto here, which housed 200,000 Jews waiting for their death. After the autumn of 1941, they were joined by Jews from five Czech transports. Life in the poor, working-class district of the industrial town of Lodz is marked by poverty, alcohol and unemployment. Baluty then and Baluty now have much in common. Images from the past and present of this stigmatised place are brought together by interviews with the area’s original and current inhabitants and reporter Henryk Ross’s unique photographs from the distant past.
On his way to Lodz, director Pavel Štingl ran into photographer Karel Cudlín, whose photographs created during filming make up this accompanying exhibit. By screening the film together with the exhibition, we have created a unique project in which Cudlín’s contemporary photographs hold up a mirror to Ross’s wartime images used in the film.
MAKING OF...
Filming was planned in order to capture all four seasons of the year. “Since the last two winters were light on snow, the only white streets are from Ross’s photographs. Filming thus lasted a year, in several cycles and with relatively extensive preparations,“ says director Pavel Štingl, adding: “Preparations were especially important in order to get used to several figures roaming the streets with a camera. The locals had already adopted us a little. They were glad when we brought them some photographs from the last time, and children even welcomed us. That was quite important, since otherwise most of our preparations and agreements with various Baluty residents came to nothing.” Baluty is a place where nothing counts the next day. The most heartfelt friendships, bound and sealed, solid and indestructible, disappeared overnight like a dream. People would not show up at the agreed location, didn’t open when we knocked, disappeared from their home for entire stretches of time. “Instead, we learned that the most effective approach in this environment was to set up the camera on a tripod and wait. Usually, things started to happen on their own. Some unexpected characters would appear, unexpected things would happen – things that often cannot be staged. That is another advantage of this environment, but it didn’t happen all the time or with everybody,” says Štingl. Baluty more than almost anywhere else proves the old documentary saying that “coincidence favours the prepared”.
Processing the material took almost a quarter of a year. The film was edited by Tonička Janková, who is a true auteur editor, and not just in this case. “This is the right approach, especially for material such as this, which was filmed by Míra Janek as cinematographer,” says Štingl, adding: “With a film of this length, this takes a lot of nerves on the part of the director – what will come of it, what the editor will find. But it turned out beyond measure.”
