Bogdan’s Journey- Special Screening and Discussion

(Poland & USA, 2016, 83 min)

Bogdan’s Journey will screen on March 8, 2017 at 7 pm at the Laemmle Theater, Music Hall 3, Beverly Hills, CA, followed by Q&A with:

Bogdan Bielak, film protagonist
Professor Michael Barenbaum, Director of the Sigi Zieirng Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust, AJU
Michal Jaskulski + Lawrence Loewinger, directors
Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, moderator, Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland

BOGDAN’S JOURNEY is a new documentary film about murder and memory, and 70 years later, about reconciliation and healing.

Europe’s last pogrom–in Kielce, Poland, in 1946 poisoned Polish/Jewish relationships for a generation. BOGDAN’S JOURNEY tells the story of one man, a contemporary Catholic Pole, who embarks on a decades long journey to heal the wounds and bridge the divide. Bogdan Bialek’s life work has been devoted to building trust and understanding in one town, Kielce! The film, Bogdan’s Journey, tells his story and that of Jews and other Poles he invites into the effort of reconciliation.

The film opened to great acclaim this past summer at Warsaw’s Polin Museum. It then had screenings in Krakow and in Kielce, the city where the pogrom occurred. BOGDAN’S JOURNEY is now in the midst of a very successful festival run in Poland, while gaining momentum in Europe, Israel, and the United States. Recently, it won the special prize at Warsaw’s Jewish film festival. This fall, BOGDAN’S JOURNEY screened at various venues across the USA–at the Austin Jewish Festival, the St. Louis International Film Festival, and the Jersey City International Television and Film Festival. It received an Interfaith award in St. Louis, and was named Best Documentary in Jersey City. This winter and spring, the filmmakers and film will tour California and Florida. Sometime in early 2017, BOGDAN’S JOURNEY will have its New York City premiere.

BOGDAN’S JOURNEY is a part of the intense debate that is currently happening in Poland, about how history intersects with the present, and about who controls the historical narrative. This has become a conversation that is significant, timely, and vital, taking place in Poland, the United States, and around the world.