When you
travel to Krakow, Poland, you can stay in the former Jewish Quarter of
Kazimiercz, at a Jewish inn. You will wake up to a kosher-style breakfast.
You will take the “Schindler’s List” tour. You will return for a
kosher-style lunch, and then take the bus to Auschwitz-Birkenau. You will
end your day with a kosher-style dinner, followed by a klezmer concert,
will you have met a Polish Jew? Is the revival of Jewish culture in Poland
today only the culture or is Jewish life being revived as well? These and
other questions will be examined in this film through the through the eyes
of “The Klezmaniacs” - a group of young, Jewish-American klezmer musicians
- traveling to Poland on a self-initiated "musical goodwill tour".
Translating for them is singer Shira Shazeer's grandmother, who lost her
family and was deported 60 years earlier. As this "next generation" of
proponents of Yiddish culture explores their roots, the grandmother
searches her childhood neighborhood for any remaining vestiges of Jewish
life. These vignettes of Poland are intercut with an unfolding
confrontation between Jewish tourists, non-Jewish Poles and Jewish Poles
while the local police stand by uneasily. Together, these scenes create a
true sense of Jewish life in Poland today. The film is distributed by
Castle Hill Films and is available on DVD, video and BETA. 212-242-1500. |