Film by Kinga Michalska
102min, Documentary, Canada, 2025
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/1056776869
World premiere: Berlinale Panorama, 2025
Bedrock draws a psychological portrait of Poland from the perspective of Poles living on Holocaust sites today. The Nazi camps were dismantled 80 years ago. Some were razed, others turned into museums, children’s psychiatric hospitals, or ordinary homes. In this observational documentary Kinga Michalska visits a dozen such sites where protagonists navigate the complex terrain of trauma, responsibility and denial in their daily routines. Following in the footsteps of a young man determined to preserve the traces of victims buried across the country. A Catholic family debates Polish complicity in a wartime pogrom as their town prepares for its annual commemoration. Football fans in the village of Birkenau celebrate their local team’s victory. Haunting, delicate, and deeply introspective, this journey into memory confronts the complexity of emotions and the paradoxes faced by those living in the shadow of the past. A work of uncommon power that probes not only the past, but also the horrors of the present that feels all too urgent.
"Offers a broad and human perspective by observing those living today amidst the legacy of genocide and displacement."
- Sonya Vseliubska, International Documentary Association
"Depicts unsettling contrasts—between memory and modern life—with subtlety and emotional depth." - Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter
"Depicts unsettling contrasts—between memory and modern life—with subtlety and emotional depth." - Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter
Crew:
Writer: Kinga Michalska
Cinematography : Hanna Linkowska
Sound Recording : Peter Hošták, Janusz Dąbkiewicz
Editing : Omar Elhamy, Paul Chotel
Sound Design and Mix : Alex Lane
Music : Radwan Ghazi Moumneh
Color grading : Philippe Carbonneau
Research: Leora Alcheck
Dramaturgy: Sarah Chouinard-Poirier
Production : Danae Elon, Ashley Duong, Paul Cadieux
Executive Production : Anna Gawlita, Katarina Soukup
International distribution: Filmoption International
Canadian distribution: Film du 3 Mars Polish distribution: Kijora Film
Upcoming screenings:
Nov 7 - Free Zone FF, Belgrade, Serbia
Nov 8 - 27 Kino Iluzjon, Warsaw, Poland
Nov 17 - Camerimage, Toruń, Poland
Nov 20 - ŻIH, Warsaw, Poland
Nov 20 - DKF Megaron, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland
Nov 29 - Ekran Polish FF, Toronto, Canada
