Jews by Choice

Poland, Israel, USA2024documentary70'Panorama polskiego dokumentu (2024)

Karniów, a small town in Czechia, used to be the home for a growing Jewish community until WWII, when the Nazis brutally took over power and not a single one of the local 450 Jews survived. A few decades later, the Czech town is struck with another disaster – Karniów is flooded during the flood of the century. The old synagogue gets damaged, too. In order to prevent its destruction, a group of inhabitants decide to bring its old glory back or maybe even give rise to a new Jewish community in their town.

directed by
Justyna Gawełko, portret reżysera
Justyna Gawełko

Director and creative producer. Graduate of Cultural Studies and Script Pro scriptwriting program at Wajda Film School. For several years she has been working in the documentary industry, gaining her experience within CoPro Market (Israel) and CEDOC Market (Poland). Director of a short documentary “Yehudis” (2018). "Jews by Choice" is her feature debut. Creative producer in Silver Frame production house (Poland).

Tomer Slutzky, portret reżysera
Tomer Slutzky

A documentary director and cinematographer. His debut film "Bronca!" received an honorable mention in Haifa Film Festival 2022, had an international premiere in Warsaw Film Festival and won the script award in Trieste Latin American Film Festival.

cinematography
Tomer Slutzky
script
Justyna Gawełko
music
Krzysztof Aleksander Janczak
editing
Noam Amit, Marcin Sucharski, Noa Weinstein
production
Michał Szymanowicz (Agencja Reklamowa Koma 2)
Photo
Kadr z filmu Jews by Choice
Trailer