33 Photos From the Ghetto

33 Photos From the Ghetto tells the story of the only known photographs from inside the Warsaw Ghetto during the April 1943 uprising and its brutal repression that were not taken by German forces. The images, taken secretly by 23-year-old Polish firefighter Zbigniew Leszek Grzywaczewski, who witnessed the devastating response to the uprising as a member of the Warsaw Fire Service, present a rare civilian account of one of World War II’s darkest moments.

The film traces two families, one of which is Jewish, who preserved the images for decades but hadn’t brought them to light. 80 years after their creation, the son of the photographer finds the forgotten negatives and launches an investigation. With a team of researchers, archivists, and animators who use near-forensic precision to reconstruct locations and contexts, they trace the circumstances of those tragic days and the lives captured in each frame.

A conversation will follow the screening.

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Credits: HBO Documentary Films presents 33 Photos From the Ghetto; Directed by Jan Czarlewski; Written by Jan Czarlewski and Carlotta Verny; Creative produced by Miroslaw Bork; Co-produced by MWM Media, TVN Warner Bros. Discovery, the Polish Film Institute, the City Culture Institute in Gdańsk, operator of the Gdańsk Film Fund; For HBO: producer Magda Szczawińska.