EWA PYTKA’S “JULIA PIROTTE – BEAUTY AND STRENGTH” WINS AN AWARD AT THE MONTREAL WOMEN FILM FESTIVAL
Ewa Pytka’s documentary “Julia Pirotte – Beauty and Strength” has received an award at the Montreal Women Film Festival. Bringing back into the spotlight an extraordinary Polish-Jewish photojournalist and member of the French Resistance, the film once again draws international attention to the story of a woman whose life became intertwined with some of the defining events of the 20th century.
The Montreal Women Film Festival was established in Montreal in connection with International Women’s Day celebrations. From the outset, its programme has focused on films addressing women’s rights while providing a platform for women filmmakers.
At the heart of Ewa Pytka’s documentary is Julia Pirotte (1907-2000), a Polish-Jewish photojournalist who was actively involved in the French Resistance in Marseille during the Second World War. With her camera, she documented a reality of which she was not merely an observer, but an active participant.
Her photographic archive includes images of the French Resistance and the liberation of Marseille, as well as photographs taken in the aftermath of the Kielce pogrom in 1946 and during the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defence of Peace in Wrocław in 1948. The film also recalls the story of Julia’s younger sister, Maria, a Resistance agent operating between Paris and Marseille. Arrested by the Gestapo while carrying messages for the Resistance command, she was executed by guillotine in Wrocław.
For many years, Julia Pirotte’s body of work remained largely outside the mainstream historical narrative. It was only in 1980 that she sent her wartime photographs to France, where they were recognised at the Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles. It was there that she met Belgian feminist and social activist Jeanne Vervoort-Vercheval and Georges Vercheval, founder of the Museum of Photography in Charleroi, to whom she entrusted part of her collection of negatives. The remainder of her archive was donated to the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.
“Julia Pirotte – Beauty and Strength” was filmed in France, Belgium and Poland. Drawing on rare archival materials, including previously unpublished footage and photographs, the documentary creates an intimate portrait of a woman who used her camera to record both momentous historical events and the lives of people caught at the very centre of war, violence and profound social change.