
The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center hosted a private screening of the debut film “Why” by Bulgarian director Theodor Geonov, who graduated from the production department of the FAMU Film School in Prague. This film was awarded the Prize for the best debut of the XVIII Vladimir Menshov International Documentary Film Festival “Won Together”.
The main character, Helga, is an artist who created a series of drawings left in Theresienstadt and hidden by her uncle. They were later published in the book Draw What You See. The horrors of Auschwitz, the “Death Transport” trip to Mauthausen... The heroine trusted only the director of the film with her memories and agreed to tell everything on camera. Helga expresses hope for a better future, symbolized by her painting "Renaissance", but also worries about the current state of the world and the possibility of that terrible history repeating itself.
Each frame of the film seems to have been painted by a great artist and very subtly coordinated with the music. The film made an indelible impression on the audience, who were surprised to learn that the author shot the film from start to finish on his own. After the show, Theodor Geonov answered questions from viewers online. According to the director, this film is, first of all, about the loss of faith of a prisoner of the Nazi death camps in the learnability of humanity. Helga laments that the lessons of World War II were in vain.
The Ambassador of Bulgaria to Russia, Atanas Kristin, in his speech about the film, mentioned the unique role of Bulgaria during the Second World War. The Bulgarian kingdom did not hand over a single citizen to the Nazis to die in concentration and extermination camps: this is an unprecedented rescue of Jews and a special position of Tsar Boris III, members of the government and the entire people.
In this sense, Bulgaria has no equal in terms of humanism, loyalty to universal human values and the courage of the people in defending their own during the Second World War. This is a historical example, which, obviously, has not been surpassed by any country in Central and Western Europe that fell under Nazi occupation.
The film screening was opened by the director of the Department of Excursion Programs of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center Oleg Melamed. Deputy Secretary General of the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly Valery Ruzin, multiple laureate of international festivals Grigory Ilugdin and General Director of the Muzyka publishing house Mark Zilberkvit took part in the discussion of the film.
Organizers of the film screening: Center for Tolerance, Eurasian Peoples' Assembly and Eurasian Academy of Television and Radio. The event was held with the support of the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives.