Jola Dylewska is a Polish writer, director, and cinematographer. She has worked as a cinematographer on over 25 projects. She won Best Cinematography at the 2012 Polish Film Awards for her work on “In Darkness” as well as at the 1995 German Film Awards for “Marie’s Song,” among many other honors. Dylewska’s 2008 documentary, “Po-lin. Okruchy pamieci,” won the Golden Reel for Best Polish Film at the Association of Polish Filmmakers Critics Awards.
“Marek Edelman… and There Was Love in the Ghetto” was co-directed by Andrzej Wajda. It will premiere at the 2019 Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival on April 29.
W&H: Describe the film for us in your own words.
JD: In the 1940s, for political reasons, a major European city was divided into two parts by a wall. People imprisoned behind the wall slowly had everything taken away: first jewelry and money, then freedom and dignity, and then food and life.
You know what they were unable to take away? Love.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
JD: The hero of my film, Marek Edelman, was the last commander of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Before his death, he did not speak like other Holocaust survivors, [who said]: “Do everything you can to make sure it never happens again!”
Marek was screaming: “We have to make a film about love in the ghetto! Love was the only thing which let us become a man in the hell of the ghetto. Because love is the most important thing.”
I made this film, in a way, on the command of the Commander.
W&H: What do you want people to think about when they are leaving the theater?
JD: I wish for somebody to come back home [after watching the film] and tell his or her partner, “I love you.” I want them to cuddle up at night with someone who they have lived with for a very long time and may have forgotten that they once loved.
I want this film to feel like a kiss, like an intimate touch that reminds people that there is nothing more important in life than love.
W&H: What was the biggest challenge in making the film?
JD: I think the biggest challenge for me was to show the audience the same picture of love that Marek represented and had inside him.
W&H: How did you get your film funded? Share some insights into how you got the film made.
JD: I found a producer, Anna Wydra, who loved this project as much as I did. She was the organizational brain, and her sensitive presence and strategies made it possible for me to make the film the way I wanted. She was the one who was able to get Polish, German, and European state film funds interested in the project.
W&H: What inspired you to become a filmmaker?
JD: I think it was mainly my fascination with the camera, which for me is a transcendental gateway to the feelings and thoughts of another human being. A camera sees more than a human being because it sees the invisible. A camera can eternalize time.
W&H: What’s the best and worst advice you’ve received?
JD: I feel that it’s both in one: If you want to be treated equal to men in this profession, you must be better than them — every time.
W&H: What advice do you have for other female directors?
JD: Remember that you make movies and those movies make you. The themes, places, and characters you make these movies about have an impact on how you become a human being. You have to choose them while being at peace with yourself.
W&H: Name your favorite woman-directed film and why.
JD: Agnieszka Holland [is definitely my favorite woman director]. Her cosmic intelligence, combined with her childlike sensitivity, unique knowledge, great talent, and love for cinema, sometimes gives us masterpieces.
W&H: It’s been a little over a year since the reckoning in Hollywood and the global film industry began. What differences have you noticed since the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements launched?
JD: To be honest, I’ve noticed no differences in Poland. In this very Catholic country, being a woman is a very complex task.
