Proof of Identity

Film Screening Co-sponsored by POLIN: Museum of the History of Polish Jews Admission: Free Registration is required. Register

What does it mean to be a Polish Jew today? How do Polish Jews define their own identity at different stages of life? How do they define their identity when they’re religious or atheist? Writer, reporter and photographer Mikołaj Grynberg seeks answers to these and many more questions in his directorial debut, Proof of Identity.

The interviewees of this poignant documentary represent a variety of Jews residing in Poland today. By interviewing the generation that has had no direct contact with the Holocaust survivors in their families, this film encourages viewers to ponder how Holocaust memory has evolved in Poland. The conversations reveal a vast array of attitudes and experiences, as the protagonists come from both big cities and the Polish province. The audience learns not only about each interviewee's family history, but also about their modern-day encounter with antisemitism in Poland.

Join YIVO for the US premiere of the POLIN Museum’s new documentary, followed by a discussion with Grynberg, Columbia University Film Professor Annette Insdorf, and Head of the Exhibition Department at the POLIN Museum Joanna Fikus.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

About the Participants

Mikołaj Grynberg is a photographer, author, and trained psychologist. He has published three collections: Survivors of the 20th Century, I Accuse Auschwitz, and The Book of Exodus. I’d Like to Say Sorry, but There’s No One to Say Sorry To, his first work of fiction, was a finalist for the Nike, Poland’s top literary prize. He lives in Poland.

Annette Insdorf is Professor of Film at Columbia University's School of the Arts, and Moderator of the popular "Reel Pieces" series at the 92nd Street Y, where she has interviewed 300 film celebrities. She is the author of the landmark study, Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust (with a foreword by Elie Wiesel); Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski; Francois Truffaut, a study of the French director's work; Philip Kaufman, and Intimations: The Cinema of Wojciech Has. Her latest book is Cinematic Overtures: How to Read Opening Scenes, currently in its fourth printing.

Joanna Fikus is a graduate of the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Warsaw. She has been affiliated with the Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN since 2005, where she served as the coordinator of the core exhibition planning team. Since 2017, she has been the Head of the Exhibition Department at POLIN Museum. She is also the Deputy Chairwoman of the Board of the Jewish Historical Institute Association and the Chairwoman of its Grants Committee. Additionally, she is a member of the Founders Council of the Jewish Community Center Warsaw and a board member of the Association of European Jewish Museums.