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Miss Holocaust

Berlinale Shorts 2017
Since 2012, an annual beauty contest has been held in Haifa, Israel attracting a lot of attention and harbouring tremendous potential for conflict: The winner is crowned Miss Holocaust Survivor. From around 300 ladies, who are all at least 75 years of age, a pre-selection is made of 13 to 15 contestants who subsequently undergo an intensive preparation process. The women learn, within their range of possibilities, to present themselves and move. Ramp, runway, selection. The event is held by the Yad Ezer Lahaver Foundation, an organisation for holocaust survivors in need, and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem. It is vigorously debated in Israeli society. In spite of that, the women keep returning. Their motivation is to keep the remembrance alive, and for that they are willing to resort to such means.
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by Michalina Musielak
with Sara Israel, Rita Berkowitz, Chava Hershkovitch, Judith Rosenzweig, Libreta Michalchov Poland / Germany 2017 Hebrew 22’ Colour Documentary form

With

  • Sara Israel
  • Rita Berkowitz
  • Chava Hershkovitch
  • Judith Rosenzweig
  • Libreta Michalchov

Crew

Director Michalina Musielak
Co-Director Irena Siedlar
Screenplay Michalina Musielak, Monika Dembinska
Cinematography Beata Rakoczy
Editing Irena Siedlar
Sound Design Anna Rok
Producers Karolina Galuba, Malgorzata Malysa
Co-Producers Stefan Donaubauer juno film, München, Daniela Ljubinkovic juno film, München

Produced by

Furia Film

Michalina Musielak

Born in Wrocław, Poland in 1990, she studied under video artist Mirosław Bałk at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw where she also completed her masters in new media. In October 2016 she took up studies in visual and media anthropology at the Freie Universität Berlin. As a scholarship holder of the Jewish Museum in Warsaw, she made films about Poles in Israel and, as part of the Polska DOC and Remapping Europe programmes, also about Jews in Poland.

Filmography (documentaries)

2012 Ima Polonyia (Polish Mother) 2014 Trzy głosy (Three Voices) 2015 Miasto wspólna sprawa (City - Common Matter)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2017