Still-frame: "Świeże wiśnie" (press materials)
Anna Baumgart's documentary film on wartime violence against women and forced prostitution is being shown in Warsaw over four days
Fresh Cherries was made for the Falstad Kunst event in 2010. It has been characterised as a cross between documentary on human psychology and a dramatisation of wartime horrors.
Baumgart draws her inspiration from the research of PhD student Joanna Ostrowska, who has been studying the history of prostitution in German concentration camps in Poland as part of her Jewish Studies programme at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Ostrowska herself makes an appearance in the film, discussing her thesis, which considers the forgotten reality of the war-time prostitute, the "other", whose traumatic fate has hitherto been ignored by Holocaust literature.
The film begins with reconstructions of authentic interviews with real victims - a Polish woman who was raped by Russian soldiers and a German woman who was forced to be a prostitute in Auschwitz. It strives to provide a careful and dignified approach to the sexual violence that remains taboo - even after other horrors have been uncovered and discussed. The film is an attempt to shed light on a part of the war history that has been hidden away and which continues to meet with a great deal of resistance. When considering the egregious crimes committed against women in wars today, where mass rape of women is considered a military tactic, the female body as a battlefield continues to hold its relevance and demands to be addressed. The film attempts to shed taboos in order to examine a situation that is destroying the lives of many women and that of their families.
Anna Baumgart says that her film is "about how taboo, stigma and hierarchy have affected these victims of the Second World War, and that these phenomena influence the younger generation's perceptions of the war".
The film has qualified for the 13th edition of the Videonale art film festival, which takes place between April 15 - May 29, 2011 at the Kunstmuseum Bonn. In Warsaw, screenings are hosted between January 25 -28, 2011 at the Lokal_30 gallery space between 14:00 - 18:00 on the hour.
"Świeże wiśnie" / "Fresh Cherries" directed by Anna Baumgart; Photography:Marcin Koszałka, Cast: Klara Bielawka, Agnieszka Gąsierkiewicz, Ryszard Gąsiorkiewicz. Poland, 2010. Runtime: 18 minutes.
Lokal_30
ul. Foksal 17b / 30, 00-372 Warsaw
Curator: Agnieszka Rayzacher
tel. (+48) 602 13 99 63
link*www.lokal30.pl* http://lokal30.pl****Source: press materials