SCREENING OF THE AWARD-WINNING FILM BY EUGENE STARKY

"1939. Siege of Warsaw" is yet another film production by Eugene Starky, the screenwriter of such film documentaries as "True Heroes of Jamestown" and "Fighting for Honour", among others. What is more, the film was awarded by the jury of the 14th International Film Festival NWM (Niepokorni, Niezłomni, Wyklęci) in Gdynia winning the “Golden Resistor” award in the Polish Documentary Film category.  

The above film brings closer a decidedly uncommon character, i.e. Julien Bryan (1899-1974), an American filmmaker who risked his life to document the defence of the Polish capital in September 1939. Eugene Starky, who is well acquainted with Bryan's work, in cooperation with, among others, the film editor Andrzej Sikorski, undertook the task of selecting the surviving footage created during the defence of the Polish capital in September 1939, and using the footage created a documentary film. The result is "1939. Siege of Warsaw", a thrilling and, at the same time, shocking record of German barbarism that the world learned about thanks to the film records of Julien Bryan.

The award of the 14th NWM International Film Festival in the documentary film category was sponsored by the Jan Karski Institute for War Losses. Therefore, it is no coincidence that it was under the patronage of our Institute that the screening of the film and a meeting with Eugene Starky took place at the Kultura Cinema in Warsaw. The event took place on 24 November, and the screening was followed by a discussion with the director.