Artur Zmijewski 'Our Songbook'
One of the most touching art videos ever. Do watch.
http://artmuseum.pl/filmoteka/?l=0&id=179
"A film about problems with individual memory and the gradual degeneration of collective memory. During his stay in Tel Aviv in 2003, Żmijewski contacted a number of Polish Jews who had left Poland - the land of their ancestors - shortly before or during WWII. He asked them to recall and sing the songs of their youth. The protagonists recall all kinds of melodies: cavalry songs, pre-war pop hits, the polish national anthem. Żmijewski shows a world that is irrevocably becoming past. Our Songbook is one of the most moving and meaningful projects of the Polish art of recent years, and one that has found a reflection in the debates on national identity and Polish-Jewish history. Żmijewski broadens the field of art with his films, treating art as a tool for remembering, generating knowledge, and calling it into question."
http://artmuseum.pl/filmoteka/?l=0&id=179
"A film about problems with individual memory and the gradual degeneration of collective memory. During his stay in Tel Aviv in 2003, Żmijewski contacted a number of Polish Jews who had left Poland - the land of their ancestors - shortly before or during WWII. He asked them to recall and sing the songs of their youth. The protagonists recall all kinds of melodies: cavalry songs, pre-war pop hits, the polish national anthem. Żmijewski shows a world that is irrevocably becoming past. Our Songbook is one of the most moving and meaningful projects of the Polish art of recent years, and one that has found a reflection in the debates on national identity and Polish-Jewish history. Żmijewski broadens the field of art with his films, treating art as a tool for remembering, generating knowledge, and calling it into question."