Memory Is Our Homeland
Donation protected
Dear friends,
We are thrilled to share that our film, Memory Is Our Homeland, has had a number of successful international screenings since the Montreal premiere in November 2018. After the film received the People’s Choice Award at its premiere at RIDM (Montreal International Documentary Festival), it has since been screened in Moscow, Vilnius, Krakow, Warsaw, and Los Angeles, and won the Documentary Competition of the Sochi International Film Festival in November 2019. We are planning screenings this year in Canada, Portugal, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, and potentially a number of cities across Russia.
We have received a lot of interest from people to screen the film internationally, to host discussions on this history, and to host related events. With the 80th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17th just passed, and the 80th anniversary of the deportations of Polish citizens to Siberia coming up on February 10, 2020, the time to get this story out to the world is now!
In order to make that happen, we are turning to you for support. We are in the process of applying for grants and agency funding, but the project is currently self-funded, and is in need of your help. By donating to our project at this time, you will help us cover
- travel costs to screen at the Polish Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk
- attending the Berlin International Film Festival in February to meet with educational distributors
- translations to increase accessibility to diverse international audiences
- event organization
- film festival applications
It is more important than ever to screen this film and discuss its themes. For one, many of the Polish survivors of the Soviet gulags and forced labour settlements did not live to hear the truth about their history acknowledged by the general public. We owe it to them, their descendants, and those who are still with us, to witness their truth told.
The film also documents the human connections and deep relationships that grow in face of hardship, across racial, political, and cultural lines. It highlights the resilience of the human spirit, the quest to understand where we come from, the power of storytelling, and the feelings that connect us all.
Below are links to some of the international press the film has received:
- Montreal Gazette - Montreal documentary looks at Poles exiled to Africa in WW2
- Deutsche Welle - When the Polish were refugees in Africa
- Quartz Africa - The little known story of the Polish refugees who fled to East Africa during WW2
- POV magazine - Memory Is Our Homeland
We thank you for your interest and support. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments about this topic, or to discuss a screening in your city.
You can send a message through the GoFundMe, or by email at [email redacted]
We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming screening,
Jonathan Durand
and the Memory Is Our Homeland team
We are thrilled to share that our film, Memory Is Our Homeland, has had a number of successful international screenings since the Montreal premiere in November 2018. After the film received the People’s Choice Award at its premiere at RIDM (Montreal International Documentary Festival), it has since been screened in Moscow, Vilnius, Krakow, Warsaw, and Los Angeles, and won the Documentary Competition of the Sochi International Film Festival in November 2019. We are planning screenings this year in Canada, Portugal, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, and potentially a number of cities across Russia.
We have received a lot of interest from people to screen the film internationally, to host discussions on this history, and to host related events. With the 80th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17th just passed, and the 80th anniversary of the deportations of Polish citizens to Siberia coming up on February 10, 2020, the time to get this story out to the world is now!
In order to make that happen, we are turning to you for support. We are in the process of applying for grants and agency funding, but the project is currently self-funded, and is in need of your help. By donating to our project at this time, you will help us cover
- travel costs to screen at the Polish Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk
- attending the Berlin International Film Festival in February to meet with educational distributors
- translations to increase accessibility to diverse international audiences
- event organization
- film festival applications
It is more important than ever to screen this film and discuss its themes. For one, many of the Polish survivors of the Soviet gulags and forced labour settlements did not live to hear the truth about their history acknowledged by the general public. We owe it to them, their descendants, and those who are still with us, to witness their truth told.
The film also documents the human connections and deep relationships that grow in face of hardship, across racial, political, and cultural lines. It highlights the resilience of the human spirit, the quest to understand where we come from, the power of storytelling, and the feelings that connect us all.
Below are links to some of the international press the film has received:
- Montreal Gazette - Montreal documentary looks at Poles exiled to Africa in WW2
- Deutsche Welle - When the Polish were refugees in Africa
- Quartz Africa - The little known story of the Polish refugees who fled to East Africa during WW2
- POV magazine - Memory Is Our Homeland
We thank you for your interest and support. Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments about this topic, or to discuss a screening in your city.
You can send a message through the GoFundMe, or by email at [email redacted]
We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming screening,
Jonathan Durand
and the Memory Is Our Homeland team
Organizer
Jonathan Kołodziej Durand
Organizer
Montreal, QC