About the Film
The short film “You Have Courage, Madame” by Asaf Galay examines the life and work of Polish-Jewish photographer Julia Pirotte. The film is based on Pirotte’s Yiddish testimony from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies and follows two photographers, Avishag Shaar-Yashuv and Irene Pletka, as they trace her journey through Poland and France. The artists will embark on an inner and outer journey through Poland and the streets of Marseille, visiting the places Julia Pirotte lived and the sites she photographed, meeting people who knew her, and bringing a contemporary perspective to her unique legacy.
The film will be screened as part of the “20/20 – Her Own Lens” exhibition at ANU – Museum of the Jewish People in June 2025.
Filmmakers
Asaf Galay
Asaf Galay is an award-winning filmmaker whose documentaries examine the creativity of modern Jewish culture. His recently-completed documentary The Adventures of Saul Bellow will be screened as part of the PBS American Masters series. It was awarded a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities and was a winner of the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film. He is currently directing and producing Cartooning America about one of the world's most popular and controversial cartoon characters in the 1930s, Betty Boop. This film is also supported by the NEH. His celebration of kitsch pop music Army of Lovers in the Holy Land won top honors at the 2018 Haifa Film Festival. He also directed and produced The Muses of Bashevis Singer about the great Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer. His earlier films include The Hebrew Superhero which looks at comic book culture in Israel while Hasidistock is a "joyous and surprisingly profound" documentary on ultra-Orthodox Jewish pop singers.
Press
Trailer released prior to exhibit opening
First teaser trailer available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkDwuOJH5HQ
