If your neighbors were being hunted down and came to  your door begging for help, would you risk your life to save theirs? “No. 4 Street of Our Lady” (90 min.) tells the remarkable story of Francisca Halamajowa, a Polish-Catholic woman who rescued 15 of her Jewish neighbors during the Holocaust while passing herself off as a Nazi sympathizer. On the eve of World War II, more than 6,000 Jews like in Sokal, a small town in Eastern Poland, now part of the Ukraine. By the end of the war, about 30 had survived, half of them rescued by Halamajowa. For close to two years, she hid her Jewish neighbors in her tiny home, cooking and caring for these families right under the noses of hostile neighbors and the German troops camped out on her property. Even among a small minority of Poles who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust, Halamajowa’s story is by all accounts an unusual one because of the number of people she rescued and the amount of time she cared for them. “No. 4 Street of Our Lady” draws on excerpts from a diary kept by Moshe Maltz, who granddaughter, Judy Maltz, is one of the three directors. The film also incorporates testimonies from other Jews saved by Halamajowa, her descendants and former neighbors, as they reconnect on a trip back to Sokal. Penn State filmmakers Maltz, Barbara Bird and Richie Sherman began work in the summer of 2006 and the following year, traveled to Israel and Ukraine for filming, gathering close to 45 hours of material. The film’s release in SPring 2009 culminated nearly three years of work that, in addition to international travel, included journeying to numerous locations across the United States.

 

• Barbara Bird (co-director/co-editor) is an associate professor of communications at PSU where she teaches film/video theory and production.

• Judy Maltz (producer/co-director/co-editor) is a senior lecturer in the department of journalism at PSU with more more than 20 years of experience in reporting and editing.

• Richie Sherman (co-director/cinematographer/editor) is an assistant professor of communications at PSU where he teaches intermediate and advanced film production.

 

AWARDS

• Grand Prize, Best Feature Documentary, Rhode Island International Film Festival, 2009

• CINE Golden Eagle Award, 2009

• Award of Excellence, The Accolade Competition, 2009

• Silver PAlm Award, Mexico International Film Festival, 2009

• 2nd Prize, Best Feature Documentary, Athens International Film Festival, 2009