About The Film

Tracing the history of an old family photograph, the filmmaker, Esther Podemski, travels to Poland with a group of her parents' contemporaries. Fifty years after surviving the Holocaust, the elders return to their hometown, Poddebice, to conduct a memorial service in the Jewish graveyard. They find an empty field, marked by a lone tablet, the only testament to the history of this place to survive the wartime desecration. In the nearby city of Lodz , we meet Layb Pradskier, custodian of the immense, crumbling Jewish cemetery. Here we discover that all that remains of the once several hundred thousand strong Jewish population of Lodz is a handful of aging Holocaust survivors. Lodz, and indeed all of Poland, exemplifies the success of the Holocaust; Poland is all but totally cleansed of Jews. A montage of historical images, snapshots, and archival music, together with new location footage, House of the World moves between personal accounts of Jewish Poland and historic events.

About the Director

Esther Podemski is a filmmaker and visual artist whose works have been exhibited in galleries, film festivals and academic venues. House of the World, her documentary about the aftermath of the Holocaust, was shot in Poland and has been showcased in European and American art centers and festivals, including Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, Lincoln Center, and Los Angeles International Jewish Film Festival. Discovery Communication and Jewish Broadcast Network purchased the film for broadcast. Podemski has exhibited her paintings in the Pacific Northwest and in New York City. Her grants include the New York State Council on the Arts, The Jerome Foundation, The Soros Foundation, The Memorial Foundation For Jewish Culture, and the Yaddo Residency Program. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at Parsons School of Design in New York, Pacific Northwest College of Art, and Sarah Lawrence College. Recent exhibitions include 5 Days in July, a two-screen projection that revisits the Newark riots of 1967. This work has exhibited at numerous museums, galleries, and festivals. It won the director's choice award at the Black Maria Film Festival and the jury award for the best short at The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival.

Major Funders

The Soros Documentary Fund (Sundance Institute)
New York State Council For The Arts
Jerome Foundation
Oregon Council for the Humanities
Pennsylvania Humanities Council Media Grant for Documentary film
Memorial Foundation For Jewish Culture , Post Production Grant
Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, Distribution Grant
New School For Social Research, Faculty Development Grant for Film
Jacob Kryszek Family Fund
Mollie Hess Fund
Max and Hania Podemski
Ben and Paula Podemski

Additonal Funding

The Puffin Foundation Distribution Grant
The Lucius and Eva Eastman Foundation Distribution Grant
The Experimental Television Center Distribution Grant
The Wyss Family Foundation
John and Joan Shipley
Laurie L. Balmuth
Alysia Duckler
Aandrew G. Galass
Bernard Carr
Kelley Bruggere
Maurice O. Georges
Susan Pentlin