„Julia Pirotte - beauty and strength”.” reveals the legacy of a photojournalist erased from official history—yet unwavering in her pursuit of justice, freedom, and dignity.
Written and directed by: Ewa Pytka
Production: Python Studioss
Co-production National Film Archive - Audiovisual Institute
Film co-founded by Polski Instytut Sztuki Filmowej
Subsidized Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
Patronat: Jewish Historical Institute
Year of production: 2025 2025
A biographical documentary brings back from obscurity the story of Julia Pirotte (1907–2000), a fearless Polish photojournalist of Jewish origin and a resistance fighter in Marseille during World War II. Using her camera as a weapon, Julia documented the French Resistance, the liberation of Marseille, the Kielce Pogrom of 1946, and the World Congress of Intellectuals for Peace in Wrocław in 1948.
Her younger sister Maria, a resistance courier operating between Paris and Marseille, was arrested by the Gestapo while carrying dispatches for the High Command. Executed by guillotine in Wrocław, she cried out to her fellow prisoners as she went to her death: “Courage!”
After decades of silence, in 1980 Julia sent her wartime photographs to France and won first prize at the International Photography Festival in Arles (Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles). There she met Jeanne Vervoort-Vercheval, a Belgian feminist and social activist, and Georges Vercheval, the founder of the Museum of Photography in Charleroi, entrusting him with her negatives, while donating the remainder to the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.
Filmed in France, Belgium, and Poland, the film features rare and previously unpublished archival materials, offering an intimate and moving insight into the world of Julia Pirotte and the turbulent history she witnessed.

TEASER
ABOUT CREATORS
Dr EWA PYTKA – director, screen writer, producer

Script consultant, journalist, and lecturer at, among others, the Warsaw Film School, the Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź (PWSFTViT), the Shanghai Theatre Academy (Film Department), and the Wajda Master School; poet, vocalist, and art coach. A graduate of Polish Philology at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Film Directing at PWSFTiTV in Łódź, and NSFTV in Leeds. Alumna of EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) 2007 and TRANS ATLANTIC PARTNERS 2012—training programs for European, Canadian, and American producers. She also studied art history, philosophy, and theology. Since 2020, she has held a PhD in Film and Theatre Arts from PWSFTViT in Łódź.
Owner of the production company Python Studioss since 2006. She is the author of numerous creative documentaries produced for TVP, ZDF, and Arte, including Stefan Chwin – Archaeologist of Memory (TVP2, 2000); St. Rodziński – Facing the Truth (TVP1, 1995); The Journeys of Olga T. (Tokarczuk) (TVP2, 1996); Auschwitz – Descent into Hell; Czesław Miłosz: A History of 20th-Century Literature; and Der Bernsteinwald. Geheimnisse des Baltischen Meeres, created for the prestigious Terra X series for ZDF and Arte (shot in Poland, Estonia, Russia, Lithuania, and Latvia). For the documentary Bez przemilczeń (Without Omissions), she was nominated for Woman of the Year 2007 by the editorial team of Wysokie Obcasy.
In 2005, she co-founded the thematic channel TVP Kultura. For the Stanisław Wyspiański Theatre in Katowice, she directed *Klincz* by A. Słapowski, based on her own translation. She has directed over 250 episodes of television series, including *Będziesz moja*, *Plebania*, *Barwy szczęścia*, and *Pierwsza miłość*, as well as numerous Television Theatre productions, such as *Winter Under the Table* by Roland Topor, *Operation Heads* (*Operacja Reszka*), for which she received the Special Jury Award at the History Makers 2011 festival in New York in the category of Best Historical Drama; *Breakout* by Wojciech Tomczyk (2016); *Victoria* by Joanna Murray-Smith (2017), which won the award for Best Female Role for Maria Pakulnis at the Two Theatres Festival in Sopot in 2018; and *Helskie Bells* (2019), based on her own screenplay.
She made her feature film debut in 2010 as screenwriter, director, and producer with *Silence Is Golden*, which premiered in Cannes, followed by its American premiere at the Stony Brook Film Festival in 2011. From 2011 to 2016, she served as a juror for the Banff World Media Festival in Canada, evaluating the world’s best scripted television series of each year, from *Boardwalk Empire* to *Downton Abbey*. She is a member of the Polish Film Academy, the Guild of Feature Film Directors, and the Polish Filmmakers Association (SFP), where she serves on the board of the Screenwriters’ Circle.
KACPER LISOWSKI – cinematographer
Born in 1972 in Warsaw. A graduate of the Cinematography Department of the Łódź Film School; cinematographer, screenwriter, and director. Director of photography for documentary films including “Chemia” by P. Łoziński, “The True End of the Cold War” by J. Śladkowski, “You Don’t Even Know How Much I Love You” by P. Łoziński, *“Me, Rosiński” by P. Kielar, and “Julia Pirotte – Beauty and Strength” by Ewa Pytka. His directing work includes the feature film “Stacja Warszawa” (Warsaw Station, co-director), his debut “Ojcze Masz” produced within the 30 Minutes at Studio Munka program, and the feature-length documentaries “World Champion” and “Judges Under Pressure” (nominated for the Polish Film Awards – Orły). In 2025, he made his feature fiction debut with “Psoty” (Mischief), scheduled for premiere in January 2026.
PIOTR CHYLARECKI – cinematographer
Born in 1991, he studied Management and Sociology at the University of Warsaw, and Production Technology and Product Development at Københavns Erhvervsakademi (KEA) in Denmark. He photographs architecture and landscapes and specializes in optimizing data flow processes within organizations. In film, he has gained hands-on experience across multiple departments, including directing, acting, sound, and cinematography.
JAKUB GRZEGOREK – composer
Born in 1967 in Kalisz, he is an actor, voice-over artist, and composer of theatre and film music. He studied at the State Secondary Music School (double bass class). He is a graduate of the Piano Construction Technical School in Kalisz and the Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź.
He has composed music for numerous theatre productions, including *Antigone* (dir. E. Herman), *The Zoo Story* (dir. B. Semotiuk), *Richard III* (dir. J. Maciejowski), *Hamlet* (dir. B. Semotiuk), *A View from the Bridge* (dir. J. Machulski, B. Semotiuk), *The Bachelors’ Club* (dir. M. Okopiński), *A Carol for the Whole Year* (musical; dir. A. Kopff, J. Józefowicz), *General Anders* (dir. Jan Machulski), *Everything in the Garden* (dir. H. Machulska), *Love Story* (dir. M. Pawlicki), *Humbug, or Two Elderly Actors* (dir. Juliusz Machulski, R. Zatorski), *Do Not Lose Hope* (dir. H. Machulska), *Faust* (UK–Polish–German–Spanish production; dir. Ch. Baldwin), *Farewell Waltz* (dir. J. Machulski, T. Mędrzak), *The Return of Przełęcki* (dir. H. and J. Machulski), *From Time to Time* (dir. J. Sutt), *The Bankruptcy of Little Jack* (dir. H. Machulska), *Maiden Vows* (dir. J. Machulski), *King Lear* (dir. J. Machulski), *Pinocchio* (dir. A. Płuszka), *Winter in Moominvalley* (dir. A. Płuszka), and *Tamara* (dir. T. Dutkiewicz).
He has also composed music for feature and documentary films, including *Silence Is Golden* (dir. Ewa Pytka), *Two Roads* (dir. Renata Mazur), *Breaking the Silence* (dir. Ewa Pytka), *Devil’s Patrol* (dir. Urszula Urbaniak), *Girls* (dir. Małgorzata Brama and Rafał Skalski), *Breakout* (Television Theatre; dir. Ewa Pytka), *Love After Nine* (Television Theatre; dir. Łukasz Zadrzyński), *Victoria* (Television Theatre; dir. Ewa Pytka), *The Treasures of King Midas* (Television Theatre; dir. Tomasz Szadkowski), *Helskie Bells* (Television Theatre; dir. Ewa Pytka), and *Julia Pirotte – Beauty and Strength* (dir. Ewa Pytka), as well as several hundred commercial films.
He has collaborated with numerous recording studios (as a voice-over artist, musician, and composer) and film studios, as well as with theatres, orchestras, chamber ensembles, folk groups, choirs, vocalists, and rock, jazz, and pop bands. As a composer, he has worked with directors including Ewa Pytka, Agnieszka Glińska, Urszula Urbaniak, Łukasz Zadrzyński, Marcin Ziębiński, Jan Machulski, Michał Zabłocki, Maciej Dejczer, Juliusz Machulski, Ryszard Zatorski, Dariusz Kuc, Chris Baldwin, Łukasz Kośmicki, Wojciech Smarzowski, Michał Pawlicki, Janusz Józefowicz, Marek Okopiński, Jacek Sutt, Artur Reinhart, Filip Bajon, Andrzej Sawczuk, Tomasz Szadkowski, Mariusz Grzegorzek, Maciej Żak, Witold Iwaszkiewicz, Marek Dawid, Paul Barker, Rafał Lewandowski, Jan Hryniak, Tomasz Dutkiewicz, Witold Sobociński, Jan Maciejowski, and others.
He is a member of ZAiKS, ZASP, and KKMF (the Circle of Film Music Composers).
WIKTOR ZMYSŁOWSKI – editor
Film editor and documentary filmmaker, a member of the Polish Filmmakers Association. He specializes in editing documentary films and short-form works, and has worked, among others, for TVP Dokument, Polsat Rodzina, and cultural institutions such as TR Warszawa, Teatr Komuna//Warszawa, and the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute. He is the author and co-author of documentary films and audiovisual materials for theatre. He worked on the multimedia layer of the performance *“Other People”* (TR Warszawa), which received the award for Best Multimedia at the Boska Komedia Festival 2019, and is a recipient of the “Culture Online” (*Kultura w Sieci*) grant from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
FILM'S CREW
Lenght 80 minutes 29 seconds
Format: 16:9 DCP
Production: Python Studioss Ltd.
Co-production National Film Archive - Audiovisual Institute
Funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
The film is co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.
Patronat: Jewish Historical Institute
Year of production: 2025
Written and directed by: Ewa Pytka
Photos: Kacper Lisowski, Piotr Chylarecki
Sound: Piotr Chylarecki
Editing: Victor Zmyslowski
Soundproofing: Michal Jankowski
Music: Jakub Grzegorek
Opening title animation: Izumi Yoshida
Color correction: Milena Wielgo
Production management: Elżbieta Majdosz
Executive production: Krystyna Pytka
Production: Ewa Pytka
Cast: Jeanne Vervoort-Vercheval, Georges Vercheval, Véronique Vercheval
Grégoire Georges-Picot, Charlotte Doyen
Andrzej Białek, Anna Beata Bohdziewicz, Urszula Fuks, Teresa Śmiechowska
Jakub Małek and others
Polish lectors: Anna Radwan, Maria Pakulnis, Jakub Grzegorek
French lectors Elisabeth Duda, Laure Dabo, Rafael Lewandowski
Poster: Anna Chylarecka
PHOTOS FROM THE FILM








