The Last Jew from Drohobych Alfred Schreyer - rosdy film kg

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The Choral (Great) Synagogue in DrohobychBruno Schulzin 1910. His third book, The Messiahs, was never completed.The manuscript, until today, is lost. Bruno Schulzwas also an accomplished painter. He did not survivethe Second World War. During a Nazi Action in 1942 hewas shot in the streets of Drohobych.CINEMA LOBBY ORCHESTRASAccording to Alfred Schreyer, the Soviet Union is theonly place that had a tradition of Cinema Lobby Orchestras.It is unclear when exactly this unique piece of cinemaculture was founded. The tradition ended - atleast in Drohobych – when Alfred Schreyer played hislast concert in a cinema lobby on January 10, 1963.Alfred Schreyer’s orchestra had a singer and eleven instrumentalists– three saxophones, two trumpets andtrombone, piano, drums, accordion, violin and bass.They played various overtures, Soviet songs, waltzesand created special arrangements when a music filmwas in the schedule.The orchestras would play in the cinema lobby, whichhad a stage and curtain in Soviet times, for 30 to 40 minutesbefore screening time. Each week the music programwas changed.Alfred Schreyer remembers how people loved themusic. And I must say, it happened, from time to time variouspeople bought the ticket, listened to the music concertand left, just to hear a bit of music. It was very, veryoften like this. Drohobych had two Cinema LobbyOrchestras, according to Alfred Schreyer. In Lviv therewere four.THE BRONIZA WOODSThere are many forests in Eastern Europe where Jewswere shot, but this hell on earth is especially rememberedin the Broniza Woods. This is thanks to the massgrave plates that Wilhelm Tepper from Israel erected,after the downfall of the Soviet Union.INTERVIEW WITH PAUL ROSDYHow did you meet Alfred Schreyer?Originally I wanted to make a very different movie, butwhen I met Alfred Schreyer, during my research in Drohobych,I knew that I must make this movie. He showedme his photos and began to tell his remarkable story.Other then the concentration camps and post-war time,he had spent his whole life in Drohobych, but he experiencedeverything that life has to offer, in the bad aswell as in the good. I was deeply moved.He was a student of Bruno Schulz.When one, like me, spends a lot of time in Drohobychand knows his humble, small but so important works ofwriting, it becomes clear; The Street of Crocodiles and TheSanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass are felt andseen on every street corner in Drohobych. Just like AlfredSchreyer, Bruno Schulz spent most of his life in Drohobych.His great pieces of world literature owe somuch to this wonderful, but neglected, city in WesternUkraine.
The orchestra of the Komsomolez Cinema in DrohobychWhat is the evil, in the context of Alfred Schreyer’s life?The evil for him is, of course, the Nazis, the forced laborcamps, and the inconceivable story of what happenedin Drohobych. In the Broniza Woods, where you can findthese mass graves plates, hell has a face. And I find thisto be very important. From the beginning it was clear,the film must end here. And when Alfred told me thatthe only music composition he ever wrote was the song,Broniza Woods, well, as a film author, there was nothingelse to ask for.And the good?The fact that Alfred has not lost his optimism is somehowreflected in this truly unique tradition of theCinema Lobby Orchestra culture of the Soviet Union. Iadmire his resilience. Here was this young man who losteverything one can lose, but his life. He survived due toluck and in part to the songs he sang in the dark hoursin the concentration camps. Spontaneously, he decidedto return where there was no one and nothing left forhim. If he would have stayed two or three months longerin the barracks of the Red Cross in Berlin, he most likelywould have ended up in Buenos Aires and his lifewould have taken a very different route. Everyone of ushas made decisions that shaped the rest of our lives.Usually one realizes this much later. But one must reconcilethat and move forward. Alfred Schreyer moved hislife forward in a wonderful way. He tells and leads us –in the present time – from hell in his hometown to aworld of music and endurance.He found his luck, despite everything, in the fantasticCinema Lobby Orchestra tradition. For me, the CinemaLobby Orchestra is like a dream that I was never able todream, because, for example in Vienna, we only had rathertacky fashion shows before the movies. I rememberin my youth that everything from the Soviet Union wasrejected. But the Soviets had romance in the CinemaLobby, when the orchestra played, which would havebeen great to experience. Many older people in the formerSoviet Union still dream about these orchestras,and now I do as well. I am very grateful to AlfredSchreyer for this.You made this film almost completely alone, not takinginto consideration the camera work.Yes, thanks to fantastic technical developments, we shotthis film with a photo camera. Considering this, the qualityof the images is breathtaking. In the beginning I hadvery little money, but I knew we had to shoot this film assoon as possible. So I asked Peter Roehsler if he wouldcome with me to Drohobych and shoot it. Being awareof Drohobych, he said yes right away. I am grateful tohim, because he took a risk with me, since the financingwas not yet secured. I then got some good microphonesand we shot the movie in a week in September 2010,and then two more days in May 2011. But, aside fromPeter and me, I must mention our driver Vasyl Levtschyk,because we had some difficulties getting access to locations.Vasyl did not speak German or English and we didnot speak Ukrainian or Russian, but he always understoodright away. He always knew what the problem wasand solved it with a chicken and a bottle of Vodka. Sohe was not only our driver but also an intelligent lineproducer for us. Thank you, Vasyl.
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