On August 17, 2025, a screening took place at the Zamenhof Center in Białystok, featuring a film report from Carmel Tanaka and Stefan Hoffmann’s journey through Białystok and the Podlasie region. The event gathered filmmaker Łukasz Kamiński and Carmel Tanaka, who joined online from Vancouver, Canada in a conversation led by Katarzyna Łaziuk — deputy mayor of Mińsk Mazowiecki and an activist committed to Jewish memory.
Carmel and Stefan
At the heart of this project are Carmel and Stefan, bound by friendship and a shared devotion to historical truth. Carmel is an artist and community storyteller based in Vancouver. Her family roots tie her directly to Białystok: her great-grandfather Avram owned the “Białol” vegetable oil factory, and her grandmother Shifra was born and raised there.
Stefan, who lives in Berlin, Germany, has spent years navigating the archives of Yad Vashem, working with care and precision amid vast documentary silences. His own family history intersects with the city as well — his grandfather was stationed in Białystok for several months while serving in the German army during the Second World War.
Together, Carmel and Stefan approached this journey as a living dialogue — part research, part remembrance, part improvisation. Their openness shaped the spirit of the film report and hopefully will continue to guide the creation of the feature-length animated documentary film in upcoming years based on current film.
A Journey That Opens the Script
The film report, documenting the journey with Carmel and Stefan that took place in the mid of June 2025, allowed us to enter the landscapes and histories that shaped Carmel’s family past. Through these encounters, we could begin to understand the texture of memory that will guide the next stages of work: developing the script, planning the principal photography, and preparing the full post-production of the proper film.
What lies ahead is not a film report – which is in fact a stepping stone – but the feature-length animated documentary — a work that will weave archival presence and animation to reflect the fragmented, yet deeply human layers of memory and history.
A trailer
The final version of the film report “Carmel” from Carmel and Stefan’s journey through Podlasie will be released in November 2025. As a preview, a fragment of the film, serving as its trailer, is already available at the following link: https://youtu.be/yOVtSP8lWWM
This screening was part of the project of the Big Picture Association “History opens – creating a film report from the educational package” (“Historia otwiera – realizacja reportażu filmowego z pakietem edukacyjnym”), financed by the City of Białystok.
In the photo: the audience, with Katarzyna Łaziuk on the right in conversation with Łukasz Kamiński and Carmel Tanaka, visible on the monitor on the left, who joined the meeting online.
Source: Białostocki Ośrodek Kultury/Centrum im. Ludwika Zamenhofa