The film Bardejov (2024) commemorates the emotional, true, and heroic story of a Slovakian Jewish community as the Nazis begin to take over their village. An order has been sent to transfer the town’s young, unmarried women to a work camp. However, the town leaders discover that the women will be sent to Auschwitz, a concentration camp instead; most people who went to Auschwitz never came back.
Helena Schondorf becomes the leader of her peers as they wait to discover their fates and band together to prevent their transfer to Auschwitz.
Just N Life spoke with Emma Renana Bardea about her role as Helena in Bardejov and what it was like to work on the movie.
According to Bardea, Helena, the daughter of a member of the Jewish council supports the other characters as a leader, trying to determine how to help the people around her.
Helena sparks the idea that saves the young women from certain, terrible death.
It was the story, the message of the story, and the truth behind it that interested Bardea in the movie in the first place. Though her family were not victims of the Holocaust, stories of the Holocaust are personal for Bardea. She said, “As a Jewish person, we know all the costs, and having that in our history— doing a movie about it was very important for me.”
To prepare for her role as Helena, Bardea read as much as she could about the Holocaust and specifically how the Holocaust impacted Slovakian Jewish communities. She also watched survivors’ testimonies so she could be as prepared as possible. She used those people’s stories to prepare a Slovakian accent as well.
“I worked by listening and copying in front of the mirror and just feeling their emotions and the nerve they have while talking about it,” Bardea explained. “It’s helped me a lot to kind of build the mindset that I wanted for the character.”
This story, while partially documented in records, comes from Emil Fish’s memory: At the time of the events, he was child living in Bardejov and some of the more specific details came from his memory, giving pointers and help to the actors. He was a big part of shooting the film.
“One day, I had this part of the movie that I needed to sing and I wasn’t sure what the exact melody or … words were,” Bardea said, of Fish’s help. “I sent a message and he, right away, sent me the way to sing it. So he was very involved and easy to work with and just helped us a lot.”
Even in how Danny A. Abeckaser directs the film, a story told by Fish himself, creates the feel of authenticity to the story. Perhaps this is necessary to get across the message that the team was looking to create, what Bardea says, is an important takeaway for herself from the work on the film.
“I feel, especially now with the rise of antisemitism, especially in America, we see people are just not knowing [about this history],” Bardea said, sharing the message she wants the audience to take away. “I think we need to share the story and show a message, project our history, and tell it in a way that will prevent it from happening again.”
“I feel like I want people to try and see the movie as a cautionary tale and Helena as a ray of hope in the movie,” Bardea finished.
Bardejov is available to stream on Tubi.
What's Your Reaction?
