CANNES 2025: The Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation has launched Picture from Auschwitz, a virtual filmmaking project preserving authenticity, history and truth

l-r: Maciej Żemojcin, Kristen Davis, Ryszard Horowitz, Paweł Sawicki and Wojciech Soczewica during the panel (© Veronica Orciari)

On Thursday 15 May at the Marché du Film, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial, and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, in partnership with leading professionals from the European film industry, discussed the early development of Picture from Auschwitz. Thanks to new technologies, this location, so symbolic of the Holocaust, can be used as a virtual tool for filmmaking, without forgoing the authentic feel of the place.

The event was moderated by Wojciech Soczewica, CEO of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Foundation, and involved several panellists involved with the project, who mentioned that they were currently looking to raise funds to be able to do the same with the Birkenau site as well, as the only fully developed part of the location is presently Auschwitz 1.

Ryszard Horowitz, a photographer and one of the youngest Auschwitz survivors, who was only around the age of five at the time and was saved by Oskar Schindler, was also in attendance. Horowitz was the creator of the official Cannes Film Festival poster for the 1995 edition and was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame in 2017. He spoke highly of the new possibility of recreating the site for filming: “I have spent most of my professional life as a photographer and not as a filmmaker, but I wish I were a filmmaker in order to take advantage of this possibility myself. Of course, filming on site is always better, but having the chance to access it both ways is great. We are talking about offering film producers and directors virtual access to one of the most horrific places in the world.”

Paweł Sawicki, deputy spokesman at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, highlighted the importance of using this new opportunity to keep people’s eyes open to the importance of the historical site: “We have the truth to protect, and through art, we can protect it, as it can reach billions of people around the world thanks to the modern film industry. Auschwitz is visited by over two million people a year and is a symbol, but in the end, the number of people that can come to the site is lower than the number that can be reached by films.” Later on during the panel, he added: “There is one thing that can only belong to the physical place itself, though: when you leave the memorial, you are left with your thoughts – just like the filmmaker wants you to keep thinking about the film when you leave a movie theatre.”

Director Agnieszka Holland joined the conversation online: “When I was dealing with the past in my films, I always wanted to pay tribute to the victims or speak about the historical truth, but I felt that the story somehow didn’t end there. My first film dealing with the subject was shot in 1985: I was talking about Auschwitz as a sort of vaccination for humanity, especially for Europe. It helped caution against the possibility that it could happen again. In fact, the EU was built against authoritarian imperialism, fascism, nationalism and racism, but nowadays, things are fragile, and those stories are more relevant than ever.”

Holland stated that she’s grateful as a filmmaker and also as a citizen that the initiative and the technology will be used to show what needs to be shown. “I don’t have as much experience with new technology as Hollywood directors, but I do not fear that technology will dismiss creativity; instead, I think it will facilitate it. I know it can be used for the very best purposes, and all of the possible dangers can be overcome.” She concluded by saying that she likes the idea of shooting in any place practically without moving from the stage, as it’s good for the environment, since little travelling is involved.

Maciej Żemojcin, virtual production and AI film expert, mentioned the difficulties of scanning the location: “There is always someone who is in front of the scanning equipment or the lenses, and also, we are not allowed to fly drones, because it’s dangerous and we can’t do it while tourists are there.” He later added that not many pieces of software are prepared for the sheer amount of data, so in many cases, it’s hard to deal with such high quantities of virtual material.

Kristen Davis, CEO and founder of CinqC and strategic lead on this project, also spoke enthusiastically about the usage of new technologies, despite the risks: “It’s not AI that makes deepfakes; it’s people who make deepfakes. On the other hand, AI can be a tool to protect from truth decay. […] For me, what differentiates this virtual film location from all the rest of the material that exists already is that the museum and the foundation actually own the digital replica. The fact is that the memorial and the filmmaker can have a certification of authenticity, and we are constantly becoming more and more aware of the need for it these days.”