Canada-Poland copro Irena’s Vow, an all-too-timely true story of a Catholic woman who saved the lives of a group of Jewish refugees in German-occupied Poland during the Second World War, took seven years to make it to the big screen, the filmmaking team revealed in conversation with Playback Daily on the eve of the film’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

The feature is directed by Quebec filmmaker Louise Archambault and written by Canadian-American-Israeli scribe Dan Gordon, adapting his play of the same name. It is produced by Toronto prodco Darius Films, Montreal’s Entract Studios, and Poland’s K&K Selekt.

Both the film and the play tell the true story of Irena Gut — played on screen by Montreal-born actor Sophie Nélisse (Yellowjackets) — a Polish nurse who saved a dozen Jewish refugees by hiding them in the home of the German officer she worked for (portrayed by Scottish actor Dougray Scott). The film had its world premiere at TIFF on Sunday (Sept. 10), followed by a Q&A that included Gut’s daughter, Jeannie Smith, as well as Roman Haller, the son of one of the Jewish families that were saved.

Berry Meyerowitz, co-founder of Quiver Distribution and an executive producer on the film, tells Playback Daily that Gordon brought the story to his business partner, Quiver co-founder Jeff Sackman, in 2016, and the two became determined to create a film adaptation.

Pulling together the financing was a “puzzle,” according to Meyerowitz. The first piece fell into place about six years ago when they met producer Beata Pisula of K&K Selekt at the Cannes Film Festival, who agreed to serve as a producer out of Poland, where the film would be shot.

Meyerowitz says he and Sackman soon determined that a Canada-Poland copro approach was the best way forward. Both Quiver (which serves as the U.S. distributor for the film) and Gordon have roots in Canada, and the long-existing treaty between the two countries solidified the decision. They eventually found their lead producer in Darius Films’ Nicholas Tabarrok.

“It took a couple years just to get our structure down, review the budgets and hone the material,” says Meyerowitz. “We started to make headway, but, you know, two steps forward, one step back. It was difficult timing in the marketplace.”

The project began to gain momentum about three years ago, Meyerowitz continues, as the team was able to tap into production support from Telefilm Canada and the Polish Film Commission. They were also able to receive support from SODEC through their Quebec-based producer, Tim Ringuette of Entract Studios.

Other partners eventually came on board, including Canadian distributor Elevation Pictures and U.K.-based international sales agent WestEnd Films, but Meyerowitz said Quiver had to “put up a sizable advance” as the U.S. distributor in order to help meet the nearly $10 million production budget. They also found private financing to make up for the shortfall. “At this point [the film] became a real passion project for us,” he says.

Meyerowitz says Tabarrok led the charge in bringing on Archambault, for whom Irena’s Vow would mark her first English-language theatrical feature. The director says she was drawn to the project because of the strength of the true story it was based on. “It crosses boundaries of culture, of religion, and even nationalities,” she says. “I think, more than ever, we need that kind of story to be told.”

Archambault says that the film was shot in 29 days in a number of locations in Poland, including Warsaw and the city of Lublin. Production began in spring 2022, just months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began. In fact, the first day filming was an exterior shot in Lublin, with the city streets dressed as they were back in 1945. Both Archambault and Meyerowitz say it was a shock to people walking by, which included Ukrainian refugees.

“To be shooting this movie when the war had started… was one of the most emotional experiences,” says Meyerowitz. “All of the cast and crew were eerily aware of what was going on 200 kilometres away.”

Meyerowitz says producers are banking on the emotional impact of the film to attract buyers during TIFF, noting that they limited presales to a few territories (Spain, Portugal, and Israel) because “we think that the movie speaks much louder once you see it finished in a community and with people who are going to respond.”

Image courtesy of TIFF