Chasing Portraits

Searching for the Art of Polish Painter Moshe Rynecki

Moshe Rynecki (1881-1943) was a prolific Warsaw-based artist who painted scenes of the Polish-Jewish community until he was murdered at Majdanek. After the Holocaust, Moshe's wife was only able to recover a small fraction of his work, but unbeknownst to the family, many other pieces survived.

For more than a decade his great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Rynecki, has searched for the missing art, with remarkable and unexpected success. Spanning three generations, CHASING PORTRAITS is a deeply moving narrative of the richness of one man's art, the devastation of war, and one woman's unexpected path to healing.

Official Selection at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and New York Jewish Film Festival.

"Part Woman in Gold and part family home movie, with shades of Everything Is Illuminated and Antiques Roadshow, the documentary Chasing Portraits is both funnier and deeper than even its compelling premise suggests." - Shana Nys Dambrot, LA WEEKLY