Chasing Portraits

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 - San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 2018

Official Selection - New York Jewish Film Festival 2019

"Though she begins her travels with a desire to reclaim as much of Moshe’s work as possible, Elizabeth's encounters with museum curators and others who have lived with the paintings and sculptures give way to a heightened sense of importance...in addition to the tragic, miraculous history behind the pieces, Moshe’s depictions of the everyday lives of Polish Jews in the 1920's and 1930's serve as a window into a thriving community of 3 million that would later be nearly erased. By allowing us a similarly intimate seat next to Elizabeth on her journey, Chasing Portraits is an emotional trip for the viewer as well."- Andrew Shearer, Athens Banner-Herald

"This moving portrait of one woman's effort to connect with her family history and particularly with a man she never knew had me tearing up. The connections she made with her great grandfather across time and space was magical. Highly recommended." - Steve Kopian, Unseen Films