“There’s something about the camera that changes reality”: Director Bianca Stigter on Three Minutes: A Lengthening

Three Minutes: A Lengthening is an extraordinary dive into a forgotten past. Delving into three minutes of amateur 16mm footage shot in 1938 by American immigrant David Kurtz, in his hometown of Nasielsk, Poland, Bianca Stigter’s contemplative, mournful documentary seeks to revive the quotidian knowledge about the people of the town and their surroundings. Less than a year after Kurtz’s visit, the town’s Jewish contingent, making up roughly 3,000 of its 7,000-strong population, were decimated by Nazi occupation. The 16mm strip of film with which David Kurtz captured the town in all its everyday vibrancy is the only distillation of their memory that remains. 

Taking its cue from a book based on the research of Glenn Kurtz (grandson of David), which sought to build a network of resuscitated knowledge about the people photographed in his grandfather’s home footage, Stigter builds upon Kurtz’s research to construct the most accurately detailed portrait of the town and its inhabitants as is possible. It is a sombre tribute to their memory, and to the power of film.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking to Bianca Stigter about how she first came into contact with Glenn Kurtz and the three minutes of footage taken by his grandfather, the stylistic choices that make it such an encompassing experience, and the power of film as a democratic, levelling tool.

Matthew McMillan

Three Minutes: A Lengthening is released in select cinemas and on Curzon Home Cinema on 2^nd December 2022. Read our review here.

Watch the trailer for Three Minutes: A Lengthening here: