The Lonely Child

Director Marc Smolowitz and producer/writer/participant Alix Wall expected to attend

Nearly eighty years after Yiddish composer Shmerke Kaczerginski wrote a lullaby in the Vilna Ghetto, director Marc Smolowitz follows Bay Area journalist Alix Wall, the daughter of the girl immortalized in the mournful song “Dos Elnte Kind.” What begins as a personal investigation expands outward as she invites musicians across generations and geographies to reinterpret the lullaby for the present.

The song emerged under extraordinary circumstances, when a select group of Jewish intellectuals was forced to catalog cultural artifacts destined for the Nazis’ planned “Museum of an Extinct Race.” In response, the Paper Brigade arose, secretly smuggling and safeguarding materials for future generations. Among its members were Kaczerginski and Wall’s grandmother, Rachel Pupko-Krinski, whose daughter was being raised in Poland by a non-Jewish nanny. Inspired by her story, Kaczerginski wrote the poem as a tribute to children forced into hiding during the war. Through candid conversation and stirring performances, The Lonely Child reflects on artistic expression as resistance and how a song carries history forward as living memory. —Lori Donnelly

World Premiere

JFI Supported: 2018 Filmmaker in Residence

Marc Smolowitz is a multi-award-winning director, producer, and executive producer who has worked on more than 60 independent films. His work has screened at over 300 festivals and markets worldwide, including Sundance, Berlin, Venice, SXSW, Tribeca, Locarno, IDFA, and DOC NYC, resulting in global distribution across theatrical, television, and VOD platforms. Over three decades, he has helped raise more than $35 million for independent films. Recent credits include Outerlands (2025), directed by Elena Oxman and starring Asia Kate Dillon, which premiered at SXSW and received a 2026 Independent Spirit Award nomination, and Lady Champagne (2026), directed by D’Arcy Drollinger, which opened Frameline50. In 2009, he founded 13th Gen, a San Francisco–based production company supporting independent filmmakers worldwide.