A Film about Music, Friendship, and Lost Memories
Balkan Jazz delves into the private, fading memories of three musicians who narrowly escaped death in Bulgaria during World War II. It focuses on the story of Niko Nissimov, a pioneer of jazz in Bulgaria who played with the greatest jazz musicians of his era. First in Strasbourg in the mid-1930s, where, in between his classes to become a pharmacist, he played jazz in historical venues to support himself. Later in Bulgaria, he founded with his friends a popular jazz band, The Optimists, and he and his friends continued to perform as The Optimists after they emigrated to Israel in 1948.
During the Holocaust, Niko was drafted to work as a pharmacist in a state hospital, and it was from there that he was deported by the Bulgarian authorities (headed by a high school friend) along with the rest of the Jews of the town. A chain of coincidences saved his life. When the train with the deportees passed near a slave labor camp in which Niko’s brother Harry worked, Harry was able to notify Niko’s non-Jewish friends, and they managed to save Niko from the transport even though he had been deported and detained. This rescue occurred shortly before the other deportees were sent to be killed in Treblinka.
This is not just Niko and his friends’ story but the story of a generation, and their struggles to survive during the holocaust in Bulgaria. They showed high spirits in dire times and were lucky to get help from friends and decent people. Friendship and humanity prevailed in the end and saved their lives.
Balkan Jazz is complete and is due for festival release starting June 2024.
Director – Jacob Comforty
