“A powerful fusion of animation and testimony, where art and memory intertwine. Through this masterful blend of visual storytelling and firsthand accounts, ‘Among Neighbors’ transcends traditional documentary form, becoming part magical realism, part investigative reporting and part historical reckoning. At its heart lies a chilling truth.”
- Jewish Journal, ‘Among Neighbors’: A Dark Secret Hidden in History
“Decades after the Holocaust, award-winning American filmmaker Yoav Potash unearths the haunting mysteries of this town, revealing the complex interplay of love and hatred that shaped the lives of local Poles and their Jewish neighbors.”
- Elise Cooper, Crime Spree Magazine, INTERVIEW WITH YOAV POTASH
“Yoav Potash documentary Among Neighbors from 8 Above opens at the Quad in NYC, expands to LA next week. One of the last living Holocaust survivors from the small Polish town of Gniewoszów, along with an aging eyewitness, break decades of silence about Jews who were murdered there six months after the Nazis were defeated. Their stories are brought to life with hand drawn animated sequences and touches of magical realism.”
- Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, Awards Season Advances With ‘After The Hunt’, ‘Urchin’, ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’, ‘Kiss Of The Spider Woman’, ‘A House Of Dynamite’– Specialty Preview
“American director Yoav Potash (A Great Big Secret) adroitly and emotionally counters today’s rising conservative nationalism that whitewashes a country’s past with the last victims and witnesses to the years during and after the Holocaust in Poland.”
- Nora Lee Mandel, Mandel Maven's Nest Lilith Watch, Among Neighbors
“…compelling and wondrously powerful…”
- Richard Alaniz, KPFK Film Club, KPFK Film Club: AMONG NEIGHBORS
“Potash weaves a powerful and, at times, beautiful tale of human suffering, longing and resilience… memories of life in Gniewoszów before and just after the war are illustrated in this film by gorgeous hand-drawn animation created by two international teams. That creative flourish lifts the tale from straight documentary into the realm of magic realism, evoking a lost world with beautiful delicacy.”
- Sue Fishkoff, J-Weekly, Bay Area-linked documentary about post-war Polish village reveals dark secrets
“Poised for an Oscar nomination, Among Neighbors is a dramatically-propelled documentary that ticks off all the qualifications for outstanding work.”
- Bev Questad, It’s Just Movies, Review: Among Neighbors
“Among Neighbors is a very worthy post-Holocaust documentary. I recommend it. We’ve got to keep the memories of our history alive.”
- David Sterritt, Films in Focus, David Sterritt with Films in Focus: Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – I I Had Legs I’d Kick You – Among Neighbors
“Among Neighbors is an evocative and heart-pounding murder mystery with urgent political relevance.”
- Jim Clevenson, The Jewish World, ‘Among Neighbors,’ award-winner at Berkshire fest, to open in New York
“Ten years in the making, the film is a gripping, deeply emotional murder mystery”
- Mark Rifkin, This Week in New York, Not Safe at Home: Among Neighbors at the Quad
“…it is the film’s center, the eyewitness testimony of Catholic witnesses, that will break hearts.”
- Curt Schleier, Jewish Standard, The dark secret of ‘Among Neighbors’
“Such is the mission of Among Neighbor, an anthropological documentary which traces the history of Jewish life in Poland before World War II, and the devastation of the Holocaust wrecked upon these communities – utilizing the secondary point of view of the Polish gentile neighbors who witnessed it happen.”
- Sankeerthna Vedamtam, Movie Jawn, Documentary AMONG NEIGHBORS lays bare the full murkiness of history
"Among Neighbors earns its place as a vital, deeply felt contribution to contemporary Holocaust documentary filmmaking. It is rigorous without being dry, empathetic without being sentimental, and inventive in ways that serve the testimonies rather than overshadow them. The film leaves you with questions that matter and images you won’t shake.”
-Chris Jones, Overly Honest Review, When Witnesses Speak, History Stops Whispering
“This film is beautifully crafted with moving interviews from the older generations and their younger families. The animated scenes of events during the war bring it all home with dramatic impact. Potash’s film should stand as a vital document in the history of Gniewoszów. Documentaries like Among Neighbors can tell a story that isn’t being written in history books in a way that is relatable and accessible. Kudos to Potash for bringing this story to light.”
- Bradley Gibson, Film Threat, Review: Among Neighbors
“Yoav Potash’s quietly disturbing documentary… Among Neighbors ultimately serves as an object lesson for the future of America.”
- Peter Wong, BeyondChron, Reviews From S.F. IndieFest 2025
“The addition of animation is a departure for Potash, who previously earned praise for the 2011 documentary Crime After Crime, and 2010’s Food Stamped... Among Neighbors, meanwhile, looks to be Potash’s most powerful work yet.”
- Rae Alexandra, KQED, Movies We’re Excited About at This Year’s SF IndieFest
“…Among Neighbors, a sort of documentary companion piece to A Real Pain—in that it is also about Jewish Americans traveling to Poland to find what traces they can of their ancestors, whose communities and cultures largely disappeared with the Holocaust.”
- Dennis Harvey, 48hills, Screen Grabs: SF Indiefest kicks out of the gate, ready to rock
“Among Neighbors examines what happened in a small Polish village… It’s about owning up to our history, good and bad.”
- Lance Orozco, KCLU, Film premiering in Santa Barbara tells little known story of post WW II murders of Jews in Poland
*SPOILER ALERT* While we are proud of this NPR news story, listeners should be advised that it reveals details from the final act of the film!
“Among Neighbors shows Polish-Jewish wounds, but so those wounds can heal more quickly, and so that we can understand the less obvious parts of Polish history more easily.”
- Maciej Gąsiorowski, TVP1, Report on "Among Neighbors" winning the film festival Special Award in Warsaw
“It is a story about the coexistence of Polish Catholics and Jews in the small town of Gniewoszów, which was suddenly interrupted by the war, combining contemporary materials, archives and animated fragments. A dark and cruel, but not hopeless, story is discovered by the descendants of former inhabitants who return there years later.”
- Anna Tatarska, Radio 357, Jesse Eisenberg i Jennifer Grey o "Prawdziwym bólu"/ Yoav Potash o polsko-żydowskiej historii/American Film FEstival/za kamerą: Anthony Dod Mantle
“The documentary... shows that there are still stories to be unveiled even 80 years after World War II — tales of violence and murder, as well as of unlikely miracles and survival.”
- Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel, Documentary digs up story of Polish village that butchered its Jews after Holocaust ended
“Potash weaves a powerful and, at times, beautiful tale of human suffering, longing and resilience… memories of life in Gniewoszów before and just after the war are illustrated in this film by gorgeous hand-drawn animation created by two international teams. That creative flourish lifts the tale from straight documentary into the realm of magic realism, evoking a lost world with beautiful delicacy.”
- Hannah Brown, MSN/The Jerusalem Post, New and old movies to be screened across Israel during Holocaust Remembrance Day
“Yoav Potash’s documentary feature [Among Neighbors] received the Envision award, an inaugural laurel awarded to a project that highlights antisemitism”
- Sophia Scorziello, Variety, Jewish Film Institute Awards Completion Grants to Six Independent Films
