The movie
Show notes
The Girl with the Leica opens the Orizzonti section of the 83rd Venice International Film Festival 2026. Directed by Alina Marazzi , with lead actress Emilia Schüle , the film follows the photographer Gerda Taro : her life in Germany in the early 1930s, her exile in Paris, where she meets fellow exile Robert Capa , and her work documenting the consequences of war on the civilian population in Spain. On FRED, Alina Marazzi and Emilia Schüle introduce The Girl with the Leica starting from a sentence Gerda Taro says at one point in the film: “My photos will prove that the real crime is doing nothing.” Not getting numb, not looking away Asked whether Gerda Taro’s photography still speaks to today’s world, Emilia Schüle ties the film directly to the present. “The film is definitely asking this question. It’s reminding us of the power of images and of the responsibility of those people who are shown in the picture and also the people who are witnessing what is shown in the picture. It’s asking us not to get numb, not to look away.” For Alina Marazzi, Gerda Taro’s example is above all about presence and participation. “What Gerda Taro can teach us still today is to be present to our time, and to take part in history. She wanted to give her contribution with her photographs. She wanted to show, for instance, the consequences of war on the civilian population in Spain.” Marazzi draws a direct line to the present: “What’s very important today is that people who are the same age Gerda was then are independent freelance journalists, video makers who very bravely go over to Gaza or Ukraine to document what’s happening there in order to let the world know.” The Girl with the Leica, not The Boy Asked how the film gently sets Robert Capa aside despite his part in the story, Marazzi and Schüle start with the title itself. “The film is called The Girl with the Leica. If we were called The Boy with the Leica, maybe we would be somewhere else.” At the time the story is set, when Gerda
More episodes about The Girl with the Leica
