Life of Gerda Taro, the First Female Photojournalist Killed in Action, Depicted in ‘The Girl with a Leica’ at Venice

According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Gerda Taro was only 26 years old when she became the first female photojournalist to lose her life on the battlefield; however, it took several decades for her true role and contribution to the art of photography to be recognized. The Girl with a Leica, directed by Alina Marazzi, which opens the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival, seeks to compensate for this historical oversight and pay tribute to Taro’s passionate and energetic spirit.

Marazzi was familiar with Taro’s work before Helena Janeczek’s novel about the photographer was published in 2018. Shortly thereafter, the two met to explore how to adapt the story for the screen. The screenplay was written by Marazzi and Valia Santella, with Taro portrayed by Emilia Schüle, the lead actress of the series Marie Antoinette.

The biggest change Marazzi made in her adaptation was telling the story from Taro’s own point of view, whereas the book recounted her story through the memories of three of her friends during the 1960s looking back at the past.

By contrast, the film focuses on July 14, 1937—Bastille Day (France’s national day celebrating freedom). In Paris, Taro meets her friends, including her lover and fellow photographer André Friedman, and prepares to return to Spain to cover the news of the Spanish Civil War.

Through flashbacks, the film shows how Taro—originally named Gerta Pohorylle—met her friends, some of whom she had known since her involvement in left-wing activism in Leipzig before they were forced to flee following the Nazis’ rise to power.

In Paris, she developed a passion for photography and began collaborating with Friedman. Together, they created the pseudonym “Robert Capa”—an invented American photographer—to sell their work more easily to the U.S. market. Many of Taro’s photographs were published under Capa’s name, which overshadowed and obscured her contributions after Friedman adopted the pseudonym exclusively.

Through Taro’s eyes, the film depicts the cultural and artistic atmosphere of 1930s Paris, particularly its Central and Eastern European immigrant community. These refugees were often forced to adopt new roles and identities to survive. Among Taro’s inner circle were Fred Stein and David “Chim” Seymour, both of whom went on to become prominent photographers. “Besides being a source of income, photography allowed them to create a ‘visual language’ and ‘express their perspective,'” Marazzi said on the eve of the film’s premiere in Venice.

Seymour, born Dawid Szymin, co-founded the pioneering Magnum Photos agency in 1947 alongside Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and others. Much like Taro, both Seymour and Capa died while on photographic assignments, serving as a reminder of the dangers of photojournalism. Three boxes of negatives taken by Taro, Capa, and Seymour during the Spanish Civil War went missing in 1940 and were only rediscovered in 2007—an event that finally enabled an accurate reassessment of Taro’s role in the birth and evolution of photojournalism.

To reconstruct Taro’s character, Marazzi relied not only on Janeczek’s novel but also on the first biography written about Taro by German historian Irme Schaber. This source added details about Taro’s political struggles in 1930s Germany, where she, along with other left-wing friends like Georg Kuritzkes, opposed the rise of nationalism.

The film also explores her motivation for traveling to Spain during the Civil War—a journey undertaken in the hope of achieving a “better society,” as Marazzi describes it.

The cinematic work portrays the hardships of daily life for Taro and Ruth Cerf (another friend from her Leipzig days) upon their initial arrival in Paris. Yet despite the struggles, the film’s staging and mise-en-scène are far from dark and somber. According to Marazzi, it offers a glimpse of “simple, penniless young people who like to have fun and enjoy life.”

Alongside Taro’s political commitment, the film focuses on the “vibrant and lighthearted” side of her personality, showing how she and her friends spent their days cultivating deep friendships and romantic relationships.

“She was a young, passionate, beautiful, and charismatic woman; therefore, she did not sacrifice her personal life to become a strong photographer and political militant,” Marazzi says. “The combination of these two aspects was what I felt was important to convey. That is part of being in your twenties. You are not merely a two-dimensional character who believes they must solely go and fight for a better world.”

The director did not want to make a “mere period piece,” so the actors speak in a modern, contemporary style. She adds: “As a woman, Gerda feels like a very modern figure in how she tries to define her identity. She discovers herself along the way.”

To emphasize Taro’s brilliant personality and the internal emotions driving her, the film employs vivid visual imagery, such as Bastille Day fireworks in the background and the deep red roses gifted to her by Friedman. Marazzi notes that she allowed herself to be “captivated by the beauty of the imagery” and was also “influenced by the experimental and avant-garde cinema of the 1930s.”

From the filmmaker’s perspective, the movie’s relevance to contemporary global issues is clear. “There are striking parallels between the 1930s and the present day, and the surge of right-wing nationalism strongly reminds us of that era,” Marazzi says. Furthermore, “the presence and involvement of journalists in conflicts such as those in Ukraine and Gaza can be traced back to the Spanish Civil War.” She notes that now, as then, journalists demonstrate that “democratic values are at risk,” adding that “many media personnel have been killed in both conflicts. If Gerda were alive today, she would likely be traveling to one of those two regions.”