Actor and director Jesse Eisenberg received a Polish passport from Polish President Andrzej Duda at a formal ceremony in New York. Eisenberg’s film A Real Pain, which won an Oscar this year in the Best Supporting Actor category (for Kieran Culkin), is based on the actor’s personal story.

The idea for the film came to Eisenberg in 2019 after the death of his great-aunt, a Polish Jew who managed to leave Poland in 1938 and move to the United States.

Receiving the passport from President Andrzej Duda, Eisenberg admitted that he was «incredibly moved» and sees this «the first step for my family in restoring a connection with this beautiful country.»

«When we were filming in Poland, I walked through the streets and started to feel a little more familiar with the country. A thought struck me: my family lived here much longer than they did in New York,» Eisenberg said during the official ceremony. «And, of course, that story ended tragically, but in addition to that tragedy, there was another one: my family no longer felt any connection to Poland. And that saddened me and convinced me that I should truly try to restore that connection as much as possible.»

Eisenberg applied for Polish citizenship in May last year, as he meets the official requirement: a Polish passport can be obtained by anyone who has direct ancestors who were born in the country or lived there after 1920. In an interview with the Polish outlet Głos Wielkopolski, he admitted that he is deeply saddened by the lost connection between Poles and Jews.

«My family is from here, my wife’s family is from here,» he said. «Poland made me feel a true connection to something historically significant, something greater than myself.»