We are excited to announce Golden Globe winning actor Ron Perlman is narrating Forget Us Not. We had an amazing day in the studio recording the script. His deep, distinctive voice gave everyone chills. Ron is currently in his 5th season of Sons Of Anarchy. Check out photos of our studio session!…
For the 3rd time in less than a year, I am off to Europe to continue filming “Forget Us Not” a documentary about the lesser known groups targeted by the Nazis during WWII. In addition to hauling an entire suitcase full of Victoria Secret and Ugg boots for my sister in law Anna in Munich…
The waitress at the beer garden in Munich where Theresa and I have just had lunch clears her plate with a baffled expression and mutters in German under her breath. Luckily, my brother Ludwig is happy to translate for the etiquette breeching foreigners. Apparently, Theresa has sweet mustard on her plate (which she was …
Our Polish taxi driver rushes in a half an hour late to get us to the airport, apologizing profusely. His battery had died and he managed to get the car running again, but he didn’t dare shut it off so it was idling in the street. He’s a HUGE man and before we can say, “those are really heavy” he scoops up our bags and hustles out the door. We protest, but he simply shrugs and says “No problem, I have wife.”
He gets us to the airport in record time with the added bonus of a fascinating free running commentary on the history of the city. We pass a huge park where people are biking, flying kites and picnicking. Our guide tells us their favorite queen made it a law that this piece of land could never be developed – it must always be a park and a place for the people. It is a law that is literally written in stone. This queen ruled in the 15th century…
“In .7 kilometers, enter round about and take 2nd exit to Ulica Stanislawy Lesczynskieji” It takes 2 GPS units, one Iphone and a lot of swearing, but Theresa and I finally make it out of the hotel parking lot in Krakow on our way to Auschwitz, the .1st concentration camp on our production trip…
Theresa is sick of just talking to me and has been trying earnestly each evening to get locals to converse with her. We are in yet another smoky bar where she is trying to chat up the crowd. However, the young, hip Berliners with their slim cigarettes and practiced indifference are not proving to be a willing audience. The longest conversation yet has been with a bartender who was obviously taking his bored indifference frustration out on me:
“I’ll have a Absolute Vodka Martini”
“You cannot. You can have an Absolute. Or a Vodka Martini, not both.”
“I can’t have a vodka martini made with Absolute?”…
With less than an hour to go before leaving for the airport, I am busy trying to convince myself that the airport personal will not notice I need a chain hoist to lift my suitcase. Theresa has her own problems as her “one carry on and personal item” is actually five different bags. Granted, one is her lunch, which she plans on eating on the way to the airport – if she wasn’t already napping in the back seat of the car. She tells me anytime she is in a car over 45 minutes she falls asleep and that I can blame her parents for driving her around as a colicky baby. I am thinking ahead to the fact that we are spending the next few weeks DRIVING around Poland, Germany and Austria and anticipating my navigator dropping off like a narcoleptic every hour.
…
Ten years ago I visited Dachau concentration camp in Germany and became aware of the Classification Table the Nazi’s used to sort their victims into categories and realized I had no idea who these other people were. 5 million dead seemed like a lot of people not to know about and I mentally filed it away as a possible documentary subject.
After spending the last five years making Small Voices, I had intended to do a piece on poverty in America but found myself suffering from a severe case of poverty fatigue. I decided to do a project completely opposite of Small Voices and found myself remembering about that long ago idea and a new documentary project “Forget Us Not” was born…