The Stage 32 Videos: World War Two

The main theme for the upcoming feature film, THE MESSAGE, a story of WW2 Hungary and its controversial leader Miklos Horthy in a tale of judging, judgement, and, perhaps, forgiveness. Music composed by Kaizad Patel & Firoze Patel. Instruments by Violin Solo by Marat Bisengaliev, Cello solo by Salauat Karibayev, Baritone - Frazan Kotwal, and English Horn by Eddie Chung.

DIRECTOR Davide Campagna (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6950929/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0) MY ROLE Production Assistant PLOT The story is set in South Tyrol, in the north Italy, during World War II The lifes of a Jew girl, Anastasia, and a circus boy, Thomas, meet when the little circus of Freit family arrives in the city. They soon fall in love; but their love is full of sacrifices, because of the racial laws. So Anastasia decides to hide in the circus, but also there the situation is hard because of the son of the Circus Director, Artur, who hates her because of her Jewish origins and wants her out of the circus. At the same time all the family of Anastasia, staying at home is deported. Only the sister of Anastasia, Greta, will luckily survive. After a series of unfortunate events, Anastasia will be obliged to mask herself first, then to escape from the circus. The story continues trough thick and thin, following an impossible love story between Anastasia and Thomas.

At the end of WWII the Red Army advances on the Prussian front. Georg, a young German officer, father of two, is shot dead by marauding soldiers in front of his Jewish-heritage Ukrainian wife, and his eldest daughter. The bereaved family heads west to Westphalia, and years later arrives in Canada. Departing from a collection of period artifacts, this film explores family historiography and memory in a post-war setting, dealing with the complex layers and dilemmas of identity, place- and memory- making, the inter-generational transmission of trauma and memory, and the struggles to reconstruct life and home after conflict. On the occasion of the 70th Anniversary of D-Day, and in the aftermath of the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea, these dilemmas are as current as ever.

Promo for a recent stage production in NYC.