Expats Living in Shanghai
Home >Expats Living in ShanghaiFirst feature film on Jews in Shanghai.
Update：2013-12-10 00:56 Views：
WHEN Branko Lustig was only a child, he and his family were imprisoned for two years in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen concentration camps. Most family members perished in camps throughout Europe, but the young Croation survived, though he weighed only 66 pounds (30 kilos) on the day of liberation. His mother too survived and they were later reunited.
He went on to become a prominent Croation film producer, the man behind two Oscar-winning Best Picture films, "Schindler's List" (1993) and "Gladiator" (2000). Both were also great commercial successes.
Now Lustig, at age 79, has made his first trip to Shanghai and is teaming up with local film makers to produce the first feature about Jews sheltering in the "Noah's Ark" city to escape the Nazis in World War II.
Shanghai accepted more than 30,000 Jews and many other refugees without visas, at a time when other countries refused to take them in. Jews lived in what was called "Little Vienna" (Hongkou District) that had synagogues, libraries, coffee shops, pastry shops, theaters, newspapers and everything else a small community would need.
"I was impressed by the history of the city," says Lustig. "In the concentration camp, the food was bad and Germans were killing them (Jews), but here in Shanghai it was different. It was a life here."
The new film, with a working title "The Melanie Violin," is budgeted at US$35-40 million and will be filmed in Shanghai by the end of this year and released worldwide next year.
It is adapted from a novel by Chinese-American writer He Ning (also the scriptwriter) about a Jewish violinist who flees to Shanghai from Europe, taking with him the violin that belonged to his late wife Melanie.
He falls in love with a Shanghainese woman and during the Japanese occupation becomes friends with a Japanese soldier who loves music.
Lustig says he prefers the title "The Last Station," implying that Shanghai was the last resort for persecuted people.
The cast has not been chosen, but Lustig says he is considering a Chinese-American director who can give the film a feeling of what was happening in Shanghai from 1935 to 1945.
"The movie is also expected to include big scenes to get the feeling how big Shanghai is," he adds.
While much has been written about the period, there has been no feature film focusing on the Jewish and emigre community in Shanghai. An animated film was released last year.
Lustig was honored by the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust in 2009 for his commitment to Holocaust education and commemoration.
He jokes that he has a big influence on directors, noting that over 50 years he has given them nice apartments and they have given him nice work.
Lustig expects great visuals, high artistic values and emotional power, as well as box-office appeal.
"Schindler's List," about Oskar Schindler who rescued Jews during the war, was a worldwide success, grossing more than US$320 million.
Lustig says his only criterion is "excellence."
"We will probably put in a little bit of action and elements," he says. "You know, when you cook, you can put everything together."
He expects "The Melanie Violin" to also include scenes from the protagonist's life in Europe.
"We will leave the audience impressed by what has happened to the violin before the musician came to China and how his wife died," Lustig reveals.
Last year the Shanghai Animation Film Studio produced the animated feature "A Jewish Girl in Shanghai," which depicts the friendship between local children and a Jewish girl, despite differences in language and culture.
For author-scriptwriter He Ning, "The Melanie Violin" is more than a movie, it's a memorial to Shanghai's friendship with the Jewish community.
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