13 September 2005

Toronto

Summer in Toronto! Nan Melville, my talented camera operator from New York, and I flew in from West Palm Beach, Florida, where it was incredibly hot and humid, via Dallas in Texas. In West Palm we stayed with and interviewed Leo (Polda) Lowy, one of Hanus Hachenburg's friends from Terezin (for our documentary 'Looking for a Monster'). Hanus was murdered in Auschwitz, two days before his 15th bithday, in 1944. The filming is going really well and the interviews are completely inspring. Every day I'm learning more about this fascinating poet, Hanus and his talented friends, who were prisoners in Terezin, before their deportation to Auschwitz in 1943/4. I think we might have found the only surving photograph of Hanus! This is an unbelievable find, after working for over five years on this research. Both Leo and George Brady (in the middle on the photo) have confirmed this. Today we interview John Freund (on the right in the photo). It's our final day shooting in north America, before I wizz off to visit a friend in Montreal and then on to lecture at the University of North Michigan next week...