SYNOPSIS
Michael W. King Filmmaker
While Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List illuminated the previously little-known story of a German businessman who saved hundreds of Jews from the concentration camps during WWII, there were many such heroes who defied the Nazis to save countless Jews from a similar fate—chief among them the 13 diplomats whose efforts are documented in this riveting documentary from Emmy-winning filmmaker Michael King and Executive Producer Joyce D. Mandell.
The film traces the journey of Stephanie Nyombayire, a young Rwandan anti-genocide activist who teams up with Sir Martin Gilbert, the renowned Holocaust historian, to travel across 15 countries and three continents interviewing survivors and descendants of the diplomats who rescued tens of thousands of Jews from the unspeakable horrors of the Nazi death camps. While Nyombayire embarks upon this quest in an effort to uncover potential solutions for the ongoing genocide in Darfur and elsewhere, what emerges from their journey is more a testament to the ways in which the inherent good in the human spirit can trump institutional evil no matter what the circumstance.
Michael W. King Filmmaker
Michael King has produced, directed and written documentaries, music videos and feature films for over two decades. Currently he’s developing a feature film Awake in the Dark about a soldier’s long journey home with post traumatic stress, written by Academy Award nominated writer Richard Friedenberg (A River Runs Through It). Also he’s directing a feature length documentary about TBI/PTS in association with the Department of Defense, National Intrepid Center of Excellence, and Warrior Canine Connection titled Intrepid ( see trailer ) for release in mid 2014.
In 1991, his MTV music video on Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech I Have A Dream received national recognition. In 1995 he produced, directed and wrote a PBS documentary titled, Making A Living, The African-American Experience. In 1997, he directed and wrote his first feature film, Vanity Kills, in the Czech Republic. In 1999, King’s PBS documentary on youth violence in America, Bangin’, won the Emmy and International Television and Video Association Award for Best Documentary and Best Editing. In 2007, he completed a feature documentary entitled Rapping with Shakespeare (2008), which examines how a popular English teacher used hip-hop and rap to help his students to better access Shakespeare’s works.
The film also explores the lives of five South Central Los Angeles teenagers attending Crenshaw High School and the parallels between their experiences and that of Shakespeare’s characters. King was nominated for an A&E Indie Filmmaker Award in 2008 for Rapping with Shakespeare. He also was the executive producer for the American Film Institute film, Crenshaw Nights (2008) starring Vondie Curtis-Hall and Judd Nelson.
