BY OWEN SHAPIRO // Written by: Tom Friedmann and Owen Shapiro

Experimental Enacted Documentary - 89 Minutes

 

A dramatized documentary that combines eyewitness testimony, recreated events, authentic documentation, and interviews with the offspring of people who were among the 930 Holocaust refugees allowed into the USA from WW11. These refugees were placed in an army barracks in Oswego, New York until freed by Harry Truman in 1946.

 

AWARDS / SHOWINGS

  - Silver Award, Philadelphia International Film Festival

  - Grand Geyser, Yellowstone Film Festival

  - Best of Fest, Dahlonega International Film and Video Festival

  - Honorable Mention, Black Maria Film Festival, New Jersey

  - Honorable Mention, Columbus International Film and Video Festival

  - Official Selection, New York International Independent Film and Video Festival

  - Official Selection, Rhode Island International Film Festival

  - Arizona International Film Festival

  - Salt Lake City Film Festival

  - Block Museum, Northwestern University

  - St. Louis Holocaust Museum

  - Hoyt’s Carousel Cinemas, Syracuse, New York

  - Cazanovia College Theater, Cazanovia, New York

  - Time Warner Cable broadcast, Central New York

  - WCNY TV broadcast, Central New York

 

"'Prisoners of Freedom' brings history to life."

by Jodie M. Heim

 

For the past five years, Owen Shapiro of Syracuse has worked to bring the historical drama located in Syracuse's backyard. Shapiro, head of the film program at Syracuse University, directed the film "Prisoners of Freedom," about the refugee camp located on Fort Ontario from August 1944 to January 1946 that housed Jewish refugees from war-torn Europe. Tom Friedmann and Les Friedmann wrote the screenplay for the film.

 

The move has talent from all over the Syracuse area. With a tight budget, Shapiro worked to produce a movie that portrayed the sensitivity of the subject and captured the reality of the time.

Two East Syracuse women, Sally Tourva and Nancy Parsons, were cast in the drama and joined filming at Syracuse University.

 

Parsons said the experience was thrilling.

"I ended up working on the film and I never actually watched a film being made," said Parsons.

Casting director Christine Fawcett said the cast exceeded 120 people. She asked Tourva to be in the film because as a little girl, Tourva had actually seen the refugee camp. Tourva grew up in Oswego and remembered two refugees being in her class at St. Paul's Academy.

"I immediately asked Sally to be in the film." said Fawcett.

 

The women portrayed Oswego residents passing things through the fence to refugees. Tourva said she remembered Oswego residents bringing baked goods and providing medical care to the refugees.

"We couldn't really give too much," she said. "It (the film) was realistic. I remembered we would give people money from the fence."

 

Parsons' daughter, Erin, also got a chance to work on the film. A film student at SU, Erin acted in the play and helped the crew work.

 

The story of "Prisoners" is now coming to Fayetteville. An evening of music is set for March 31 at Immaculate Conception Church at 8pm. The concert will contain numerous pieces of music from the film which will be performed by actors from the film. The film was host in Syracuse, Oswego, Buffalo, Albany, New York City, Montreal, and Providence, R.I.

 

The music, composed by Andrew Waggoner of the SU School of Music, will include original pieces as well as pieces from the time period of the film. The concert will include narration by the film's characters.

 

Tourva and Parsons said the whole experience has been amazing.

"It was so much fun working with so many types of people," said Tourva.

"It's a story that ought to be told over and over again," said Parsons.