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Eva Schloss and Paula Fouce answer questions during the Q&A session after the screening (Photo: Eric Schloss)
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London - 6 September 2018 - On Monday 3rd September 2018, "No Asylum - The Untold Chapter of Anne Frank's Story" was screened in the UK for the first time, at Conway Hall, London. The Holocaust documentary shows the desperate attempts by Otto Frank (Anne Frank's father) to get his family out of Europe to safety and save them from the Nazis.
This remarkable documentary came to be, following an incredible discovery at YIVO, the Institute for Jewish Research, by a volunteer who was sorting through some Holocaust archives when she came upon lost letters written by Otto Frank.
Otto and his family - his daughters, Anne and Margot, and his wife Edith - were refused entry by country after country around the world. The film documents the world’s failure to respond to the plight of the Jewish refugees and suggests global anti-Semitism as one of the reasons for this.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, Anne Frank's posthumous stepsister who appears in the film, and Paula Fouce, the film's producer, attended the premiere and, together, held a Q&A session after the screening. Also in attendance was John Wood, son of Bergen Belsen liberator, Leonard Berney who gives his account in the film of liberating the concentration camp in 1945 in which Anne Frank perished, aged only 15.
The screening-and-talk event was hosted by the mind body spirit events company, Alternatives, and Mal
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Malcolm Stern hands the mic to a member of the audience (Photo: Eric Schloss)
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Eva Schloss, Malcolm Stern and Paula Fouce (Photo: Eric Schloss)
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"I have seen this documentary many times, but each time, I am really shocked...I mean, I went through it but I can't believe this really did happen. This should be a wake-up call; we should show it in every in Parliament for all the MPs everywhere in the world because they really should change their selfish policies," said Eva during the Q&A session.
Paula Fouce: "This film is so relevant at this particular time in our history because there are many similar conflicts and genocides wiping out populations today. Also, the current refugee crisis wreaking havoc in Europe mirrors that which happened during World War II."
No Asylum is available on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Vudu and XBox.
About Eva Schloss
Eva and her mother miraculously survived Auschwitz when it was liberated by Soviet troops in 1945. Eva's mother married Otto Frank in 1953. Today, Eva (89) who lives in London, works tirelessly in the field of Holocaust education. She is co-founder of the Anne Frank Trust UK. A hologram of Eva is now installed as a interactive display in several museums around the world, where she "personally" gives answers to almost every conceivable question she could be asked about the Holocaust and about her world-renown stepsister.
About Paula Fouce
Paula produced and directed No Asylum. A critically acclaimed author and filmmaker and President of Paradise Filmworks International, Paula’s films include Not in God’s Name: In Search of Tolerance with the Dalai Lama (PBS stations), Song of the Dunes: Search for the Original Gypsies (PBS stations), Naked in Ashes and Origins of Yoga.
About No Asylum
Released in 2015, No Asylum, produced by Paradise Filmworks International in association with the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, co-produced by Stephen A. Kollins, M.D. and Elayne Kollins, The Kollins Family Limited Partnership, The Pinnacle Gardens Foundation and Michael Flores, and directed by Paula Fouce tells the story of Anne Frank’s father, Otto, who struggles to obtain visas to save his family from the Holocaust. This unknown chapter of Anne’s life is revealed through Otto’s letters that show how the world turned its back on the Franks, and millions of other families in the same situation. The full length of the film is 75 minutes, but a shorter educational version that contains less graphic content, currently being translated into several languages, is available. www.noasylumfilm.com
Media coverage of the UK premiere:
- FILM FOR ANNE - Jewish News - 4th October 2018:
https://issuu.com/jewishnewsuk/docs/1074/20 - Untold Story Now Told - Jewish Telegraph - 21st September 2018
https://www.facebook.com/NoAsylumFilm/photos/a.477562755689877/1749413075171499 - BBC News live interview - 3rd September 2018:
https://www.facebook.com/NoAsylumFilm/posts/1757278827718257 - ITV London interview - 3rd September 2018:
https://www.facebook.com/NoAsylumFilm/videos/738657196477551
