By Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Steven Spielberg isn't planning on making any more Holocaust movies. The Oscar-winning director is leaving that to the Shoah Foundation.
After "Schindler's List," Spielberg turned his lens on real survivors of the World War II Jewish genocide through his foundation, which has since filmed nearly 52,000 testimonies from Holocaust survivors around the world. As the organization turns 20, it has expanded its mission to include interviews with survivors of other genocides, including those in Armenia, Cambodia and Rwanda.
Spielberg was inspired to create the foundation after meeting so many Holocaust survivors while making "Schindler's List," which tells the story of a German businessman who used his Nazi ties to rescue 1,100 Jews from the Holocaust. The film's greatest legacy isn't its seven Oscars, $300 million in worldwide box office or even its message of humanity, says the 67-year-old, but the ongoing work of the Shoah Foundation.
"It literally popped into my head on the drive back to my house in Krakow after a day of shooting the film that if 'Schindler's List' had any success at all, the success would not be a monetary, commercial one, but the success would be that this film would open a door for me to start taking as many testimonies as humanly possible," Spielberg said in a telephone interview Monday on behalf of the organization, now known as USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education. He also wrote the introduction for a book commemorating its 20th anniversary, "Testimony: The Legacy of Schindler's List and the USC Shoah Foundation," which will be released next week.
Spielberg, who riled the film industry last year when he predicted "an implosion" of the Hollywood studio system spawned by mega-budget flops, declined to address those comments. But would a studio invest in a film like "Schindler's List" today?
"I have my own studio, so I would have just paid for it," he said. "That's how 'Lincoln' got made."
His ongoing investment in the Shoah Foundation, though, may be the filmmaker's most meaningful.
"I'm very proud of this legacy," he said. "I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world."
Amid his roster of projects, Spielberg stays close to the organization: "I'm basically like a doctor on call. I have everything but a beeper on my belt. When they need me, I'm there."
When he started the foundation in 1994, he just wanted to collect survivor testimonies to help silence the Holocaust deniers who'd popped up during the making of "Schindler's List." He never expected to get nearly 51,413 accounts in 34 languages from 58 countries.
"Movies at least have taught me that I don't have to be realistic about anything," he said.
Says Shoah's executive director, Stephen D. Smith: "Steven Spielberg is the only person I know who had both the integrity and the vision to do it."
As the collection grew, the foundation incorporated education and outreach. The digital archive is vastly searchable, down to the name, date, location and specific keyword. Spielberg also personally visits schools to talk about the survivor testimonies, though he admits the teenage students are initially more interested in discussing "E.T." and Indiana Jones.
"They want to talk about the movies first, and we have a really nice conversation about the movies, and then we go right into this," Spielberg said.
"I think if you put 'E.T.' on a monitor, and they hadn't seen it since they were kids, and on the same monitor you put a testimony from a Hungarian survivor, the young person will watch the testimony and not watch 'E.T.'," he continued. "Because I think the testimony is relevant and analogous today, even in the lives of young people at home or in the school yard. It hits home."
That response, he said, gives him hope.
"It just restored my real faith in all these new generations that at the core of all of their values, everybody starts out as a good person," he said. "(The testimony) reaches and presses the button of the decency in all of us. The decency, the compassion and the pro-action to want to make the world a better place. Not just in young people, in everybody."
Oscar and Emmy-Winning Composer Kris Bowers Joins Barking Owl For Advertising, Branded Content
Music, audio post and sonic branding house Barking Owl has taken on exclusive representation of Oscar and Emmy-winning composer Kris Bowers for advertising and branded content.
Bowers’ recent film scores include The Wild Robot and Bob Marley: One Love, alongside acclaimed past works such as The Color Purple (2023), King Richard and Green Book. His contributions to television are equally impressive, with scores for hit series like Bridgerton, When They See Us, Dear White People, and his Daytime Emmy Award-winning score for The Snowy Day.
In addition to his work as a composer, Bowers is a visionary director. He recently took home the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject for his directorial work on The Last Repair Shop. The emotionally touching short film spotlights four of the people responsible for repairing the musical instruments used by students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The Last Repair Shop reflects the positive influence that musical instruments have on the youngsters who play them, and the adults in the LAUSD free repair service who keep them working and in tune.
Barking Owl CEO Kirkland Alexander Lynch said of Bowers, “His artistry, diversity of style and depth of storytelling bring an unparalleled edge to the work we create for global brands. His presence on our roster reflects our continued commitment to pushing the boundaries of sound and music in advertising.”
Johanna Cranitch, creative director, Barking Owl, added, “Kris first caught my attention when he released his record ‘Heroes + Misfits’ where he fused together his jazz sensibility with a deeply ingrained aptitude for melody, so beautifully.... Read More