Samuel Goldwyn Films announced today that the company has acquired North American rights to Tod Lending’s feature documentary Saul & Ruby’s Holocaust Survivor Band (aka Saul & Ruby, To Life!).
The film debuted and won the Grand Jury Prize at the Miami Jewish Film Festival this January and features Holocaust survivors and band members Saul Dreier (94), Ruby Sosnowicz (89), and Ruby’s daughter, Chana Sosnowicz.
Like many survivors of the Holocaust, after World War II, Saul and Ruby moved to America, started families and careers, grew old, and retired to South Florida. For them, retirement could have been the last chapter in their story. But then they decided to start a klezmer band, named the Holocaust Survivor Band.
The band summons the bittersweet memories of childhood in Poland, but more than that, it is a celebration of life.
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TOD LENDING
SAUL & RUBY’S HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR BAND TRAILER
From obscurity to the Kennedy Center
In this utterly heart-affecting and enthralling film, we follow Saul and Ruby’s musical journey, which begins in total obscurity, playing in residential homes for the elderly and small Jewish community organizations, to being invited to perform at venues across the country, including a coveted performance at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage.
This unique and compelling story is about having the courage to live one’s dreams, finding purpose and meaning in life at any age, the transcendent power of music, and the importance of speaking out against anti-Semitism and bigotry.
Saul & Ruby’s Holocaust Survivor Band was written, produced, and directed by Academy Award® nominated and Emmy winning filmmaker, Tod Lending. The film will be playing the film festival circuit while a release date is yet to be determined.
“Saul & Ruby’s story is heart touching and inspiring as these men took a tragedy from their youth and turned it into a musical triumph. We are thrilled to be able to share their story,” says Peter Goldwyn.
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About Samuel Goldwyn Films
Samuel Goldwyn Films is a major, independently owned and operated motion-picture company that develops, produces and distributes innovative feature films and documentaries. The company is dedicated to working with both world-renowned and emerging writers/filmmakers and committed to filmed entertainment that offers original voices in uniquely told stories.
This is best exemplified by the Academy Award® nominated Super Size Me; Sundance winner Gook, written and directed by Justin Chon; the critically acclaimed feature debut by Francis Lee God’s Own Country; SXSW winner Most Beautiful Island; the high-school drama Blame, directed, written, and starring Quinn Shephard; LGBTQ musical drama Saturday Church; Allure, starring Evan Rachel Wood; Warwick Thornton’s Australian western Sweet Country starring Sam Neill, Bryan Brown, and Hamilton Morris; the Wim Wenders film, starring James McAvoy and Academy Award winner® Alicia Vikander, Submergence; the family film Zoo; Nancy, a psychological thriller starring Andrea Riseborough; Cold Skin from director Xavier Gens; A Boy A Girl A Dream starring Omari Hardwick and Meagan Good, and Ondi Timoner’s bio-pic Mapplethorpe starring Matt Smith; the Karen Gillan & David Dastmalchian lead film All Creatures Here Below, the action-packed film starring Scott Adkins Avengement; and Hari Sama’s film This Is Not Berlin; Sci-Fi/Fantasy PParadise Hills starring Emma Roberts; Aaron Paul lead thriller The Parts You Lose; family animated film Dilili in Parks; and the horror/thriller film starring Patrick Schwarzenegger and Miles Robbins Daniel Isn’t Real. Upcoming releases include road-trip comedy Come As You Are; bull-riding American drama Bull; Agnieszka Holland’s thriller Mr. Jones; the dark comedy Judy & Punch; Fisherman’s Friend starring Daniel Mays and James Purefoy.
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