Fresh from a Special Jury Prize at the Slamdance Film Festival, Bob Hercules and Cheri Pugh’s documentary “Forgiving Dr. Mengele” opens a limited national theatrical release with a weeklong run at the Gene Siskel Film Center Feb. 24-March 2.
“Slamdance was fantastic,” said Hercules, co-owner of Media Process Group.
“I’d never been there before. There was such a tremendous response. People would not leave the theater after the film was done. The film always stirs up a lot of thoughts and feelings and perspectives on forgiveness.”
One of only nine documentaries at Slamdance (making it more competitive than Sundance), “Mengele” is being distributed by First Run Features (“With God on Our Side.”) First Run is playing the film in New York and Palm Springs this spring before releasing it on DVD.
“Hopefully it will do well in Chicago and that will motivate First Run to take it to other cities,” Hercules said.
“Forgiving Dr. Mengele” is the story of Eva Mozes Kor, a former Mengele Twin who was subjected to Nazi experiments at Auschwitz along with her twin sister Miriam. Kor is now a real estate agent in Terra Haute, Ind. and proprietor of the C.A.N.D.L.E.S. Holocaust Museum there.
Kor became a figure of international controversy when she publicly forgave the Nazis for the atrocities they committed against her, a position that she continues to defend in public appearances around the world.
