'Return to Auschwitz' wins Emmy

Jun. 14—PLATTSBURGH — "Now, I'm famous" was Vladimir Munk's response when asked what he thought of "Return To Auschwitz: The Survival of Vladimir Munk," winning a NEEMMY last weekend in Boston.

The crew of Paul Frederick Productions and Adirondack Coast Studios — director Paul Frederick, writer Julie Canepa and producer Bruce Carlin — had a little more to say about walking away with their golden statues at the 46th Annual Emmy Awards ceremony for the Boston/New England Chapter.

SYNOPSIS

The feature-length documentary chronicles Munk, at age 95, when Canepa, Carlin and Frederick accompanied him to Poland on Jan. 27, 2020 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Army's liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the notorious concentration and extermination camp used by the Nazis to murder more than 1 million people during World War II.

The Czech Holocaust survivor returned to Auschwitz-Birkenau, one of the camps where he was held prisoner and where his family members perished during World War II.

Munk, born in 1925 in Pardubice, Czech Republic, was sent to Auschwitz with his father on Oct. 1, 1944; his mother followed 11 days later. Separated soon after arrival, he never saw them again.

Munk was one of 110 members of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Foundation's Survivors Delegation, who chose to make the journey back to this place of genocide.

He returned to honor his loved ones, sent to their deaths in the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau, but also to ensure that the atrocities which occurred there will never be forgotten.

INDUSTRY CRED

The doc, produced in part by Mountain Lake PBS, premiered at the Strand Theatre in Plattsburgh and was selected for the Lake Placid Film Festival in October 2021.

The documentary was a Finalist at the Berlin International Art Film Festival and an Official Selection at the Montreal International Film Festival 2021 and won in the IndieFest Film Awards.

Now, it adds a NEEMMY to its laurels.

"We kind of feel like it's a win for the whole community, the way everyone backed us and helped us when we needed help, and helped us with us with our crowdfunding to help get our out-of-pocket expenses covered to go and film it," Frederick said.

"So here we are almost two-and-a-half, three years later, we got awesome recognition. The one that everyone knows and realizes for TV is the Emmys. This is the regional. I think people need to understand that the whole country is broken up into regions. This was a regional Emmy for the Boston and New England Chapter, which is all of New England and Upstate New York."

'LITTLE SHOW THAT COULD'

The trio competed against pretty big TV stations and budgets.

"Things we didn't have," Frederick said.

"We had no budget. We've always said this is kind of like the little show that could. We found a way to make it. To now be recognized for it is all the sweeter, because we really wanted to win this for further recognition of the Holocaust and getting the word out about Vladimir's life story."

Saturday in Boston, there were between 800-900 people in the industry to receive awards.

"When you win, when you're walking up, they are playing a little, short clip from the show," he said.

"I think it generated some interest there, too, you know. It was quite an evening. We were back and forth on whether if we were going to have a shot at it. There were other films in our category, which was Outstanding Historical/Cultural Long Form Content. It seemed like all the big TV stations were winning most of the awards."

BIG DEAL

The competition in this category were: "The Golden Road" by WCVB, "Dirigio: Maine at Gettysburg" by Lambert Films, and "Hidden History" by WCVB

"The people sitting at our table were independent producers, and they said it's very hard for small, independent groups to win at this," Frederick said.

"So, it kept bringing our sails down a little bit. and then when we got to our category, and they said we were receiving the Emmy, it was really quite a feeling of success and joy."

The documentary can be viewed on PBS Passport and it is streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Vudu.

"PBS had it exclusively for streaming for six months, and after that we managed to get it with a company that helped us get it to these other places streaming," Frederick said.

"Ninety-seven percent of all the PBS stations in the country has broadcast it, which is a really high number, again for a non-national program. A lot of those stations cover the border into Canada, and that's where all the major cities are for Canada."

Despite its distribution on various platforms, the film hasn't made much money streaming. Outreach is more important to the filmmakers.

"I guess I'm really happy that other people saw it and thought it was as good as we thought it was," Carlin said.

"People have responded really well to it. It's the kind of thing that you hope for, you dream for, but you think, aw, it's not going to happen. We were prepared for it not to happen. It's nice when you win."

"WHAT A JOURNEY'

In December 2022, Canepa went to Prague, where the film was screened in Munk's hometown.

Saturday in Boston, she said they were happy just to be there.

"We were reflecting back on what a journey it had been having met Paul four-plus years before and having done that initial interview with Vladimir," she said.

"That sat on a shelf for awhile until Vladimir received that fateful letter inviting him to the 75th anniversary. We were just kind of replaying everything that had happened in the last four years and, really, what a journey it had been."

Canepa was pinching herself in disbelief.

"The film has just seemed like the little engine that could all along," she said.

"It had such a long-shelf life, and I think that was really important to all of us and it was something that was our intention. Then to be sitting there with them, then the first second that they said the name of the movie, it was just like an unbelievable feeling of excitement and joy.

"This is quite a culmination of all that hard work and really such a sense of pride and honor to be able to tell Vladimir's story in that way and then to have people recognize it in that way was just really impactful and really heartwarming."

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter@RobinCaudell