Access Entertainment, financial backers of 2024 Oscar-winner The Zone of Interest, has turned attention to a BBC doc titled The Last Musician of Auschwitz.
Access’ Danny Cohen and Emily Blavatnik will EP the feature telling the extraordinary story of Anita Lasker-Wallfisch who, along with other victims of Auschwitz, played and created music amidst the terrors of the Holocaust.
The doc, which is being produced by Two Rivers Media, will feature an interview with Lasker-Wallfisch, revealing how, despite living in the most brutal and dehumanizing of situations, prisoners were secretly composing music whilst in the camps.
“This important film tells the story of Auschwitz through the powerful lens of music,” said Cohen. “It will be a moving, surprising and sometimes shocking film – an innovative hybrid of observational documentary, expert interview, archive, highly stylised drama and music.”
Two Rivers boss Alan Clements added: “The access we have gained, not only to Anita and to respective family and friends, but also to cultural and musical archives, means we can tell this profound story in the best way possible, ensuring that this music continues to be widely heard and celebrated.”
The doc comes off the back of the success of Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, telling the story of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his family, who lived just outside the camp. It won the Oscar for Best International Feature and Best Sound. Cohen publicly refuted Glazer’s somewhat-controversial Oscar acceptance speech, in which he had said “we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.” Cohen said he “fundamentally disagrees with Jonathan on this” during a podcast appearance several weeks on.
Access’ other projects include feature films with stars such as Ralph Fiennes, Florence Pugh, Stanley Tucci, Joaquin Phoenix, Zac Efron and Lily James, it said.
The Last Musician of Auschwitz is EPd by Clements, Cohen and Blavatnik. It is developed by Paddy Duffy at Two Rivers, produced by Deborah Lee and directed by Toby Trackman. Abacus Media Rights is distributing.