Inspiring Holocaust Figure Fredy Hirsch Gets Animated Documentary from ‘Call Me By Your Name’ Producers

Emilie Georges and Naima Abed’s production company Paradise City (Call Me By Your Name, Drift) has announced its first animated project: a documentary about the life of Fredy Hirsch, a German-Jewish, gay prisoner during the Holocaust, who brought art and inspiration to children amid the horror of the prison camps. Tom C J Brown, creator of the award-winning animated short Christopher at Sea, is directing.

According to Variety, the project “will bring to life the magical world that Fredy Hirsch created for Jewish children, first in Prague under the Nuremberg Laws, and later as a prisoner in the concentration camps of Terezin and Auschwitz.” The documentary will be built around original research by New York Times editor Jody Becker, who first discovered Hirsch’s story as a reporter based in Prague in the 1990s. The untitled feature will also weave in historic audio interviews with Holocaust survivors.

Georges and Abed are producing for Paradise City alongside Peter Spears of Cor Cordium and Emmy nominee Maor Azran. Hirsch’s niece, Rachel Masel, will consult with the production team.

“Fredy understood the importance of more than just basic necessities for the children under his care; he believed in surrounding them with poetry,” Brown, who also directed the Annecy prize-winning student short Teeth (2015), told the trade. “[He saw it as] his mission to protect the children, to bring them art, music and song, and to create a world of imagination and wonder.”

[Source: Variety]