“I am glad we are done! I will never do another documentary! That’s it!”
Eva Kor spoke with her characteristic frankness as she wooed the media gathered Friday morning at WFYI in Indianapolis to see a new trailer for the documentary “Eva.”
But she likes the film.
She even likes the difficult parts, such as when she opened up to filmmakers Ted Green and Mika Brown to share “very rough spots” in her life.
The documentary by Green, Brown and WFYI Public Media will premiere April 5 at Clowes Hall on the Butler University campus. It will also be shown April 14 in Tilson Music Hall at Indiana State University.
“Eva,” the story of a Holocaust survivor and her 50-year journey to arrive at forgiveness for her tormentors, carries some optimistic messages:
• Good can triumph over evil.
• Life can be hard, but the human spirit can prevail.
• And, peace, kindness and forgiveness may matter most.
Dressed in her trademark blue for the Friday’s event, the 84-year-old Terre Haute resident joked everyone should be glad her name is Eva rather than ... say, Gwendolyn ... which wouldn’t play as neatly on movie posters.
Her humor was quick, and her sincerity tangible, as she talked about the approaching release of a film that writer and producer Green called “the most difficult story I’ve ever tackled.”
Kor traveled with Green and Brown to England, Romania, Poland, Israel and elsewhere for the project that was two years in the making.
Kor has spoken frequently about her personal story — from her life as a child in Transylvania to the terrors of being separated from her parents at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II and about her adult journey of healing and forgiveness.
The gap
But there is a 50-year gap on which Green focused for the documentary.
It was 50 years during which Kor went after Nazis who escaped after the war, founded the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, earned college degrees, worked and raised a family.
“What’s been mostly missing ... is the 50 years between her liberation and her forgiveness,” Green said. “I believe that time period is the most fascinating and revealing. There will be things in this film that have never been shown before.”
The film shows people can rise above their pain.
“We all have the capacity to do a lot of good,” Kor said, repeating her standard message of truth she shares during her many speaking engagements. “I am always going to concentrate on good. That capacity can change and help human beings.”
She also shared some struggles.
“Life has always been difficult,” she said. “I was always an outsider, and to arrive in Terre Haute, Indiana, when I did, with my problems ... it was very gutsy for me to try to function there, but I did.”
She is glad Terre Haute has remained her home through the years. And she has spoken in the past of her loyalty to the community that rallied around her after a 2003 arson fire destroyed the original CANDLES Museum, founded in 1995.
Kor rebuilt and continued her mission of raising awareness about global atrocities, genocide and hate.
Her spirit inspired many of the people who appear in the documentary.
CNN journalist Wolf Blitzer shared about meeting Kor when he went to Auschwitz as he was chasing his own family roots.
Actor Elliott Gould has been a devoted follower of Kor since meeting her at the invitation of actor Ed Asner, who narrates the documentary.
Basketball star Ray Allen is a member of the U.S. Holocaust Commission and has long supported Kor’s message of forgiveness.
Green said he was glad to interview “big names” for the documentaries, but realized other voices speak just as powerfully.
“The interviews that stick with you are the regular Joes just like myself who have had their lives changed,” Green said.
Uncovering new information and presenting a life such as Kor’s in a two-hour film was a huge challenge.
“What made it work is that Eva was willing to spend so much time with us, to let us in,” Green said.
Kor said she is surprised now that she ever agreed to do the documentary.
“I really didn’t want to do more documentaries,” she said. “They are a lot of work and they dig into your soul. And I didn’t want anyone digging into my soul any more.”
Persistence paid off for Green and Brown, however.
Even when Kor threw up her own roadblocks, declaring that she was done with the process because of all the prodding questions, they waited only a few days before she was talking again.
The audience will see some raw truth, Kor acknowledges.
“They are difficult for me to view, and difficult for me to remember,” she said. “I think the audience might find it surprisingly difficult. But it is the truth.”
Big deal for WFYI
The film is a one of a kind production for WFYI, said Lloyd Wright, station president and CEO.
WFYI has never approached a project with such magnitude, Wright said, noting it will be followed with an education curriculum for classrooms or organizations.
The film has been submitted to several film festivals around the world, he said, and he is hopeful for international and public broadcast distribution of the film.