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WOLF’S SONG - WON’T BE SILENT

The journey of this film began shortly after that fateful day when the White Nationalists marched in Charlottesville screaming, “Jews will not replace us”. Fortuitously, my family was notified by the musicologist at the US Holocaust Museum confirming that a long-lost piece of music scribbled in an obscure book was attributed to my uncle Wolf Durmashkin. He wrote it while in the Klooga concentration camp, where he was killed. Wolf was only 30 years old.

Wolf was a child prodigy, performing piano by age six and becoming the youngest and only Jewish conductor of the Vilna Symphony Orchestra before WWII. The Nazis occupied Vilna in 1941. When Wolf’s family was thrown into the Ghetto, he received a special dispensation to leave the ghetto to continue conducting the orchestra. Yet, he was forced to return to captivity nightly. In a heroic effort to keep hope and culture alive, Wolf and his fellow musicians started the Vilna Ghetto Orchestra by smuggling in every instrument—including a piano, which they dismantled and reassembled piece-by-piece.

Music as resistance has always been vital to those who’ve been oppressed: be it in concentration camps, cotton fields, or inner-city streets. We sing about a better way of life because we know, universally, that it can be. Music connects the past and the present seamlessly, weaving together stories of our collective humanity.

Wolf wrote the melody to this spiritual, “Stay Silent”—a hymn that became a mantra the prisoners embraced.

In the camps, staying silent as a means of emotional survival was a way to resist the Nazis' cruelty and keep one’s dignity. When I learned that Wolf was brutally murdered just hours before the liberation, I vowed to take the intention of his song, re-imagine the lyrics, bring it forward, and give it wings. This film chronicles the unexpected discovery of “Stay Silent”—exhumed from the ashes of the Holocaust—the soundtrack to a much-deserved legacy and explores how powerful music, transcending time—can be a clarion call for justice today.

The first step was reaching out to Grammy-nominated songwriter Kara DioGuardi, asking if she’d take on the challenge to revise Wolf’s song. We discussed what would cement Wolf’s legacy. Thus, “Stay Silent” was changed to “Won’t Be Silent”, a call to action that we must stand up to injustice, demand change, and never forget.

“Wolf wouldn’t want us to say, ‘stay silent’ now.” – Kara DioGuardi

Wolf’s Song will engage musicians playing in all genres to interpret, perform, and record their own version of the song, including Gospel, Country, R&B, Pop, and Hip-Hop artists to embrace the universal message "Won't Be Silent."

During the COVID-19 lockdown, Wolf’s song was kept very much alive. I worked with the Voting Rights Alliance and Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow PUSH Coalition to create a series of social media PSAs to engage young people of color to register and vote. What better way to say “I won’t be silent” than by voting?

  • Emanuel Rotstein
    Director
    THE INVISIBLE LINE - AMERICA'S NAZI EXPERIMENT, TOTAL CONTROL, GUARDIANS OF HERITAGE, THE LIBERATORS - WHY WE FOUGHT, THE LEGION-GERMAN WAR IN VIETNAM, THE TEACHER WHO DEFIED HITLER, THE ELEVENTH DAY-THE SURVIVORS OF MUNICH 1972, I SURVIVED 9-11, KILL HITLER
  • Abe Gurko
    Writer
  • Lynnette Gryseels
    Producer
    THE RUGBY PLAYER, WON’T BE SILENT, RETURN OF THE BLACK MADONNA, and FINDING NEIGHBORS
  • Jane Oster
    Producer
    PLAN A, THE GOOD COMMITTEE, SEPARATION, THE STOWAWAY, LIKE FATHER, THE BIRTH OF A NATION, BRIGHTON BEACH
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 30 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    May 6, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    633,520 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Emanuel Rotstein

Emanuel Rotstein currently holds the position of Senior Director Programming at A+E Networks Germany, overseeing all strategic program planning, commissions, and acquisitions for the linear and non-linear brands HISTORY and CRIME + INVESTIGATION in the German-speaking territory. He also holds the role of Head of EU Editorial overseeing compliance and content standards for further 14 international thematic TV channels under the jurisdiction of the Bavarian media authority BLM.

Filmmaker:
He is an award-winning filmmaker and programming executive with a passion for stories with purpose and relevance. In the last two decades, he has directed, developed, and produced documentaries and factual entertainment formats for HISTORY, The Biography Channel, Crime + Investigation, A&E, Smithsonian Channel, Discovery Channel, NHK, BBC, SBS, ARTE, ARD, ZDF, and Netflix.

Researcher:
He has comprehensive research expertise in rare textual documents, photographs, archival film, video, and audio recordings at various public and private archives worldwide, among them National Archives Washington, Yad Vashem, USHMM, Library of Congress, and Bundesarchiv.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Wolf’s Song - Won’t Be Silent embraces the narrative of the hero’s journey. The story is seen through my eyes; however, what drives the film, in fact, is Wolf’s piece of music exhumed from the ashes of the Holocaust.

The documentary will use verité imagery and realism by utilizing low depth of field lenses and an active camera shooting style that immerses viewers and becomes very personal. The visual style will match the lyrical and emotional content of Wolf’s music. Each musician has a strong connection to Wolf’s message regarding contemporary social issues: women’s rights, immigration, bigotry, the environment, gun violence.

“I call myself an artivist. I combine my art with my activism.” – Antonique Smith, an R&B singer who recorded a version of Wolf's Song - Won't Be Silent.

The approach is personal and intimate – from the unexpected recovery of Wolf’s long-lost music to my journey of discovery and the relationship between Holocaust history and current events in the U.S. and Europe, where divisive cultural debate is encouraging artists and activists to speak up, using the song “Won’t Be Silent” as the healing message of music – and a bridge between past and present.

The visual style is expressed in our sizzle reel.