That said, I think Mimmo Calopresti’s film is important to watch. The film is a collaboration with Steven Spielberg’s Shoa Institute and provides a unique window into that horrific period through personal stories of Italian holocaust survivors that were deported to Auschwitz. The narrative follows a common thread illustrating survivors’ normal lives before the war, their dramatic moment of capture, their gruesome experience living at the camp, their moment of liberation by the allied forces and finally their personal outlook on life as a result. You can spill water over the direst conditions, but it will always find ways to manifest itself. This film tells the story of human spirit that through it all prevailed.

The film’s mix of personal testimonials and actual documentary clips – offers realistic, yet extremely touching view of the period. Calopresti himself admitted in our interview and Q&A session that his motivation for the film was to understand the WHY and spread the message of NEVER AGAIN. He definitely succeeds on the latter. Coming out of the film, it truly forces you to put a mirror against today’s realities. Back then and unfortunately even today in some parts of the world, freedom and human rights are being breeched. And most importantly we all should be grateful for the liberties we have and take so easily for granted.