In its first UK screening, award winning documentary Above The Drowning Sea will be shown at BAFTA by the Pureland Series in London on Thursday 8 March.
Due to the bravery of one man, Vienna based Chinese Consul Ho Feng Shan, who defied his government and threats from the Gestapo in World War II, thousands of Jews were saved.
Ho Feng Shan issued Jewish families open door visas to China. The film documents the harrowing and dramatic journey of these families. It is believed Ho Feng Shan saved more than 3,000 Jews.
One of the refugees directly saved by Ho Feng Shan, Dr Karl Bettelheim, will be in attendance at the screening.
The documentary features interviews with Jewish refugees recounting their first moments upon arriving in Shanghai and follows family members of the refugees as they visit Vienna, the starting place for many, where they uncover what life was like for Jews at the beginning of the Second World War and the incomparable impact Ho Feng Shan had on their families.
Above The Drowning Sea is directed by René Balcer and co-produced by Carolyn Hsu-Balcer, and was shot in six countries across four continents.
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