Commemorating Holocaust Remembrance Day, 50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. & Mrs. Kraus, the new documentary by Steve Pressman, recounts the story of Eleanor and Gilbert Kraus. Some may know of this Philadelphia couple who helped rescue, as the moving film’s title indicates, fifty young children out of Austria during the Nazi occupation in 1939. Six-time Emmy-winner Alan Alda narrates the harrowing work, which also includes readings from Eleanor’s journals – a precious artifact – by the actress Mamie Gummer. (Pressman and Alda were also on-hand at a preview screening last week in the HBO building to celebrate the film.)

The documentary chronicles, with clear-eyed narrative, the hurdles the Krauses encountered both from the American government as wells as in Berlin and Vienna, where the Jewish couple had to go to complete their rescue act. As much recent literature has pointed out, then-president Franklin Roosevelt was not completely for saving the Jewish prisoners under Nazi rule. 50 Children also examines the anti-Semitism prevalent in the United States at that time. The Krauses also encountered fellow Jews angry at them for rocking the boat instead of remaining still and silent.

The most harrowing moments in the Pressman’s film arrive when the Krauses do in Austria: taking the children from their parents was a necessary evil. Losing their children meant hopefully saving their lives. To Pressman’s credit, he maintains the complete pathos of this situation without ever veering into manipulative territory. Nine of the surviving children – now septuagenarians and octogenarians – are also interviewed in 50 Children. They recognize that the Krauses gave them life, and remind us that rescue missions involve two parties – those who must escape to survive, and those more fortunate ones willing to take them in (we New Yorkers were recently reminded of this at a more local level during and after Hurricane Sandy just last fall). There are many messages to be found in this worthy doc, but that one that rings the clearest is this reminder: we’re all in this together.

Further information about 50 Children can be found at www.hbo.com.

What does the term “warbler” mean to you?

No, it’s not a rival a cappella team from Glee – they’re birds! Warblers are an exotic species, one of the 117 chronicled by Jeffrey Kimball in his understated documentary Birders: The Central Park Effect. Birders, filmed over the course of a year, documents New York bird watchers in their own natural habitat. And while it, yes, introduces average viewers to appreciation of both a hobby and a part of nature, it is also a fascinating cross-section of a sector of New York life: those who escape Gotham’s hustle and bustle by running inward.

Birders, commissioned by HBO, begins in springtime, when the park’s bird population multiplies to include the many flyers migrating from Central and South America. One watcher describes a “unicorn effect,” in which they get to see birds about which they have predominantly only read, that have taken on a mythological status. Initially, Kimball focuses on the watchers, as they explain how they got turned on to watching in the first place. For some, a relative or girlfriend introduced them to the habit. Others say that for them, Central Park provides a refuge away from the noise and the crowds of Manhattan streets without forcing them to outright leave the city. It is an active way of observing the slow-moving beauty of nature, and suits their personalities. One person interviewed for the doc, Chris Cooper (not the Oscar-winning actor) says that most birders are collectors and listers in life, and watching falls under that umbrella of completest observation.

But then Kimball begins to pour on the facts, some of which are quite harrowing: of the ten million birds that migrate to the Andes every fall, only eight million will make. And then only five million will still have survived into the spring. Imagine losing half of your family between Labor Day and Easter every year. We learn birder jargon: a “CAGU” is a California gull, and an “LBJ” is a small, obscure brown bird; a peep, meanwhile, is a small shorebird. Birders operate in the off-hours, and have been known to disappear from their friends from March to May. While they tuck their pants in under their socks to prevent Lyme disease, those birders who have gotten beam at their avocational hazard.

And the human subjects of Kimball’s documentary, often speaking in the hushed tones and patient cadences of watchers, benefit from Kimball’s own love of the subject. When Starr Saphir, a New Yorker in her seventies who has made a living giving bird tours through Central Park (we first meet her as she explains tough times have forced her to up her fee from $6 to $8), learns of a terminal breast cancer diagnosis, her love of birds allows her put the news in perspective. She is a part of nature, just like the birds. Kimball skirts condescension or any kind of subjective personal commentary when portraying her in these moments. He does the same with esteemed novelist Jonathan Franzen, who has written several essays about his love for birding. Referring to a tableau in which birds dot all the trees in sight, Franzen posits that it is “one of those rare times in an adult’s life where the world suddenly seems more magical, rather than less.” (Those who have read the author’s Freedom will note that bird watching made its way into the book via the character of Walter.)

Moderation is the key to Birders, which is only an hour long. Even Paul Damian Hogan’s musical score is light and calm, a reflection of those partaking in watching. Kimball never overwhelms the viewers to whom his documentary will serve a primer on the subject. But his view is equally passionate about Central Park itself as it is about the birds. It’s a haven for nature enthusiasts and proves that even in the most concrete jungle of all, there is plenty of room for serenity.

Karen Becker & Anya Auerback in a scene from Birders: The Central Park Effect.

HBO launched a documentary on Monday that explores a unique facet of New York City personality: the bird-watching community of Central Park. Birders: The Central Park Effect, directed by New York nature lover Jeffrey Kimball, chronicles four seasons in the lives of both the birders and the wild birds they admire year-round in the oasis of nature surrounded by an urban metropolis. Kimball recently talked with Our Town to discuss the film and his passion for birds.

If you missed the debut, you can catch one of the upcoming screenings on HBO this month: July 19 (5 p.m.), 21 (10 a.m., 5:20 p.m.), 24 (11:30 a.m., midnight) and 29 (2 p.m.).

What is Birders about?
The film is about Central Park as a wildlife refuge both for wildlife and for people who have found a refuge in the natural setting of Central Park. It’s about looking at nature in an urban environment in a different way; nature surrounds us wherever we are. Ultimately, it’s about the people: tough-as-nails New Yorkers who want to have a connection with nature.

Can you explain the “Central Park Effect”?
It’s a not-very-well-known ornithological term: whenever you have a relatively pristine piece of nature—a relatively sizeable piece of green—in the middle of a vast sea of concrete and buildings and bridges, it’s going to be a magnet for all of the birds in the area. You end up with a lot more birds per acre in Central Park than you would in some other places, like New Jersey, where there are more trees and water all around. That makes Central Park a great spot for birding. I meant the title to have a double meaning, referring to both the park’s effect on birds and on people.

What made you decide to make a documentary about birds and birders? Are birds a particular interest of yours?
I actually am a birder, but I’m not like a lot of the people in the film, who have been birders all their lives. I grew up in the suburbs of California with a creek in my backyard; I went camping, on hikes. When I moved to New York City in my twenties, I found myself visiting natural parks, photographing wildlife, and I started noticing the birds and identifying them. I had heard Central Park was good for birds, but I didn’t quite believe it until I gave it a shot. It was Central Park that took me from being a very casual lover of nature and a very, very casual birder to a more serious birder.

You talked to some very diverse people who all share a common love of birds. Do any of them have careers that relate to birding?
Most birders do not have any kind of professional life in birds, even though they would love it. One woman is a painter, though; a professional artist who specializes in birds. Other than that, very few people’s careers relate to birding. Some of those people in the park I’ve known for close to 10 years, but I don’t even know what a lot of them do outside the park. It’s not really what’s discussed in the park; what gets discussed is birds. Also, a lot of birders don’t have a lot of money; once you’ve bought a pair of binoculars for $100, you’re pretty much good to go. You can get on the A train and go to Central Park and look at birds.

In the film, one of the birders noted the irony that Central Park is man-made—a “toy environment.” Is there a social commentary here about how we define nature?
It’s true that it is a kind of fake nature. It’s completely man-made, human-made; the water can be turned off with a spigot, the lakes aren’t very deep. But then again, is it really a fake nature? Because when a bird lands there and takes shelter in a tree there, finds water to drink and worms to eat, isn’t that real to them? We’re in this 21st-century idea of what nature is—We have manipulated almost every corner of the Earth, but in the park, the trees are still real, the bugs are real, the birds are real. Urban habitats turn out to be perfectly valid habitats for nature.

In the rolling credits at the end of the film, you listed all of the species of birds that appear in the film, even before your own name. Why?
I wanted to give the audience the impression of how many species of birds were really in that film; there are 117 species in the film. HBO bought it as a finished film and requested one change: that the names of the birds go first in the end credits, instead of after the names of the humans. I was thrilled, I had thought I was getting away with something by putting them in at all.
The Central Park Conservancy, the people who take care of Central Park—they do a good job of keeping parts of the park hospitable to birds. They actively encourage it as a habitat for wildlife.

The film is split into parts based on the seasons, starting and ending with spring. Do I sense symbolism there?
I think there is some symbolism there, but it wasn’t necessarily my intention. I tried to start with strength and end with strength, and in the birding world, spring is the best season. It’s when all the birds come back, when the birds have their most colorful plumage, when they sing; it’s the most glorious season of the year to go birding.

City & State: Does your comedy ever intersect with politics?
Susie Essman: Not too much. If something strikes me, yes. But there are people who do it so much better than I do that I let them handle it. You know, the Jon Stewarts and the Bill Mahers and the Lewis Blacks. They’re so much better at it than I am, so I stick to what I’m good at.

CS: Is there anything going on in New York politics that you find to be particularly funny right now?
SE: No. You know, when things are going well, it’s really bad for comedy. Bush was great for comedy. Eliot Spitzer was, of course, fantastic for comedy.

CS: Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared on an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Did you have a chance to speak with him?
SE: I was not in the scene with him. But I know that everybody was very pleased with him. He came in, he did what he had to do, and he did it well and quickly and in just a couple of takes. He’s a professional. Some politicians are better actors than others.

CS: You’re bringing comedy back to the Catskills with an Aug. 25 benefit concert at the Belleayre Music Festival, part of the Catskill Park Resource Foundation’s effort to revitalize the region. How did you get involved?
SE: I live in the Hudson Valley—not in the Catskills, exactly, but we’re adjacent.That entire area really suffered after Hurricane Irene. So many people lost their homes, and the whole Catskill region really suffered also from that devastation. And this winter all the ski resorts suffered because there was no snow. I mean, I was happy about no snow because I have a treacherous driveway, but that’s kind of selfish of me. I know that the area’s depressed.

CS: Did you go there on vacations as a kid?
SE: We used to spend the summer at a bungalow colony. When I was growing up, it was the place to go. All the hotels were in operation, and it’s where so many great comedians started working in the Borscht Belt. That’s no longer there. I think a lot of those places are just trying to hold on and see if gambling is ever going to come. They’re all closed now, and it’s kind of sad because it’s a really beautiful, beautiful part of the country.

CS: Did you ever perform there early on in your career?
SE: I worked at the Concord, at the Raleigh, at the Nevele, at the Fallsview. But I was really at the tail end. It was not the way that it was in the ’40s or ’50s, let’s say, when it was happening. All of those comedians started there: Mel Brooks and Buddy Hackett and Alan King. They used to go up there and they used to work at the hotels and then go around to all the bungalow colonies and work there on a Saturday night. They’d do maybe five or six shows on a Saturday night.

CS: What was it like when you performed there?
SE: It was very different. It was a very different clientele, and it was on the downslide. It eventually just dried up. All the hotels closed. I think money wasn’t put back into them. They weren’t kept up well. But it’s a beautiful part. I’m partial to New
York State.

CS: Is there anything that can be done to revitalize the Catskills?
SE: There’s no manufacturing any more, like the rest of the country. I think they’re trying to just boost tourism. It’s a great outdoor life there. There’s hiking and fishing and skiing and all that stuff.

CS: Tell me about the benefit comedy concert that you’re putting on in August.
SE: It’s a fundraiser to raise money for people to bring awareness [to the Catskill region].  Especially with gas prices the way they are—it doesn’t have the cachet of the Hamptons per se, or Dutchess County, but it’s a great place to go with your family. It’s inexpensive. It’s rural. A lot of good restaurants have been opening up. I think they’re just trying to bring awareness to the area. It’s in economic decline right now, like so much of our country.

To read the full article at City & State click here.

The screen is already up for this year’s Bryant Park Film Festival, and we’re very excited to indulge our nostalgia and catch some classics this year.

Bryant Park - photo courtesy of Flickr Commons

As part of a tradition since the early 90s, HBO, starting May 18, is set to deliver quality oldies on The Great Lawn every summer Monday at 5 PM. The festival, a staple of Midtown, draws huge crowds all summer long, providing films for the most casual watcher and also for the most discerning cinephile. The festival runs for ten weeks throughout the summer, and there are plenty of great films to catch –evidently, HBO knows its movie stuff.

It’d be great to have the time, but given that it might be tough to open up your schedule every Monday, we at New York Press have compiled a list of the best Bryant Park Film Festival movies to make time for this summer:

Psycho- May 18 – Alfred Hitchcock, 1960

Arguably Hitchcock’s most influential and scariest film, the seminal fright-fest has had viewers scared to shower for over 50 years (or is it just me?). Norman Bates, the movie’s villain has become a cultural icon –Patrick Bateman in American Psycho isn’t just coincidence– and Hitchcock’s incessantly-studied shower scene is simply awesome. Bring a friend for the walk home after this one.

Wizard of Oz – July 2 – Judy Garland, Toto, 1939

If only because it’s summer, and you might dance into the sunset like Dorothy, you should definitely get around to the park during the festival’s third week. Flying monkeys can be somewhat scary, but the music and imagination, as you’ve probably witnessed before, is perfect to see during the summer.

On the Waterfront – July 9 – Marlon Brando, 1954

This starts off a bit slow, maybe too slow, but picks up to become one of the best crime dramas in cinema. Brando is great, plain and simple. In the year of its release, Elia Kazan and his crew won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director. Bear through the beginning and the muffled dialogue, and you won’t be disappointed.

Raiders of the Lost Ark – August 20 – Harrison Ford, George Lucas – 1981

My personal favorite. Whenever I flip the channels and this is on TNT (it happens very often) I never flip again until it’s done. Non-stop action and a bunch of super-loud punches and whip cracks always make for greatness.

According to Bryant Park’s site, there are no chairs, tables, or dogs allowed. The lawn opens up at 4 PM, so bring your blanket and enjoy a fun night every Monday this summer.

–Nick Gallinelli

“Series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss raised our expectations for the second season – and then surpassed them,” said Michael Lombardo, president of HBO Programming, in a statement. “We are thrilled by all the viewer and media support we’ve received for the series, and can’t wait to see what Dan and David have in store for next season.”

The show, based on the bestselling fantasy book series by George R. R. Martin, garnered 8.3 million viewers for its second season premiere on April 1, 2012, and is expected “to surpass the season one average of 9.3 million viewers.”

It’s too soon to tell what the price tag for season three will be. Season one reportedly cost HBO between $50 to $60 million to make, a small price to pay for the several interweaving stories that often require epic battle scenes with horses, fires, stunts and hundreds of extras. The second season apparently cost roughly 15 percent more than the first, but for HBO it appears well worth it. According to Slate’s June Thomas, HBO was able to defray roughly half of the production costs of the first season through its international sales and the box set of the first season sold 350,000 units in its first week.

Michael Bacon on a musical life and playing in the band with his movie star brother

When Michael Bacon isn’t rollerblading in Riverside Park, he can be found in his studio on West End Avenue making music with his brother Kevin. Their band, The Bacon Brothers, is playing a show at City Winery April 25 and 26.

Besides playing music, Michael Bacon writes the scores for documentaries, including an upcoming HBO project on Richard Nixon. He also wrote the music for the feature film Downtown Express, which is coming to New York in mid-April.

You grew up in Philadelphia?
My parents were urban pioneer types. They wanted to raise their kids in the city rather than the suburbs, which most people didn’t really approve of. My dad’s family has a long historical connection to Philly. We actually grew up right in the middle of the city. My mother is from New York City.

When did you know you wanted to be a musician?
I didn’t think, until I went to college, that it was possible—it wasn’t a profession most people went into. Then the late ’60s came and the philosophy was “do your own thing.” I just said, “This is what I like to do, so I’m going to try it.”

Which musicians inspire you?
It’s hard to answer that question because I’m not just a rock ‘n’ roll musician; I’m also classically trained and I love folk music. My favorite musicians might not even be rock bands. I was brought up with The Beatles and The Stones, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, Pete Seeger—but also Stravinsky and Bach. We had a very eclectic upbringing. My parents just loved the arts and they loved music. They never played, but they certainly encouraged any kind of creative expression in the kids.

How did you start working with Kevin?
He played percussion in my band when he was about 14. I was out of college by then and in a group that played around Philadelphia. That group broke up and I was playing by myself with a backup band, and he was in that band. My brother and I used to write a lot together, but since Kevin’s skill level has gone up, he doesn’t really need me. He has his own studio. But the band is a good excuse for us to hang out. We spend a lot more time together than if we didn’t have the band; we’re busy and we have families.

Who are the other members of The Bacon Brothers and how did you find them?
When I first came to New York in the early ’80s and started to score films, I met a group of musicians who did sessions for me. They worked for the folk singer Tom Rush. When I opened for Rush in Philly, I saw them perform and was impressed with the way they backed up an acoustic singer. When Kevin and I decided to put the band together, I immediately thought of them.

What is your educational background?
I never took formal music classes until 13 years ago—I just had lessons and studied privately. Around ’92, I went back to Lehman College in the Bronx. One of the teachers there is John Corigliano, an amazing Academy Award-winning composer. I really went there to study with him and got my degree finally after all those years.

What projects are you involved with currently?
I’m writing the music for an HBO program about Richard Nixon called Nixon: In His Own Words. It’s extremely challenging. They only have interviews, so the music becomes very important in telling the story. It’s all put together with pre-existing footage. They release a certain amount of Nixon tapes every once in a while and there was a just a new batch let out. This is the third one I’ve done. The first one was Teddy Kennedy, then Gloria Steinem. I also have a feature film that I was composer and music director for which is coming to New York City on April 20 called Downtown Express; it tells the love story of a concert violinist at Juilliard and a street musician.

You work with your wife and your brother. What is the key to successfully working with family?
Whatever negatives are outweighed by trust. My brother and I have a business together and my wife is a partner in it as well. You begin with a level of trust and you’re at a much better starting point. My wife Betsy and I have worked together for 18 years. She does all the day-today management of the film scoring and the band, and is also the prime critic of my work. When I’m in a jam, I rely on her ears.

When did you know Kevin was going to be famous?
He was in Animal House first and then had to go back and work in a restaurant. Then he got the part in Diner. It really was a very successful alternative, indie
kind of movie. That’s when he really started taking off.

How did you end up on the Upper West Side?
When we first came to New York in the ’80s, it was almost impossible to even get an apartment. My brother was living on 88th Street and an apartment came open above him. Once you settle in a certain neighborhood, you connect with it and really don’t want to leave. I love the Upper West Side; it’s just gotten better and better.

What are your favorite places in your neighborhood?
The Riverside Park jogging trail. I rollerblade, so going up and down there is an amazing gift. We live on West End Avenue so we feel like we live on the beach, especially in the summer. And of course we are right between that and Central Park, and 10 minutes from Lincoln Center.

For more on Michael Bacon’s work, visit
www.michaelbaconmusic.com or www.baconbros.com.

Jackson, who lives and works on the Upper West Side, met Linda Fairstein, then the head of the unit, in the mid 1990s and began following her cases.

“It just became an obsession of mine to try to do a film about the unit,” Jackson says. “The fact that it was the first unit in the country; it really is the gold standard. I thought, rape is so chronically underreported that if you showed a portrait of the prosecutors who do take on these crimes that maybe survivors would be more likely to come forward.”

The film highlights the day-to-day work of the prosecutors and follows two cases in particular—a 16-year-old cold case and another recent rape—both brutal crimes. Jackson interviewed the victim of the older case, Natasha Alexenko, and told the story of how her rapist was finally found using DNA evidence.

“I had pretty much closed that chapter in my life,” Alexenko explains in a recent interview. “I had healed and moved on. It was certainly a shock” when they found the perpetrator. She decided to come forward for the film because she wanted to help the prosecutors who had guided her so compassionately through the difficult process of the trial. “I had actually really been inspired by the men and woman that work in the sex crimes unit,” Alexenko says. “I told them I would do anything I could do to help them.”

Jackson spent about a year getting to know Alexenko before she even filmed the interviews with her. She also followed four or five cases simultaneously but could only use footage from trials that had ended by the time the film aired. She shot many scenes from the trial of Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata, the NYPD officers recently acquitted of rape, but wasn’t able to include it.

“I don’t know if it would have changed the film” to include that case, Jackson says. “It would have shown how incredibly difficult their job is, often—in a case like that where there was no hard evidence, there were no eyewitnesses.”

The film also illustrates how cases like that would never have made it to trial before New York State reformed its laws in the 1970s. Jackson interviewed former District Attorney Robert Morganthau about his role in changing the way rape was prosecuted. “I went to him and said, everybody’s talking about your legacy— white collar crime, all this stuff—but nobody’s really talking about the jewel in your crown: his incredible mentoring of women and his championing this unit,” Jackson says. “He’s justifiably proud of that unit.”

Jackson also deliberately included snippets of the prosecutors debating the merits of Derek Jeter and swapping stories about their personal lives.

“A film about sexual violence isn’t depressing. It’s full of humor, it’s full of real humanity,” Jackson says. “They may be really driving, obsessed, laser-focused lawyers, but at the same time, they have obsessions with movie stars, they’re huge Yankees fans, they sweat college loans, they worry about their weight.”

They also work extremely hard at a decidedly unglamorous job. Based on popular TV legal dramas, “we have this perception that they’re all sitting in mahogany-lined offices wearing Prada,” Alexenko says. “And that’s very very far from the truth.”

Both Jackson and Alexenko hope that the film will help victims of sexual assault understand what happens when they come forward to report the crimes against them. Alexenko quit her job last year to work fulltime on her foundation, Natasha’s Justice Project, which works closely with the Joyful Heart Foundation, founded by Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay, to end the national backlog of untested rape kits.

“With my case, the closure I had, I just felt it’s my karmic duty to take the tools, to take my story and help others,” Alexenko says. “There are 180,000 untested rape kits sitting on shelves. We have the means to find these criminals through databases.”

Jackson hopes that viewers will come away with an understanding of how far the legal system has progressed toward helping sexual assault victims, and how hard the sex crimes unit works for justice.

“It’s either happened to one of us, or we know someone it’s happened to,” Jackson says, citing the statistic that one in six women will be the victim of a sexual assault. “I hope that the film brings a new way of looking at the crime itself, and hopefully motivates more women to come forward, more attorneys to dedicate themselves to this kind of law, and really makes the point of the importance of units like this.”