Kevin Costner Narrates Film "Ever Again" Coming Dec 8 From Simon Wiesenthal Center On Violent Anti-Semitism In Europe By Muslim Extremists And Neo-Nazis
New film EVER AGAIN opens Friday, Dec. 8 in some 20 US cities such as NY, LA, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, Phoenix, DC, St Louis, Denver. Film looks into resurgence of violent anti-Semitism by Muslim extremists and neo-Nazis in the UK, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands and France. Academy Award winning actor Kevin Costner narrates.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) December 5, 2006
EVER AGAIN, the new feature documentary by Moriah Films, a division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, examines the current dangerous resurgence of violent anti-Semitism throughout Europe--spurred by the exhortations of angry Muslim Imams and neo-Nazis who openly urge murder and destruction to their rapidly growing army of followers. Opening at more than 20 screens in major U. S. cities (Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Washington DC) on December 8th, EVER AGAIN is narrated by Kevin Costner (winner of two Oscars™ for Dances With Wolves), directed and co-written by Richard Trank (Oscar winner for The Long Way Home) and produced and co-scripted by Simon Wiesenthal Center Founder and Dean Rabbi Marvin Hier (winner of two Oscars for Genocide and The Long Way Home).
In France, Germany, Belgium, U. K. and The Netherlands, EVER AGAIN speaks not only with the victims of violent anti-Semitism but also with the perpetrators and the agitators behind suicide bombings, physical attacks, desecrations of synagogues and Jewish cemeteries and threats against both Jews and moderate Moslems who oppose violence. Religious, community, political and government leaders interviewed in the film suggest that anti-Semitism now comes from both the far right and the extreme left.
"People who watch EVER AGAIN will be very disturbed, as I was, to see how resurgent anti-Semitism has pretty much taken over Europe," said writer/director Trank. "Filming undercover, we learned that neo-Nazi rallies and concerts--attended by thousands of impressionable German, French, Dutch and Belgian young people--feature speeches and song lyrics spewing hatred and urging violence against Jews. And I was shocked to discover that The National Democratic Party, a successor to Hitler's Nazi Party, has attained sizable minorities in a lot of local governments."
EVER AGAIN shows how Islamic fanatics who were expelled from Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, among other Middle Eastern countries, for their Moslem extremist activities, have gained political asylum in Britain, where they openly preach race hatred against Jews, Christians and Hindus. One of the Imams profiled in the film has been directly linked to the suicide bombers behind the terrorist attacks in London and Madrid that killed 243 innocent people and injured thousands.
"I was very disturbed to see the amount of fear the Jewish communities of Western Europe are living under--due both to physical violence from neo-Nazis and Islamic fanatics," Trank added. "They are literally afraid to appear in the streets of Antwerp, Paris, Amsterdam or London wearing yarmulkes or religious jewelry. Tragically, young Jews told us that the situation has become so bad that they no longer see a safe future for themselves and their families in their own countries."
The film also reveals how hatred of Jews has created a strange and dangerous nexus between Islamic extremists and neo-Nazis--who oppose each other on most issues.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said, "The most frightening thing for me about EVER AGAIN is looking into the eyes of the perpetrators and hearing them talk about their hatred of America and the Jews and about their plans for murder, mayhem and ultimate world domination by their extreme brand of Islamic fundamentalism.
"I fear that we haven't seen anything yet. When these suicide bombers and terrorists catch up with technology--and the new, potent biological, chemical and nuclear weapons--9 /11 will seem like child's play."
Political and religious leaders interviewed in EVER AGAIN suggest that some of the ways to curb neo-Nazi and Islamic extremist anti-Semitism are education, removing the conditions of poverty and unemployment that breed youthful discontent and a willingness to take strong action against those who preach violence and destruction. Several interviewees stress the importance of fostering and supporting moderate Moslems.
"In Paris, we spoke with a young political activist who said it is difficult for Moslem moderates to be outspoken in France, because the extremists will attack them and their families," Trank reported. "But he refused to let that scare him away, because he wants sane Moslems to win the day, rather than the extremists."
Kevin Costner, who narrates EVER AGAIN, won best director and best picture Academy Awards™ (and was nominated as best actor) for 1990s Dances With Wolves--which also earned him a dozen other major honors in five countries. Costner earned best actor Golden Globes for JFK and Tin Cup and other major awards for The Upside of Anger and Open Range.
In addition to producing Moriah Films' The Long Way Home, which took the best feature documentary Academy Award in 1998, Richard Trank wrote and directed Moriah Films' In Search of Peace, Unlikely Heroes, Beautiful Music, EVER AGAIN and I Have Never Forgotten You: The Life and Legacy of Simon Wiesenthal, which will be released in 2007.
Moriah Films, the documentary film division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, also produced the 1981 Oscar-winning best feature documentary Genocide (narrated by Elizabeth Taylor and Orson Wells); 1991's Echoes that Remain (a loving portrait of Easter European Jewry before the Holocaust, narrated by Martin Landau and Miriam Margolyes) and 1995's Liberation (narrated by Ben Kingsley, Patrick Stewart and Whoopi Goldberg).
In 1977, Rabbi Marvin Hier created the Simon Wiesenthal Center and its famed Museum of Tolerance. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the Center maintains offices in New York, Toronto, Palm Beach, Paris, Buenos Aires and Jerusalem. One of the world's leading Jewish human rights organizations, it has a constituency of more than 400,000 families and is highly active in the fields of social action, education and defending the rights and promoting the safety of Jewish people.
EVER AGAIN was directed by Richard Trank, produced by Rabbi Marvin Hier and written by Richard Trank and Rabbi Marvin Hier; Jeffrey Victor was the cinematographer. Multi-Emmy and Grammy winner Lee Holdridge composed and conducted the score. U. S distributor is Rocky Mountain Pictures; international distribution by Cinema Management Group. The film runs 73 minutes and is not currently MPAA-rated. For information on the movie, Moriah Films, Rabbi Hier or the Simon Wiesenthal Center: http://www. wiesenthal. com (http://www. wiesenthal. com).
Media Contacts:
Charlie Barrett, The Barrett Company Communications, 310-471-5764
Or Simon Wiesenthal Center, Public Relations Dept., 310-553 9036
###
