She dies at the stake but inspires a composer
How Dare the Angel Sing
Fiona McDougall
Producer
I came across a story in our local newspaper about the discovery of opera score in a suit case in San Francisco . I reflected on the idea of art triumphing over bigotry, mass fear and hatred. The power of humanity to endure although confronted by overwhelming forces, is something I have endeavored to communicate in my prior practice of photojournalism: an extreme example was my coverage of individuals caught in the civil war and famine in Somalia in the 1990s, for the New York Times who nominated for for a Pulitzer.
The more research and interviews we did, the more we became increasingly convinced that this story is both compelling for Jewish and non-Jewish audiences like myself.
As an experienced film and video producer, and photojournalist, I am immersed in the genre of storytelling from concept through to finished media. Documentaries include WRESTLING THE ANGEL, FINDING SNOW WHITE, I LOVE THE ZINE, and various TV spots and PSAs.
Jonathan Villet
Story Director & Writer
I’ve found that unearthing the hidden story of another person’s life gives me crucial context to understand that person more fully. Without that context I feel adrift, dependent on intuition and could be drawn to faulty conclusions, even about family members whom I love… My grandmother, a Polish-British Jew immigrated to the USA as a young woman in the 1920s, renamed herself, married successively two non-Jews, and avoided sharing her origins. I knew her as imperious and judgmental, though occasionally hilarious and generous. But I never knew about the pain she felt necessary to leave behind.
I am a seeker of context... The personal context and records available about Eugen Engel after the war and Holocaust are scant. But I found important clues: he was a Jew proud of Germany before it destroyed him, he desired to share his musical imagination widely, sought artistic acceptance, and he chose an outcast non-Jewish woman as the subject for his life’s main work. To imagine some of his story and the story of Grete who was so central to his efforts, I believe, gives crucial context for his artistic life which was creative, tragic but posthumously triumphant. I am honored to add this project to my career as a writer and editor of documentary and “poetic documentary” films WRESTLING THE ANGEL, FINDING SNOW WHITE, and I LOVE THE ZINE, and creating media and communications for the United Nations mainly in Africa with local people.
My family (the Malkin's and Lichtenstein's) are Russian Jews who originally came from Poland and what is now Belarus. They fled persecution during the anti-Jewish pogroms in 1906, scattering to England, South America, Australia, with my direct family landing in the United States. Some fled to Germany and western Europe, but fled after WWI. My ancestors were all artisans, potters and painters, with Roy Lichtenstein being a distant cousin.
I resonate with the struggles of the protagonists in this story.
I am a two-time Emmy Award winning producer who has shepherded film and television productions in Los Angeles for the last 20 years, including the award winnning Netflix documentary film THE LION’S SHARE, RIGHT TO OFFEND: THE BLACK COMEDY REVOLUTION, MAFIA SPIES, and LOLLA: THE STORY OF LOLLAPALOOZA for Paramount+ which screened at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
Jordan Bogdanovage
Executive Producer
