THE SONGS THEY SANG tells the story of the amazing music composed and performed by the oppressed Jewish people of Vilna Ghetto during WWII. A "work in progress" edit screened at the Bayside Film Festival, on July 14th 2010 [Opening night film] and then the 15th, followed by an audience Q+A. After two sellout houses, it was screened a third time by popular demand on Monday 19th July, 2010. The final version (90 mins, presented in Dolby 5.1 Surround) is currently being readied for a number of international film festivals.

It is the second feature length documentary by Rohan Spong.

SYNOPSIS:

THE SONGS THEY SANG is the untold true story of the amazing musical and artistic performances that took place at the Vilna Ghetto, Lithuania, during WW11, in the midst of the very darkest of persecutions. These performances brought hope and life to those in the Ghetto during the horrific attempted genocide of the Jewish people.

As part of this feature length documentary, these songs and the music will be reprised and performed once again by professional musicians, survivors, family members of composers who wrote works, and even a Cantor in New York.

In addition to this, Holocaust survivors and family members recall their experiences of Ghetto daily life, and discuss the meaning of the musical compositions. The film centers on the lyricists Avrom Sutzkever and Shmerke Kaczerginski, who wrote startling and poetic eyewitness accounts of Vilna life and helped set them to music. They also risked their life during the war to preserve these writings as record of life within the ghetto.

The film also contains an extended interview with Alexander Tamir who composed the haunting 'Shtiler, Shtiler' (Quiet, Quiet) as an 11 year old boy held in Vilna ghetto.

The documentary also considers the various people preserving these musical legacies today: A Melbourne composer and performer team who busily arrange music from the Vilna ghetto to be recorded and performed before a contemporary audience, and a young Jewish community leader who struggles to retain the culture and history of his forebears in Lithuania today, and a number of people who feel connected to the Holocaust experience as a result of these evocative songs.

*****Please keep checking back for an announcement on further screenings*****