"Especially moving and effective. Gripping and memorable."On August 28, a powerful story of enduring love, loss and survival will inspire audiences around the world as this year's Academy Award(R) winning Best Documentary Feature, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, becomes available on VHS and DVD. A daughter's powerful homage to her mother through a personal journey into the hardships of war, Into the Arms of Strangers is priced at $19.98 SRP on VHS and $24.98 SRP on DVD.
Kenneth Turan, The LA Times
In the months before World War II, an extraordinary rescue operation aided the youngest victims of Nazi terror. Over ten thousand Jewish and other children were transported from German-held lands to foster homes and hostels in Great Britain. Some of the children built new family ties. Some endured the Blitz. Some, amazingly, found ways to liberate their own parents from Adolf Hitler's tyranny; most, however, never saw their parents again. And, all have unforgettable stories to tell. The film is narrated by Shakespeare in Love Oscar(R) winner (1997) and Chocolat Oscar(R) nominee (2000) Judi Dench.
From Mark Jonathan Harris, writer/director of the Academy Award(R)-winning The Long Way Home, and producer Deborah Oppenheimer (whose mother was one of the 10,000 children) comes this superb, Academy Award(R)-winning documentary feature filled with rare archival footage and featuring gripping remembrances from the child survivors, rescuers and parents of the heroic Kindertransport. "This moving tribute," Richard Schickel wrote in Time, "has the power to summon us to our better selves."
A very special DVD edition includes the following features:
- Two feature-length audio commentaries by the filmmakers - with bonus video segments branching from the track.
- Bonus interviews with Lord Richard Attenborough and other Kindertransport participants.
- Coverage of the London and Berlin premieres featuring HRH Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, and Chancellor Gerhard Schroder respectively.
- Historical artifacts and photo galleries.
- Kinder, parent and rescuer profiles.
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio.
- Original theatrical trailer
- Filmmaker career highlights.
- Scene access.
- Interactive menus.
- Languages: English and French.
- Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Korean.
- Enhanced features for DVD-Rom PC include:
- Links to original theatrical website and chat rooms.
- All-new downloadable study guide for viewers and educators via the website.
In addition to being a stirring portrayal of the still relatively unknown Kindertransport, the gripping personal stories and footage portrayed in the VHS and DVD will serve as a learning instrument to be viewed time and time again by families, educators and descendants about survival, triumph, separation and assimilation in an emotional and violently charged period in history. Furthermore, a free study guide will be available at http://www.intothearmsofstrangers.com/ to be used as an educational tool for furthering studies on the event or as a teaching companion for schools and parents.
With operations in 78 international territories - more than the video division of any other studio - Warner Home Video commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. WHV's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top-quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment Company, Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Video.
Thanks to Mike Kennedy for sending me this article which appeared on Excite News.