Nancy Spielberg a formidable force

VANESSA VALKIN

She came as the guest of Cape Town’s United Jewish Communities (UJC) for their big fundraising launch. Jewish Report caught up with Nancy before the UJC top donors’ function and a subsequent screening of her acclaimed film “Above and Beyond” –  about the birth of the Israeli air force.

How did you come to screen this film in South Africa?

I had always known what a valuable role the South Africans played in the early days of Israel’s independence. At the American Jewish historical society, I spoke to a group and after the screening, this beautiful young woman came to me with tears in her eyes and said: “I am just blown away by this film. It needs to be shown in South Africa.” I said: “So make it happen.” This woman, Gigi Polak, went through so much to make it happen

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Spielberg’s film is about a small group of largely American Jews who, during Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, evaded the FBI and snuck Second World War aircraft into Israel to fight against the armies of six Arab nations. Why did you decide to do the film?

I chose this film when I first read Al Schwimmer’s obituary. He was an American who was credited with the founding of the Israeli Airforce along with some of his buddies. They became criminals for sending supplies to the Middle East when there was an arms embargo.

They had a secret underground network. It felt like a Spielberg film, “A catch me if you can” (which her brother Steven directed in 2002 about a conman played by Leonardo Di Caprio who wangled millions of dollars’ worth of cheques as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor.)

What will you be talking to Cape Town’s top donors about?

I am talking about one of their main themes which is dor le dor – passing the baton to the next generation. I will be talking about my Jewish upbringing and my Jewish journey. There was a lot of anti-Semitism in Arizona where we grew up.

I will talk about how we all got into the film business and what led me down the path to choose the topics I do and my love for Israel and what we can teach our children. So I am creating visual historical documents and thereby keeping us connected to the next generation.

I will also be paying respect to the South African Jewish community that played a huge role in the War of Independence. There were some South Africans who did big things – people like Cecil Margo who was in the Royal Air Force and a Supreme Court Judge.

Back in 1948, David Ben-Gurion asked him to be the head of the new air force and he wrote the entire operational guide of how the air force would be structured. There were other South Africans – Sid Cohen and Boris Senior…

Smokey (Harold) Simon is in the film. He flew 24 operational missions. He is today 95 and is still the chairman of World Machal, the organisation of Diaspora volunteers. He has dedicated his entire life to tell his story.

What does your brother Steven say about the film?

He is so proud. One thing I didn’t want to do was ask for his help. We are four siblings and we are very close and we are always sharing things and I didn’t want to ask him anything. I needed to do this me, me and only me! The only thing I did do was check that he wasn’t doing a film on this.

I didn’t want to go into a box office against him and he said: “You have my brochah.” When he finally did see it, he said: “You made me cry. I am so very proud of my little sister.” He said: “I am recommending four films to Cannes and I am recommending your film.”

And I keep getting phone calls from Steven’s friends because Steven is telling them that they need to see it. And I keep getting e-mails. He is schlepping a lot of nachas from his little sister.

And what is even better is that my mother and father are so tickled by my journey. My dad who is 99, came to Israel with me when I screened the film there and he cried and cried with pride when he saw it.

Why a film focusing on Israel?

I wanted to show Israel in a better light and to reach out to the anti-Israel camp – people who don’t even want to discuss it; I wanted to try to creep under their skin.

The Jews are probably the first place I needed to start because the division in our own ranks is bad, and then I wanted to reach beyond. The film was finished in the summer of 2014, which was probably the worst time to release the film. I felt the doors closing at the European film festivals, but I have to say that the Jewish community has been overwhelmingly supportive.

My first premier was at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, and that was a left-wing audience, and they loved it! Not one bad comment even in Berkley where the seeds of BDS in the US were sewn.

Nancy, through her company Playmount (Spielberg in German) has finished a few more important documentaries lately. One is called “On the map” about the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team that in 1977 beat the four-time defending European champions, the Soviet Red Army team from Moscow.

Another one is called, “Who will write our history?” about the thousands of archives that were secretly compiled by Jews about their experiences of starvation, disease, and deportation in the Warsaw Ghetto. They were hidden in milk cans and tin boxes and were discovered much later. Nancy is soon off to Warsaw for filming.

It was like unearthing 50 Anne Frank Diaries!