Electric Egg update (Neil Baker)

Electric Egg are delighted to announce not only a new release on DVD but also the beginning of a new documentary project and for this we need your help.

Thank you for taking the time to read this latest news from Electric Egg. We have news of two exciting new films. One complete and released on DVD in time for Christmas and the other a new project that we are raising production funds for through the sale of the DVD.

The new release is a film directed by Into the Wind director Steven Hatton about Jewish Hungarian born Kindertransport refugee, Gerhard Heilig. The film, entitled Heilig was shot on location in Vienna and tells the moving story of Gerhard’s escape from Nazi Austria and of the imprisonment of his father, Bruno, an Austrian political journalist. Bruno was sent to Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps shortly after Germany’s Anschluss of Austria in 1938. Realising the impending danger to her family, Gerhard’s mother, Hilda, made the heartbreaking decision to send her youngest boy to safety in England. At no point in this process did Gerhard or his mother know whether they would be reunited. Heilig concentrates on Gerhard’s formative years and ends with his escape to the United Kingdom. It is a moving story told in Gerhard’s own words and the film has shown at film festivals across the world and picked up several awards enroute. We have kept back many of the extraordinary plot details so as not to spoil the film for those that wish to see it.

However the dramatic story of Gerhard Heilig doesn’t end there, so we are currently working on a longer feature length film with the hope of it gaining a UK television broadcast as Into the Wind did earlier this year, and potentially broadcasts in other countries. This new, extended film, will go beyond the Kindertransport journey and take the story up to the end of the Second World War. Having arrived in England in December 1938, Gerhard learnt English, spent time growing up in Yorkshire and then when he was old enough he joined the Royal Air Force and flew with Bomber Command as a German speaking Special Operator with 101 Squadron in Lincolnshire. The new film will continue themes explored in Heilig, looking at the importance of memory and experience and also now looking at how an Austro-Hungarian refugee’s identity was shaped through his time in England.

With this is mind we are releasing Heilig on DVD not only to be enjoyed in it’s own right but also to allow us to raise funds for the new film. At Electric Egg we fund our own personal projects through the commissioned work that we undertake across the UK. These films range from documentaries such as Into the Wind and Heilig to films such as What Does Otto See?, a short animation which screened at the London International Animation Festival last month. These films would not be made without your support and our ambitions for the next film are such that we plan to film on location in four different countries, in the UK, Austria, Germany & Hungary. We have already begun filming in September this year at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre, East Kirkby, and are currently trying to raise funding to complete the filming. All our own time is given freely but we do need to raise funds for all the associated costs that go with making a film such as this. All profits from this DVD will go towards the production of the next film – a truly remarkable story that deserves as wide an audience as we can muster. We will also be launching a crowd-funding campaign for the new film in the new year where the opportunity will be available to further support the film and have a credit at the end of the film.

Heilig is approximately 17 mins long and the DVD is priced at £6.99 including postage. All orders made before the release date of 10th December will be shipped on the 7th or 8th December. For those who wish to purchase a film for themselves and also as a present, two DVDs with postage are available for £11.99. A series of options are available for international shipping. The DVD is not region locked and the film is in PAL format, the TV format used in the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and thus will play in any DVD player in these territories, as well as and on any DVD player / TV in the rest of the world that will accept the PAL format. The DVD also will play on all computers and laptops with a DVD drive worldwide.

Buy the DVD here

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