Hillary Clinton

3May2023Blog post, My Polish WisniaChappaqua, Chelsea Clinton, documentary, Film, Hillary Clinton, How Saba Kept Singing, My Polish Wisnia, pics, Sara Taksler

Watching a movie with Hillary Clinton

This was one of the most meaningful moments of my life.

I was invited to participate in a film screening, performance, and post-film talkback at the Chappaqua Performing Art Center in New York. Yes, I finally got to meet the Executive Producers of our film “How Saba Kept Singing” (and if you do get a chance to sit next to Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea and hear them speak – highly recommend!), but it was also about what this moment crystalized for me. This documentary is not just about my grandfather, or my family’s story, or the power of music, or the legacy of the Holocaust, it is bigger than that – it is indeed all these things, and more. This film has the ability to educate and start conversations and change people’s hearts and open people’s eyes, and I think this is just the beginning.

This was also the first time we gathered with every team that has worked on the film to help bring it in to the world: Retro Report, Hidden Light, Burnt Umber, and many other partners and supporters. It takes a lot of people to make a movie! I am honored to be a part of this project. And I will be forever. This is now a part of my life’s work.

Enjoy a few photos of the evening, with deep gratitude to Friends of Chappaqua Performing Arts Center, host Stacey Saiontz, director Sara Taksler, and the event’s photographer Lisa Wahl.

with executive producer Hillary Rodham Clinton, director Sara Taksler,
the Wisnia family, and producing team Retro Report

post-film discussion with executive producers Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton,
and director Sara Taksler

And in case you haven’t seen or shared “How Saba Kept Singing” yet, now you can! Watch it anytime, streaming in full on YouTube.

You can read more about our travels together by going to the blog at MY POLISH WISNIA.

“How Saba Kept Singing” is the story of how my grandfather’s music saved him in Auschwitz and how music binds the two of us together. To be able to share my own music as part of this film & perform it during each screening is incredibly meaningful. Through music, my Saba lives on.

As the credits roll at the end of the film, you will hear a song I wrote, an original composition called “How Long It’s Been” inspired by the reunion between my Saba and Tzippi, the woman who had a hand in saving my grandfather’s life during the Holocaust.

Hear the song from the film: “How Long It’s Been“

Does Hillary Clinton have an Avi Wisnia kazoo?
You bet she does.

Variety review How Saba Kept Singing May 2022

8May2022Blog post, My Polish WisniaDavid Wisnia, documentary, Hillary Clinton, Hot Docs, How Saba Kept Singing, My Polish Wisnia, Oscar Buzz, Poland, press, Sara Taksler, Toronto, Variety Magazine

Early Reviews for How Saba Kept Singing

We made it home to find out that “How Saba Kept Singing” – the documentary about my grandfather’s story of survival and our return to Poland as a family – made the Top 20 Audience Award List at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival where it had its World Premiere. Out of more than 200 featured documentaries at the festival, these were the favorites!

The film premiere of “How Saba Kept Singing” in Toronto was an incredible experience. A beautiful theater, a great audience, a wonderful reception. People were laughing and crying, and applauding.

And then, to be invited up to perform, to perform a new song I wrote that premieres in the film, to perform a song my grandfather composed while a prisoner in Auschwitz, to have my music as a part of this project, to have my music intertwined forever with my grandfather’s,…
it is the honor of my life.

Some early press and reviews for the documentary “How Saba Kept Singing”:

“HOW SABA KEPT SINGING is a towering achievement that moved me both to tears and laughter and, in a perfect world, Avi Wisnia deserves an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.” Read More in Mr. Will Wong reviews.

“How Saba Kept Singing” seeks to understand how Polish Jewish teenager David Wisnia survived nearly three years in Auschwitz. [It] lends a sense of urgency and poignancy to firsthand accounts of how survivors managed to endure and to move on.” Read More in Variety Magazine.

Oh, and Hillary Clinton tweeted about it.

We were speaking to so many warm and wonderful people after the premiere of “How Saba Kept Singing” that we missed our chance to get our picture taken as a family on the red carpet. I think this turned out much better.

Thank you Toronto for the warm welcome. This might be the end of our journey in Canada, but this is just the beginning of the journey for this film. Big congratulations to the director Sara Taksler, and all the people at Retro Report, Hidden Light, Burnt Umber and the Hot Docs Festival – thank you for making this such a memorable and meaningful experience.

For everyone interested in seeing the film who could not attend the premiere in Toronto, there will be a public premiere once the film has a distributor. We really cannot wait for you to see it. Stay tuned!