DANA LUSTIG FILMS - IN DEVELOPMENT

Based on a true story.
Janusz Korczak was a Polish-Jewish children’s author and pediatrician. He wrote over twenty books that were as well-known in his time as Peter Pan. His passion for helping disadvantaged youth led him to establish an orphanage in 1912. Upon the German occupation of Poland in 1939, the orphanage was moved to the Warsaw Ghetto.

Although Korczak's celebrity afforded him many chances to escape, he refused to abandon the children and marched proudly to the gas chambers in Treblinka along with 192 orphans to whom he served as a father figure.

The film will tell the story of the last weeks of life at the orphanage with flashbacks to Korczak's past. Intertwined with the beautiful imagery from Korczak's incredible children’s stories, including the magical fantasy King Matt the First, the film will stylistically be very much in the vein of Finding Neverland and Miss Potter. Thematically and in tone, the film aspires to be along the lines of Schindler’s List and Louis Malle’s Au Revoir Les Enfants.

Janusz Korczak's story transcends life and death. It is about love and respect, commitment and the human spirit.