When Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933, one of his earliest actions was to ban Jews from working in that country's storied film industry, praised as the most creative cinema in the world. Men and women who had created landmarks of movie history fled their homeland in the ensuing months and years. More than 800 film professionals escaped to Hollywood in the years between 1933 and 1939. The list includes actors Felix Bressart, Hedy Lamarr and Peter Lorre; directors Fritz Lang, Henry Koster, Billy Wilder and Fred Zinnemann; composers Frederick Hollander, Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Franz Waxman; and cinematographer Rudy Mate. Through film clips, behind-the-scenes archival and rare footage, photographs and first-person accounts, CINEMA'S EXILES traces the experiences of the exiles who took refuge in Hollywood and examines their impact on both German and American cinema. Sigourney Weaver narrates.
