ESCAPE TO LISBON (22MIN. 2026) A FILM BY DANA PLAYS)
A movie of peril, fear and hope, fleeing Nazi controlled Vichy France the film follows the journey of Ottilie Moore rescuing 10 International children from five nationalities, including Jewish orphans, by driving a Ford Woody Station Wagon from the French Riviera through Vichy France and post Spanish Civil War under Franco, Spain to Lisbon to take the American Export Line SS Excalibur to safety in New York. This innovative AI assisted documentary, was created by the filmmaker, grandniece of Ottilie Moore, who culled photographs from her family collection and historical photographic archives and transformed them into vivid color stills and movies using Artlist to bring about the factual narrative based on detailed historical research.
Story Summary: The story of the documentary follows three Jewish sisters from Germany, mother a victim of Aktion T4, father murdered at Dachau, who after Kristallnacht were transported on the Kindertransport to Belgium. The two older sisters went to Kortrijk (Courtrai) where they were sheltered by a Dutch Jewish family, and separated from their baby sister who went to Brussels. After the May 10 Nazi invasion of Belgium, the two older sisters were relocated to Vichy France, and ultimately then rescued by Ottilie Moore who brought them on a perilous road trip from Villefranche to Lisbon to take the SS Excalibur to the USA. The ten-day road trip, involved a series of mini episodes visualized throughout the second half of the film. The epilogue of the film returns to Belgium, and France, as it follows the younger sister’s journey, her stay in Brussels, then Seyre, France and Chateau de La Hille, France, and finally brought over on SS Serpa Pinto from Casablanca, also surviving the holocaust with a miraculous re-uniting with their sisters in NYC.
As the grandniece of Ottilie Moore, I have an archive of statements by Ottilie Moore, and archival media on this subject this, but the missing visual material was the road trip from Villefranche to Lisbon. Constructing the story with photo composites with the assistance of AI, facilitated the story to be documented and told. My goal with the aesthetic of the film is to tell the story visually and with music in short form format, as observational historical material, bringing some photos in to movies advanced the cinematic quality without leaning on voice over or interviews to tell the story.
As the grand niece of Ottilie Gobel Moore, this story of her rescues are very close to my heart and have involved years of research, and review of personal and historical archival material.
My focus on the film is on factual visual storytelling augmented with music, to drive the narrative, and some scenes created from photographs with the assistance of AI.
Distribution and Contact information
Dana Plays
danaplays@gmail.com
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