Elevation Pictures to Distribute The Auschwitz Volunteer in Canada
Elevation Pictures will handle the cinema release in Canada for The Auschwitz Volunteer, the Second World War project from film-maker Jason Lapeyre, as reported by Variety.
The news was reported on 18 September. The film is still in late development, at the stage where producers assemble the cast, crew and financing before shooting can begin.
It is a hybrid documentary about Polish soldier Witold Pilecki. The form mixes documentary material with dramatised scenes. Pilecki's story is stark. He volunteered to enter a Nazi prison camp in order to gather intelligence and build a resistance movement from inside.
The project is based on The Auschwitz Volunteer: Beyond Bravery, Pilecki's published military report written after he escaped the camp. The book sets out what he saw and what he organised inside, in his own account.
Lapeyre will write, produce and direct the film, according to the report. He is producing through his company Osaka Sunset Pictures with Priscilla Galvez, while Michael Roiff is attached as executive producer, a senior credit often given to someone who helps secure financing or key support.
The next public step is Vancouver. The production is headed to the newly established Business Hub Co-Production Forum at the Vancouver International Film Festival, a market where producers pitch unfinished projects to potential financiers and partners.
That forum runs on 3-4 October, during the festival itself, which takes place on 1-11 October. A Canadian distributor joining before that market gives the team a confirmed home territory as it seeks the rest of its budget.
What makes this stand out is the scale of the task. Pilecki's mission is well documented but little filmed, and the hybrid approach lets the production stay close to his written testimony while recreating events for which no footage exists.
