Michael W. King – Filmmaker-Producer, Director and Writer
Opens up about the experience of making The Rescuers
Michael W. King – Filmmaker-Producer, Director and Writer
Michael W. King has produced, directed, and written documentaries, music videos, and feature films for over two decades. Currently, he’s developing a TV series titled The Ministry with UK best-selling author Damien Lewis.
THE RESCUERS explores the mystery of goodness, but since those who displayed such amazing acts of kindness can’t tell us in their own words why, we can only speculate. Sir Martin says, “There are good people and there are bad people. The good people may act from religious belief, from the guidance and example of their parents, or from a deep personal understanding that there is such a thing as decency, and that there is such a thing as free will: to act according to one’s conscience even if the consequences may be hard. Education can instill a sense of ethics, and so can upbringing and religion: these are the three basic strengths of civilization. The rescuers showed just how effective those strengths can be.”
Michael W. King adds, “How could others stand by and watch, as so many of them did? That’s what makes it a mystery. It’s the concept that I wouldn’t let this happen to my family, so why would I watch this happen to another family and not try to prevent it. These stories are worthy just based on the humanitarian aspect of each of these individuals. These are the types of values and people we should want to introduce to our children and into our school system. For so long they weren’t honored. They went back to their countries and most ended up demoted and rejected for their actions, because they went against their country’s policy. Can you imagine, being penalized for saving thousands of lives?”
He continues, “These diplomats are hardly known today because after the war they didn’t brag about what they did, or get book deals. Their actions weren’t based on self-interest, self-gratification. It was the right thing to do and they weren’t looking for payback or recognition.”
“My hope is that through this story we can inspire others to ask themselves why goodness is a mystery and not the norm. This experience has given me the determination to continue to find ways through which we can ensure that genocide or attempts to commit genocide become history,” Nyombayire adds. “It gives me hope that if individuals could put their life, career and family at risk to save others, maybe this could become the norm rather than the exception.”
Remarkably, King was good friends since childhood with Billy Bingham, son of Hiram Bingham IV, who served as Vice-Consul at the American Consulate in Marseille, France. He, along with Varian Fry, saved tens of thousands of Jews including Marc Chagall and other artists and writers. “We were in school together from elementary school into college. No-one, including Billy, knew what his father had done until after he died,’’ King says. “They knew he was a diplomat, but that’s it. When he died, they found a box behind the fireplace containing letters and papers from people he had saved. That bewildered me. Why would someone who did such an amazing thing be silent about it, not even telling his family?”
Emmy award-winning filmmaker
Michael W. King
Philosophy
My films are about socially conscious stories dealing with human and social issues ranging from youth violence, teen sex, literacy, genocide, and mental health. My philosophy and practice has a filmmaker is to document my subjects and the world they live in. The filming of these stories can take many directions. I simply document what is, and the impulse to react is left to the audience. Either way, we see our world reflected back to us through my lens.
Recent Work
Michael W King “The Rescuers”
The Rescuers-Last Chance Project is being produced by Emmy award-winning filmmaker Michael W. King in association with USC/Shoah Foundation and the Andrew J. and Joyce D. Mandell Family Foundation. King and Joyce D. Mandell, creators and producers of the 2011 award-winning documentary The Rescuers, featuring renowned historian Sir Martin Gilbert, lead this new project.
Mission Statement
The Rescuers explores the little-known stories of diplomats who facilitated the survival of those persecuted during the Holocaust. We are currently working to identify those associated with—be they survivors or family members—diplomats who’ve been recognized by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. We are in a race against time to collect these stories of service. It is our “last chance” to document first-hand accounts of this chapter of the 20th century’s most indelible events.
