In late 2018, Dr. Emile Bendit approached us about making a movie to tell the story of his late parents, Saul Bendit and Tanya Jacobi Bendit. An only child, Emile wanted to record his family narrative for the benefit of his children and grandchildren. "I realized that if I didn't do something sooner or later, no one would remember anything."
Unlike our standard Legacy Film packages in which interviewees reflect and share about their own lives, Emile wanted the focus to be squarely on Saul and Tanya's lives. As we scoped out the production, it became apparent that Emile was missing some details about his parents' respective upbringings. Furthermore, he lacked perspective about family events that occurred while he was still a young boy. To round out the narrative, we organized and led interviews with four of Emile's first cousins, located as far as Atlanta, GA and Santa Fe, NM. But this was just the beginning.
As the project evolved, so too did our collective journey down the rabbit hole. We brought in our research genealogist (who uncovered a "bombshell" for the family). We collected copious amounts of photos, historic articles, documents, ship manifests, and census records. We restored damaged audio and video clips. And we designed in-depth family trees to keep track of the expansive number of siblings and cousins in Europe and America.
A little more than a year after our journey together began, we presented Emile with a one-hour documentary honoring his parents (along with 6+ hours of raw interview footage). Though Saul and Tanya were unable to tell their own stories, this moving tribute brings their stories to life through those individuals who knew them so well. Click on the image above to see a 4-minute montage of scenes from the movie.