The REALITY OF THE JOURNEY FROM BOOK TO FILM ... A TYPICAL EXAMPLE -"The ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE" took TEN (10) YEARS

THE ZOOKEEPER"S WIFE by Diane Ackerman was published in 2007. 

In September 2010, it was announced that Angela Workman was adapting Diane Ackerman's 
non-fiction book The Zookeeper's Wife. 

April 30, 2013 the actors and director were attached.  

 August 24, 2015, Focus Features acquired the US rights to the film, and cast signed on.

Filming

Filming of the animals to be used in the film began - September 9, 2015., 

Actual Principal Photography with actors began- September 29, 2015, in Prague, Czech Republic. 

Filming ended - November 29, 2015.

Editing and post-production 2015-2017

Release

The world premiere took place at the Cinequest Film Festival on March 12, 2017.^]

The film was released on March 31, 2017

A MESSAGE FROM AUTHOR of 21 ALDGATE. Patricia Friedberg

In 21 Aldgate I tell the story of a family and their experiences in the 1930’s leading up to World War 2. Now in 2017 I see too many parallels to those years. What I couldn’t remember for the novel I researched. I read the rhetoric of the British politicians, Neville Chamberlain’s naïve words. “…there will be peace in our time.” I shuddered at the way Hitler and his cohorts made promises and never kept them except for his intention of wiping out the Jews. I can’t help likening it to a reply to President Trump’s statement re Isis, that he supports killing innocent people and committing war even if it results in the deaths of innocent women and children. Hitler had no regard for basic principles of humanitarian law and neither does Donald Trump. We have a government of self interest Republicans who haven’t yet had the guts to stand up to a dictator and his advisers. I suggest they go back to their history books and see how the Third Reich accomplished their endeavors before we become the Fourth.

A MUST READ AT THIS CRUCIAL TIME IN AMERICA...

…Lest we not learn from History

21 ALDGATE by Patricia Friedberg based on true-life characters and events.

Set in London, England in the 1930’s during the build-up and into World War II 

21 ALDGATE is the story of CLARA LEVY a strong, independent and inspirational woman, whose drive, determination and courage sets her apart from her generation of women.

CLARA LEVY a young women from London’s East End finds employment as

assistant to Artist PAUL MAZE in the writing of his memoir.

A few miles away from her family’s flat at 21 ALDGATE in the East End is 14 Cheyne Walk, home to the wealthy, successful and charismatic Paul Maze. A distance of only a few miles, yet in 1930 London, a social divide virtually impossible to imagine, let alone cross…

And so begins a journey for Clara, every day a few miles on the bus, every day a little further from Aldgate and her family.

CLARA assists MAZE in the writing of his memoir:  A FRENCHMAN IN KHAKI , by PAUL MAZE, William Heinemann, LTD., London, England 1934.  She is introduced to the society Maze moves in, the privilege he enjoys and despite the prejudice she encounters a passion grows between them.

                                                      1930

Paul Maze DCM MM (1887-1979) (Pronounced Mars)

Often called the last of the Impressionists, Maze had a reputation as one of the great artists of his generation. He was born in 1887 into an artistic circle in Le Havre, where the young Maze learned the rudiments of painting from family friends that included Renoir, Monet, Dufy and Pissarro. His father, a tea merchant, sent him to school in Southampton where he began a life long love affair with all things English. On the outbreak of War, the sight of the Scots Greys disembarking at Le Havre inspired him to sign up immediately as their interpreter. A brave and highly decorated soldier, Maze was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal and bar; he sketched continually throughout the Great War, his pencil and paper never far from his bayonet.

During this time he encountered Winston Churchill and a mutual interest in painting led to a lifelong friendship, often with Maze acting as Winston’s artistic mentor.

1979

 www.panterandhall.com/artist/paul-maze/

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