South Africa<\/a> as Hitler was taking power in Germany, immigrated from Cape Town to Los Angeles in the early 1950\u2019s.<\/p>\n![\"FILMING](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/730109.jpeg\"\/)
FILMING IN the Negev, 2022. (credit: Sea Point Films and Media)<\/p>\n
One surviving uncle\u2019s experience would later inspire The Long Way Home, the film that won Trank his Oscar in 1998. The documentary examined not only how Holocaust survivors endured the war, but how they rebuilt their lives afterward.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always wanted to tell the story of what happened after \u2018they lived happily ever after,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cBecause, in reality, that wasn\u2019t necessarily the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Discovering the power\u00a0of Jewish storytelling<\/p>\n
Although Richard Trank grew up in a community outside of LA, largely surrounded by non-Jewish peers, some of his most formative experiences came during summers spent at Camp Hess Kramer, a Jewish camp in Malibu.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the only time of the year where, for a month or so, I was around all Jewish kids,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n
For Trank, those summers provided something he could not easily find elsewhere: a sense of belonging to a larger Jewish story in which Israel was central. Looking back, he sees them as an early connection to Israel long before he would begin making films about the Jewish state.<\/p>\n
After high school, Trank attended the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied drama and history. Initially, he envisioned a career writing plays before turning to short stories and eventually enrolling in a graduate writing program at the University of Southern California. His goal was simple: to make a living as a writer.<\/p>\n
Instead, he found his way into radio journalism.<\/p>\n
A chance encounter would change everything.<\/p>\n
At the time, activists connected to the Simon Wiesenthal Center were campaigning to remove statutes of limitations for Nazi war criminals in Germany and supporting efforts to identify and deport suspected Nazi perpetrators who had entered the United States. Trank became acquainted with several of the organization\u2019s leaders and was fascinated by their work.<\/p>\n
Recognizing the power of radio as a communication tool, they asked him to create a nationally syndicated Jewish public affairs program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I would do it for a year or so,\u201d Trank said.<\/p>\n
Instead, it became a relationship that lasted more than three decades, one that would repeatedly bring him to Israel and immerse him in the story of the Jewish state.<\/p>\n
One of the first projects was Echoes That Remain, a documentary about life in the pre-war shtetl, narrated by Martin Landau, directed by Arnold Schwartzman, the filmmaker who directed Genocide for the Wiesenthal Center and became a mentor to Trank.<\/p>\n
Working alongside Schwartzman, Trank helped produce Liberation, a sweeping documentary chronicling the Allied liberation of Europe and the concentration camps. Narrated by Sir Ben Kingsley, it became the first production by a new division of the Wiesenthal Center, Moriah Films, dedicated to producing original documentaries about Jewish history and culture.<\/p>\n
Those early projects laid the foundation for what would become one of the most influential careers in Jewish documentary filmmaking, eventually leading to films about Holocaust survivors, the founding of Israel, Zionism, and some of the most consequential figures in modern Jewish history, including The Long Way Home, narrated by Morgan Freeman, which won Trank his Oscar and along with Genocide, became the Wiesenthal Center\u2019s second.<\/p>\n
\u201cI discussed it with Rabbi Marvin Hier, who founded the Wiesenthal Center\u2026 How do we tell the story without then getting involved with the intricacies of the Israeli-Arab conflict? That\u2019s when we decided to open the film when the camps were liberated and close it when the State was declared,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Oscar-winning film became the official documentary marking Israel\u2019s 50th anniversary in 1998, a moment Trank described as deeply personal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt meant the world to me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Discovering Zionism\u00a0through Israel\u2019s founding visionaries<\/p>\n
As Trank\u2019s career evolved, his focus increasingly shifted from Holocaust history to the story of Israel itself. What began as an interest in the aftermath of Jewish survival became a deeper exploration of the individuals whose ideas and leadership shaped the modern Jewish state.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved making those movies because the history is fascinating,\u201d Trank said. \u201cIt enabled me to be here in Israel a lot and become enmeshed in its story. I also began to see how many Jews outside Israel don\u2019t really understand or appreciate that history. So, I felt like I was contributing something to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n
That conviction inspired a trilogy of sorts, films examining three of the most influential figures in modern Jewish history: Theodor Herzl, David Ben-Gurion, and Shimon Peres.<\/p>\n
For Trank, the journey began with Herzl.<\/p>\n
Surprisingly, despite Herzl\u2019s towering place in Jewish history, no major documentary had been devoted entirely to the father of modern political Zionism. Trank set out to change that. Narrated by Ben Kingsley and featuring dramatic readings by Christoph Waltz, the film sought to introduce audiences to the man behind the movement.<\/p>\n
The timing was significant. Trank had become increasingly concerned by efforts to distance people from the word \u201cZionism,\u201d which was beginning to carry negative connotations in many circles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was insane,\u201d he recalled. \u201cOne thing I learned from The Long Way Home was that the largest groups of Jews who survived the camps were people who had something to believe in \u2013 communists, religious Jews, and especially Zionists.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Trank, Zionism was not a slogan but a source of hope. It represented the belief that the Jewish people could reclaim agency over their future after centuries of persecution. Having seen how that belief sustained members of his own family and countless Holocaust survivors, he wanted audiences to understand what the term originally meant.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow could you simply dismiss this word,\u201d he asked, \u201cwhen it helped people like my family survive?\u201d<\/p>\n
The film exceeded expectations. Released in 2012, it resonated with audiences around the world and introduced many viewers to Herzl\u2019s own writings rather than contemporary interpretations of his legacy. Trank said people often emerged from the film with a completely different perspective on both Herzl and the Zionist movement. The movie\u2019s premiere took place at the Tribeca Film Festival, one of the major film festivals on the international circuit.<\/p>\n
The production itself revealed unexpected connections. During recording sessions, Christoph Waltz astonished the filmmakers by revealing that his children were Jewish and that his grandparents, actors in Vienna, had actually performed in plays written by Herzl decades earlier and staged at Vienna\u2019s Burgtheater. For Trank, it was yet another reminder of how deeply intertwined Jewish history remains with broader European history.<\/p>\n
One of the recurring voices in the documentary was Shimon Peres, whose reflections helped connect Herzl\u2019s 19th-century vision to the realities of modern Israel. Peres had written a volume, The Imaginary Voyage, based on a dream in which he guides Herzl through contemporary Israel, showing him what had become of his vision. Trank found the concept profoundly moving and used Peres\u2019s reflections to frame portions of the film.<\/p>\n
As work on the Herzl film concluded, Trank turned his attention to another giant of Israeli history: David Ben-Gurion. He began researching a documentary on Israel\u2019s founding prime minister, viewing Ben-Gurion as the practical architect who transformed Herzl\u2019s dream into political reality.<\/p>\n
But while production on the Ben-Gurion film was starting, something unexpected happened.<\/p>\n
In December 2015, Trank traveled to the Peres Center in Jaffa to interview Shimon Peres, then 92, about Ben-Gurion. Peres was uniquely positioned to discuss him; he was one of the last living leaders who had worked alongside Israel\u2019s founding prime minister.<\/p>\n
During the visit, members of Peres\u2019s staff posed a simple question: Why not make a film about Peres himself?<\/p>\n
For Trank, the suggestion was\u00a0irresistible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would love nothing more than to make a film about Shimon Peres,\u201d he remembered telling them.<\/p>\n
When they raised the idea with Peres, the former president responded with characteristic modesty.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho would go see such a movie?\u201d Peres joked.<\/p>\n
Trank and Wiesenthal Center founder Rabbi Hier assured him there was a big audience for such a project.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe convinced him to make the film,\u201d Trank explained. \u201cWe told him it would be our greatest honor.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ben-Gurion documentary was placed on hold. Instead, Trank embarked on what would become one of the most meaningful experiences of his career.<\/p>\n
For eight months, he traveled from Los Angeles to Israel roughly once a month, spending one to two weeks at a time with Peres. The interviews ranged far beyond politics. Between takes, the two men discussed family, Jewish history, Israel\u2019s future, and Peres\u2019s lifelong belief in optimism and innovation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe finished our principal interviews around his 93rd birthday,\u201d Trank recalled.<\/p>\n
The plan was to accompany Peres on a lecture tour to China and continue filming. But just weeks later, before Rosh Hashanah, Peres suffered a stroke and died.<\/p>\n
Overnight, the documentary changed from a biography into a tribute.<\/p>\n
The resulting film, Never Stop Dreaming, became one of the definitive cinematic portraits of Peres\u2019s life and legacy. Narrated by George Clooney and featuring interviews with world leaders including Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Tony Blair, the documentary offered an intimate portrait of one of Israel\u2019s last founding statesmen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Netflix acquired the film and made it a Netflix Original. It is one of the most popular documentaries on the streaming platform around the world and in Israel.<\/p>\n
Looking back, Trank sees Herzl, Ben-Gurion, and Peres as three chapters of the same story. Herzl articulated the dream. Ben-Gurion built the state. Peres spent his life carrying that vision into the future.<\/p>\n
From visitor to citizen<\/p>\n
Although Trank often said that Israel was the only place outside America where he could imagine living, aliyah remained more of a dream than a possibility. His career and his children were in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, the idea never disappeared.<\/p>\n
But things changed in 2025. After more than three decades at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Trank\u2019s long career there came to an end. His 93-year-old mother had also passed away. His children were established in their careers and living on their own. For the first time, he had the freedom to ask a new question: What comes next?<\/p>\n
He started by creating his own independent production company, Sea Point Films and Media. And he began looking for projects to develop and produce, stories like the ones he had been writing and directing for years.<\/p>\n
As he was considering which project to start work on first, he and his partner decided to spend an extended period living in Israel. Trank wanted to see if it was realistic to work from Israel and also to experience everyday life in the Jewish state.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time she and I came here, there was always a sadness when we knew we had to leave,\u201d Trank recalled. \u201cThis time, very soon after we arrived, we knew that we could easily work and live in a place we had only dreamed about.\u201d<\/p>\n
They made aliyah on October 8, 2025, the day the last hostages were released from Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For decades, Richard Trank helped tell some of the most important stories in Jewish history. As the Oscar-winning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[5564,4488,14814,1607,37,12243,503,9303],"class_list":["post-213673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-california","tag-film","tag-holocaust","tag-interview","tag-israel","tag-los-angeles","tag-magazine","tag-oscars"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116947519771835517","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}