Nicky's Family

 

Film Info

Country Czech Republic / Slovak Republic
Language English
Year of Release 2012
Running Time 96 minutes

Crew

Director, Screenplay, Producer Matej Mináč
Producer, Screenplay, Editor Patrik Pašš

Cast

Featuring Sir Nicholas Winton
His Holiness Dalai Lama
Elie Wiesel

Downloads

Synopsis

Nicky's Family tells the nearly forgotten story of Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who organized the rescue of 669 Czech and Slovak children just before the outbreak of World War II.

Winton, now 102 years old, did not speak about these events with anyone for more than half a century. His exploits would have probably been forgotten if his wife, fifty years later, hadn ́t found a suitcase in the attic, full of documents and transport plans.

Today the story of this rescue is known all over the world. He was knighted by the Queen Elisabeth II and the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 583 recognizing his remarkable deed.

Winton's story is a very emotional one, and thousands of children in many countries have decided to follow in his footsteps and do something important. They think up various charity projects and even help in the saving of lives of undernourished and sick children in Cambodia and Africa.

120,000 children in the Czech Republic signed a petition to award Nicholas Winton the Nobel Prize for Peace. Dozens of Winton's "children" have been found and to this day his family has grown to almost 6,000 people, many of whom have gone on to achieve great things themselves.

It is incredible that all these people live due to the heroic deeds of one man – Sir Nicholas Winton.  Producers Matej Minac and Patrik Pass set out to ensure these fascinating, little-known stories and precious facts about the rescue mission are not lost to time. They wanted also to show the unique phenomenon that has emerged from Winton's story, how his courageous acts many years ago continue to influence people from all over the world and motivate them to do good.

Their film demonstrates that members of Nicky's Family are not only the thousands of people who owe their lives to Sir Nicholas Winton, but also all those who want to do something positive for our world.

Latest News

Hartford Man Lived Through Tale Of "Nicky's Family"

Nicky's Family screened at the Mandell JCC Hartford Jewish Film Festival on March 26, 2012. The screening featured a conversation with Mr. Ivan Backer, a Hartford man who was one of the children saved by Nicolas Winton in the Czech Kindertransport.

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"Nicky's Family" Wins 10 US Audience Awards!

Nicky's Family, the inspirational documentary from filmmakers Matej Mináč and Patrik Pašš, continues to wow audiences, winning audience awards from film festivals across the United States! Most recently, Nicky's Family has been named:

Audience Award for Best Documentary - Pittsburgh Jewish Film Festival 2012
Audience Award for Best Film - Rockland County Jewish Film Festival 2012
Audience Award for Best Documentary - Hartford Jewish Film Festival 2012
Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary - AJC Seattle Jewish Film Festival 2012
Audience Award for Best Film- Houston Jewish Film Festival 2012
Audience Award for Best Film - Charlotte Jewish Film Festival 2012
Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary - Denver Jewish Film Festival 2012
Audience Award for Best Documentary - Atlanta Jewish Film Festival 2012
Audience Award for Best Documentary - Sedona International Film Festival 2012
Audience Award for Best Documentary - Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival 2011

Nicky's Family tells the nearly forgotten story of Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who organized the rescue of 669 Czech and Slovak children just before the outbreak of World War II.

Click here to learn more about Nicky's Family!

"Nicky's Family" Named Best Documentary of Montreal World Film Festival

It was just announced that Nicky's Family is sharing the Audience Award for the Best Documentary at the 2011 Montreal World Film Festival.  The Festival ran from August 18th to the 28th, and is an "A" level world class Film Festival.

Nicky's Family tells the nearly forgotten story of Nicholas Winton, an Englishman who organized the rescue of 669 Czech and Slovak children just before the outbreak of World War II.

This award is now added to the others Nicky's Family has received; the Forum for the Preservation of Audio-Visual Memory Award at the 2011 Jerusalem Film Festival, and the Audience Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2011.

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Reviews

Hartford Courant

Feature Article - Hartford Man Lived Through Tale Of 'Nicky's Family'

"Ivan Backer of Hartford, 82, considers himself a patriotic Czech. But Backer hasn't lived in his native country since May 1939, when his mother, Alice, and his aunt put 9-year-old Ivan on a train in Prague, not knowing if they'd ever see him again.

Backer's mother wasn't the only one. During the early days of Nazi occupation, hundreds of Czech Jews sent their children away to be raised by families in England, in a rescue mission orchestrated by British businessman Nicholas Winton. The story of the Czech Kindertransport is told in the movie "Nicky's Family," which is one of the centepieces of this year's Mandell JCC Hartford Jewish Film Festival."

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Santa Barbara Independent

"Beautifully made and beautifully intentioned... What results in director Matej Minac’s finely done doc is a film richly textured with archival footage and photographs, dramatizations of key scenes, and, most importantly, interviews with now-aged survivors who wouldn’t be alive were it not for Winton. As such, Nicky’s Family is literally life-affirming, and a rare Holocaust film in which tears of joy are the upshot by the time of the strategically paced film’s end."

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TotallyJewish.com

"The part-dramatisation, part-documentary film - peppered with old black and white footage, photo album head-shots and dramatic re-enactments, cutting back to the modern day with those who know him telling their stories - Nicky's Family is an unflinching emotional tale of tragedy, optimism and despair, of one man's defiance against the odds, from whom many could learn from.

While it goes without saying that many of the stories of tragedy and hope will provoke a tear, the film has a greater message: anything is possible. This is an ethos Sir Nicholas held on to, and one the grandchildren of his saved "children" now live by."

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Videos

Watch the Trailer
CNN: "Decades-long Secret Revealed"
A Message from Nicholas Winton

Photos

Awards

Audience Award - Best Documentary
Pittsburgh Jewish Film Festival 2012

Audience Award - Best Film
Rockland County Jewish Film Festival 2012

Audience Award - Best Documentary
Hartford Jewish Film Festival 2012

Audience Award - Best Documentary
AJC Seattle Jewish Film Festival 2012

Audience Award – Best Film
Houston Jewish Film Festival 2012

Audience Award - Best Film
Charlotte Jewish Film Festival 2012

Audience Award - Best Documentary
Denver Jewish Film Festival 2012

Audience Award - Best Documentary
Atlanta Jewish Film Festival 2012

Audience Award - Best Documentary
Sedona International Film Festival 2012

Audience Award - Best Documentary
Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival 2011

Winner – Best Screenplay Award
Slovak Literary Union - 2012

Winner - Best Documentary Film
Slovak Film Critic's Award - 2012

Audience Award - Best Documentary
UK Jewish Film Festival 2011

David Camera Award for Best Music
Warsaw Jewish Film Festival 2011

Audience Award - Best Documentary
Montreal World Film Festival 2011

Winner - Forum for the Preservation of Audio-Visual Memory Award
Jerusalem Film Festival 2011

Audience Award
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2011

Winner - Prize of the Mayor of Piestany
IFF Cinematik, Slovak Republic

Winner - Prize of Oty Hofman for Best Film
Winner - Special Jury Prize for film with the Most Impressive Moral Accent
Children’s Film Festival of Ota Hofman – Czech Republic

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