Won’t Be Silent is a film about a recently discovered, long-lost piece of music that my uncle Wolf—a renowned composer and conductor—wrote while in captivity in a concentration camp. The song, originally called Stay Silent, was sung by his fellow prisoners—their way of showing resistance to the Nazis. Wolf was killed hours before the liberation and his song had been silenced, until now. The updated song title has the opposite message because now we can’t and won’t be silent!
Won’t Be Silent explores the power of music and its dynamic ability to motivate people to be uplifted and healed no matter how dire the circumstances. Music as resistance has always been vital to those who’ve been enslaved; be it in the camps, the cotton fields or our city streets. We sing about a better way of life because we know, universally, that it can be. Music is freedom.
A diverse cast of musicians and artists will reinterpret and breathe life into this moving melody, exhumed from the ashes. Together we will create an anthem for the global resistance movements, whose drumbeat grows louder every day.
