A preview of the past

There are very few people in this world whose r?(c)sum?(c)s speak louder than that of professor Elliot B. Caplan.

The award-winning filmmaker, director for UB's Center for the Moving Image and Media Study professor has made waves in the past, and this week gave audience members a preview of his latest work.

Caplan opened this Spring's Humanities Institute Lecture Series with a screening of his new documentary "Hidden Things: A Children's Story" this past Wednesday in the Screening Room of the Center for the Arts.

The professor has been apart of UB's Media Study Department for three years in addition to working with such institutions as the University of Colorado and the Sarah Lawrence College. He has also spent many years working with and filming the Cunningham Dance Foundation, and garnered an Emmy Award when he worked as the segment producer for PBS's national series on art in America, "EGG."

"Hidden Things" addresses the experiences of Jewish children during the Holocaust through an examination and understanding of the objects that they carried throughout their struggle.

"The objects that these children held onto were their only remaining link to their lives before the war," Caplan said. "These objects helped the children maintain the memories of their parents, friends, siblings and relatives."

The project has been years in the making, as Caplan stressed it simply would not have worked if the film were constricted by a time frame. He said that he would only begin filming an interview once he felt that a certain relationship was established.

"I spent years gaining the trust of these survivors," he said, "all of which was spent with the camera off, allowing these people to feel comfortable enough to say things in some cases that they have never told anyone."

Working with Holocaust survivors and filming in a documentary format was not familiar to Caplan, whose work has primarily focused around dancers and actors.

"It was very hard to get to know people who have experienced so much," he said. "It was much more complex than working with artists, in fact they were the most complex people whom I have ever met."

He asserted that "Hidden Things" is only the working title for the documentary, which is now in its post-production phase of editing.

"I am now beginning the arduous post-production process of the film," Caplan said. "It will be quite the task to condense 75-plus hours of interviews with Holocaust survivors into roughly 95 minutes of film."

Caplan was adamant in hoping that his film would be able to get the point across - that these people did not suffer in vain.

"A film is a shortcut," he said. "It is impossible to accurately capture anyone's true story onto film. What I am trying to do is simply get their message across."

Caplan said that conveying the message of Holocaust survivors was important in a historical sense for future generations.

"These children of the Holocaust are the last living generation of this horror," he said, "and once they are gone, there will be no one left to remember what had happened. I am hoping that their voices will be heard in this documentary."