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We seek investors and a German and/or USA-based production company for assistance to attract investment to develop and produce this important film. 'How Dare the Angel Sing' will be a feature-length documentary-drama revealing parallel victims of bigotry across centuries: Eugen Engel, a Jewish composer in 1920-30s Berlin, and Grete Minde, the protagonist of his opera. Through three acts, a unique narrator - the spirit of Grete Minde herself - guides viewers through interconnected stories of persecution, artistic triumph, and human resilience.
ACT I – SPREADING WINGS
introduces Grete in 1600s Tangermünde Germany - executed at the burning stake after being stripped of her inheritance, false accusations and torture – her Spirit lives on and follows Engel in 1920s Berlin composing an opera about her life. As Weimar culture flourishes, Engel sees in Grete's story the joy of youth and love, and individual struggle against societal repression. The Nazis come to power in 1933 but Engel refuses to leave Berlin.
ACT II – THE STORM
traces Engel's tragic parallel with Grete as Nazi persecution intensifies in the 1930s. Grete’s Spirit observes Engel’s librettist join the Nazi party, his daughter Eva flee to the USA with copies of his scores, and yet Engel stays in Berlin until 1939 seeking in vain to have his opera performed, believing in German culture. In 1943, like Grete centuries before, the authorities kill him and he is consumed by fire in the Sobibor death camp. Eva stores the score in a suitcase in San Francisco.
ACT III – WINGS SOAR
90 years later, Eugen’s granddaughter, discovers the opera score. The action jumps to 2022, where Engel's ‘lost’ opera premieres to great acclaim in Germany. Meanwhile, history repeats as rising extremism erupts in white-power and racist anti-immigrant and neo-Nazi rallies.
Spirit-Grete, observing across centuries, reveals her true story that she was a victim of misogamy and tortured as an arsonist - not the romantic legend of Engel's opera, but a stark warning about how society "others" individuals. Her final message resonates: "First, we are each an individual. First of all, know that."
The film combines:
- Historical reenactments
- Contemporary interviews with opera creators and scholars
- Archival footage
- Performance footage from the 2022-23 opera
- Spirit-Grete's through-line narrative
