Blue Heron International Pictures LLC

 Outstanding Films

 Safe Haven Honored in Hollywood

 Ryszard Zabinski, son of the heroic zookeepers, at the Warsaw Zoo
 

                                          Antonina, wife of heroic zookeeper Jan Zabinski

 

                  Moshe Tirosh reflects back on childhood days in hiding at the Warsaw Zoo.

 

 

                                    Marsha Goren and her Global Dreamers in Israel.
 

                                             Producer Alex Ringer in Israel

 Due to the efforts of Israeli producer Alex Ringer, Safe Haven has been broadcast twice on Israeli national television with both Hebrew and Russian subtitles. It also screens at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. 

 

 

 

Safe Haven: The Warsaw Zoo was produced by Feliks Pastusiak in Warsaw and Alex Ringer in Israel. It was directed by Gary Lester, and premiered at the West Hollywood International Film Festival in 2009, where it captured a Special Juror Mention.

 

The film has won numerous awards at film festivals around the country, and was honored with six Crystal Reel Awards from the Florida Motion Picture & Television Association.

 

The Crystal Reel Award is the state equivalent of an Academy Award.

 

 

Safe Haven: The Warsaw Zoo, a Holocaust documentary filmed by Daytona Beach film-maker Gary Lester has won another major award, this time at  at the Treasure Coast International Film Festival.

At the gala awards ceremony in Port St. Lucie, Florida on February 20, 2010, the trophy for Best Director: Short Film was awarded to Gary. On stage at the awards podium, Lester also recognized producers Feliks Pastusiak and Alex Ringer.

"Needless to say, we are all  thrilled by this honor," said the 24 year old director. "This film has reached the hearts of more than six million people around the world, and it represents a labor of love by all who participated in making it."

 

 

Gary Gary Lester celebrates his Best Director award with songwriter Carol Connors (Rocky Theme) and Hollywood actor Johnny Martino (The Godfather)

 

On hand to congratulate the young director at the Treasure Coast International Film Festival was Hollywood veteran actor John Martino (The Godfather).

Safe Haven Producer Feliks Pastusiak is another  Hollywood veteran, with such films as Schindler's List, The Pianist, and Proof of Life to his credit.

Co-producer Alex Ringer in Israel also produced Deliver Us From Evil and Bogart & Friends for Blue Heron International Pictures.

Educational Outreach Coordinator Marsha Goren has helped place the film in classrooms around the world, from Warsaw to New Delhi, and from South Korea to Israel, where it is featured on the Global Dreamers website.

Antonina Zabinski, who helped her husband hide 300 Jewish men, women, and children at the Warsaw Zoo.

An Israeli television network broadcast the film nation-wide last April, and now streams it from their website with Hebrew and Russian subtitles. They will re-broadcast the documentary nationally again this April.

The film, winner of six Crystal Reel Awards from the Florida Motion Picture & Television Association,  is also being exhibited with a Polish narration to visitors at the Warsaw Zoo. 

At its Hollywood premiere in 2009, the film won a Special Juror Mention from the West Hollywood International Film Festival.

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   Heroes of Safe Haven Film  Honored By President of Poland

                                           Jan Zabinski (Courtesy of Ryszard Zabinski)

When Zookeeper Jan Zabinski was asked why he risked his life during the Holocaust to save 300 Jewish men, women, and children, he replied simply, "It was the right thing to do."

On October 17, 2008, Zabinski and his wife Antonina were among 70 Poles honored for their courage and heroism with one of the highest Polish medals -- Polonia Restituta.

                                     Antonina Zabinski (Courtesy of Ryszard Zabinski)

According to Polish public television, Lech Kaczynski, President of the Republic of Poland, presented the "high state honors to those who at the risk of their lives and lives of their loved ones, hastened to save their Jewish friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens."

Two of the Zabinski children -- Ryszard and Teresa -- accepted the posthumous award on behalf of their parents.

The ceremony took place in Warsaw's beautiful National Theater, in front of an audience consisting of President Kaczynski, high-ranking state officials, ambassadors, members of the Polish cultural community, international journalists, and a large number of Polish school-children.

    Safe Haven: The villa at the Warsaw Zoo (Photo by Piotr Bujnowicz) 

Jan and Antonina Zabinski have also been honored by Yad Vashem as 'Righteous Among the Nations.'

Blue Heron International Pictures released their story to the screen on March 1, 2009.  With more than 330,000 people viewing the trailer on the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDb.com), the entire factory run of DVDs sold out within 24 hours

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             Holocaust Film Wins Award

              At Daytona Beach Film Festival

                                          September, 2008

Filmmaker Gary Lester’s award-winning production, Deliver Us From Evil: Claire’s Story, has been selected as Audience Favorite Short Film Winner at the Daytona Beach Film Festival.

Following the Sunday presentation in the News-Journal Performing Arts Center , an appreciative audience remained for about 30 minutes talking with Lester and Holocaust survivor Claire Soria.

Claire Soria visits with filmmaker Rocco Devilliers (The Flyboys) at the Daytona Beach Film Festival. 

The film also screened on the same weekend at the Non-Violence International Film Festival in Ontario, Canada .  

“I am deeply honored,” exclaimed Lester. “Claire’s story offers us all lessons about tolerance, compassion, and empathy – lessons which can bring about a better world if they are taken to heart.”

Deliver Us From Evil: Claire’s Story offers a compelling account of suffering, loss, and endurance. Woven throughout the story are the faces of those who were doomed, but did not yet realize it...faces captured for all time on color film smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto.

 Holocaust survivor Claire Soria with a basket given to her by her father on her fifth birthday.

In the film, Holocaust survivor Claire Soria describes her childhood in Nazi-occupied Belgium , hidden in a Christian home by a loving elderly couple...until the day the Gestapo knocks at the door.

Deliver Us From Evil premiered at the Jewish Heritage Festival in Daytona Beach, Florida, with an estimated audience of around 10,000.

In August, 2008, Deliver Us From Evil received the Florida film industry’s highest honor – The Crystal Reel Award – from the Florida Motion Picture & Television Association.

The film, with Hebrew subtitles, has been accepted as a permanent resource at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem , as well as the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum in western Galilee, and Ravensbrueck Concentration Camp Museum in Germany .

Deliver Us From Evil was originally broadcast nationally on Israel 10 Television on Holocaust Remembrance Day, May 1, 2008 , throughout Israel. Due to the efforts of associate producer Alex Ringer, it will be re-broadcast in April, 2010.

You may view a slide show of the film at the Non-Violence International Film Festival website in Ontario, Canada at:  

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Deliver Us From Evil  has also been honored with an official site on The Internet Movie Data Base, IMDb.

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Treasure Coast Honors Armin Lehmann's Eyewitness To History                February 8, 2008 

Armin Lehmann’s production of Eyewitness To History was a hit with the audience at the 2008 Treasure Coast International Film Festival.

Director Gary Lester led a Q&A after the screening, where viewers praised Lehmann’s story-telling style, as well as the overall look and feel of the production.

"Riveting," said producer/director Jerald Fine, whose film Twilight of Youth also screened at the festival.

Eyewitness To History opened alongside Hannah Montana for a noon matinee on Sunday, February3 at the Rave Motion Picture Theater in Port St Lucie, Florida.

“It gave me goose-bumps listening to the musical score on the theater’s Dolby Surround Sound speakers, " said Executive Producer R.I. Lester, Jr. "Watching Armin along with Gary's visual images on the huge movie screen was an awesome experience.”

“I am both thrilled and honored,” said Director Gary Lester upon receiving  notification from festival officials that the film would be screened. “Armin Lehmann’s story is a major voice for tolerance in a world that seems increasingly intolerant."

Eyewitness To History has been recognized with a "Best Documentary" award at the Daytona Beach Film Festival.

It also had its Southeast Asian premiere in Busan, South Korea, where it screened with Korean subtitles at the Budi International Film Festival.

The Canadian premiere occurred at The Non-Violence International Film Festival in 2008.

        Armin Lehmann: Writer, poet, humanitarian, and international advocate for peace 

Eyewitness To History now screens free on IMDb, The Internet Movie Data Base, where approximately 58 million film fans view their favorite films each month.

To view Eyewitness To History in its entirety, or see the trailer, click here.

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 Studio Honors Johnny Duncan                      Western star Johnny Duncan rode the trail with Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.

                             A Hollywood Legend

    The 2010 Blue Heron Awards Barbecue

                      November 14, 2009

Veteran film actor Johnny Duncan is this year's recipient of Blue Heron’s Hollywood Legend Award.

Johnny Johnny Duncan shares a laugh with Charlie Carlson, as Gary Lester and Barry Anderson look on.

A number of television and motion picture VIPs turned out both for Johnny's farewell performance at the Athens Theatre on Friday, as well as the studio's awards banquet on Saturday, November 14.

                                Starlet Paula Carroll turned out to honor a Hollywood Legend.
 

For more than 80 years, Johnny has been a real crowd pleaser, from dancing as a youngster for nickels and dimes, to playing on the silver screen with such Hollywood greats as Bogart and Brando.

           Johnny Duncan, starring as Robin, in the 1949 Batman and Robin serial.

For eleven years, Johnny worked with those loveable rascals -- the East Side Kids. Years later, when Johnny and Clint Eastwood were cast as bullies in a Cheyenne TV episode,  Clint Walker, the star of the show, went up to Johnny and said, “I know you. You're one of them East Side Kids!”

Walker didn't recognize newcomer Eastwood, but he sure knew Johnny.

Johnny also recalled how he and Lee Marvin talked Marlon Brando into taking a motorcycle ride with them, despite the studio's order prohibiting Brando from riding motorcycles. Johnny ended up teaching Brando how to ride, a skill Brando found useful when cast in the leading role of The Wild Ones, with Johnny riding a motorcycle by his side in the film.

FMPTA Honorary Member Johnny Duncan presents Charlie Carlson with a Crystal Reel for his work as associate producer for Safe Haven: The Warsaw Zoo

 

"Not only is Johnny a great actor, but he is a real crowd-pleaser, and people person as well," said PBS television personality Charlie Carlson. "I was honored to be able to present him with the Hollywood Legend award."

Johnny presenting Gary Lester with a Crystal Reel for Best Director -- Safe Haven: The Warsaw Zoo.

 On hand to make the weekend special for Johnny was Blue Heron's award-winning director Gary Lester.

"I love all of Johnny's film and television work, but most important, I consider him one of my best friends. He has been an inspiration to me and I will never forget the influence he has had on my life and work."

Stephanie Mason-Teague accepts Blue Heron's first Dottie Carlson Humanitarian Award on behalf of recipient Marian Tomblin.

Also honored at the company's annual awards event on Saturday was local children's author Marian Tomblin, who received Blue Heron's Dottie Carlson Humanitarian Award.

Los Angeles producer Martin DeLuca, founder of the West Hollywood International Film Festival, was honored with the Blue Heron Patron of the Arts Award. 

        Scott Marlowe recognizes Charlie Carlson, as Richard Lester stands by to present a trophy

                  Additional Honorees:

Ted V. Mikels (Best Theatrical Poster, AZM3: Cloned)

Producers Feliks Pastusiak, Alex Ringer and Charlie Carlson (Safe Haven: The Warsaw Zoo)

Marsha Goren, Ryzard Zabinski and Moshe Tirosh (Safe Haven: The Warsaw Zoo)

Director Gary Lester (Safe Haven: The Warsaw Zoo) 

Lester and Carlson were also honored for their promo card for the PBS TV show Weird Florida : Roads Less Traveled.

Two of Blue Heron’s animal stars received trophies that will be displayed near their beds.

Miss Scarlet, the neglected pooch who has turned into a sensational media darling, received the Best Canine Award for her performance in Ted V. Mikels' upcoming blockbuster, Astro Zombies M3: Cloned.

Blue Heron's award-winning director Gary Lester headed up Mikels' second unit production team in Florida and cast Miss Scarlet in a barbecue scene in which the Astro Zombies grilled people rather than hamburgers.
 

Scarlet appeared previously in Henry Blackhart Is Dead, a paranormal thriller released by Blue Heron and now screening on the Internet Movie data Base (IMDB).

She is currently appearing on PBS television stations, with her human co-star Charlie Carlson, in Weird Florida: Roads Less Traveled.

Best Feline award went to Blue Heron's mascot, Leo T. Cat. Lester cast Leo in the Granny scene of Astro Zombies M3:Cloned.

Leo can be seen on IMDb in Fuzzy Little People, Blue Heron's documentary about the plight of shelter animals.

"We love our animals, and we recognized their contribution to our films also," said Gary Lester.

 Hollywood Legend Meets Hollywood Starlet: Johnny Duncan with Paula Carroll (Days of Thunder)

 "This year's affair was the best one ever."

                                                                                          Charlie Carlson

                                                 Lew & Shirley Rice (COURTNEY)

       Stephanie Mason-Teague (ASTRO ZOMBIES M3: Cloned) and Amber Lester (The Seance) 

       Johnny Duncan (Batman & Robin) and Charlie Carlson (Henry Blackhart is Dead)

FMPTA President Carole Ferrill is about to receive a kiss from a Hollywood legend, shortly after making him an honorary member of the Florida Motion Picture & Television Association.

Director Gary Lester (Safe Haven:The Warsaw Zoo) with Johnny Duncan, Charlie Carlson, and FX make-up artist Barry Anderson (George Romero's Day of the Dead)

                 (Photos by Gary Lester, Cathy McIlhenny, Robert Reese, and  Paula Carroll)

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          The 2009 Blue Heron Awards Breakfast

                                     Johnny Johnny Duncan receives a Lifetime Achievement in Film Gold Cup from FMPTA President Carole Ferrill.

Robert Radez, author of the bestselling book On The Fringe of The Real World, shares a story about his long-time friend, Johnny Duncan.