So I was googling around the internet this morning looking for reviews of STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME when I ran into this blog by Eric D. Snider, a freelance columnist and "man about town" who was at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin and who saw our very own doc. Here's what he had to say about it:

"I started at the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse at 11 a.m. with “Steal a Pencil for Me.” The description in the film guide mentioned the word “Holocaust,” which is one of the reasons I hadn’t been that keen on seeing it at what has otherwise been a fun, upbeat festival. But then I overheard two different strangers in two different places say it was one of the best documentaries they’d ever seen in their lives, and I became intrigued. You gotta follow the buzz at film festivals. It’s how you find the hidden gems.

“Steal a Pencil for Me” is a love story, really, about a Dutch couple who survived the war together and have now been married for 60 years. At the time, however, the man was married to a bitter shrew, even as he was falling in love with this other woman, thus creating a romantic triangle in the Nazi concentration camps.

I concur with the strangers: This is one of the most extraordinarily lovely documentaries I’ve ever seen. It has the Holocaust stuff that will make you cry, and then the sweet, gentle love story on top of that. Is there anything dearer than two 90-year-olds who are still as much in love now as they were 60 years ago? It almost makes you not hate old people anymore, just for a few minutes. On top of that, the film has gorgeous cinematography and a beautiful musical score. It makes you cry big, happy tears over and over again, or at least it did me."

UPDATE: More reviews of PENCIL
PopMatters (scroll down)
The Daily Grind (scroll down)
The Austin Chronicle

A wonderful feature documentary that I just scored will make it's world premier at the South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin, TX this weekend. It is called Steal A Pencil For Me and it chronicles the lives of two concentration camp detainees as they struggle to live and survive in the hell of the WWII holocaust. Jaap and Ina fall in love in one of the camps and ultimately it is their romance and will to survive that gets them through their horrible ordeal.

STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME is a compelling documentary feature film by Academy Award® nominee Michèle Ohayon about the power of love and the ability of humankind to rise above unimaginable suffering.  1943; Holland is under total Nazi occupation. In Amsterdam, Jack, an unassuming accountant, first meets Ina at a birthday party – a 20 year old beauty from a wealthy diamond manufacturing family who instantly steals his heart. But Jack’s pursuit of love will be complicated; he is poor and married to Manja, a flirtatious and mercurial spouse.  When the Jews are being deported, the husband, the wife and the lover find themselves at the same concentration camp; actually living in the same barracks. When Jack's wife objects to the "girlfriend" in spite of their unhappy marriage, Jack and Ina resort to writing secret love letters, which sustain them throughout the horrible circumstances of the war.

Checkout my myspace page to hear the "Love Theme".

This is brought to you by the same team that brought you COWBOY DEL AMOR:

Michele Ohayon, director
Theo Van de Sande, Director of Photography
Kate Amend, Editor
Joseph Julian Gonzalez, Composer
Michael Bard, Sound

This is a music production of SIMPLE MUSIC PRODUCTIONS and the great team of:
Keith Stark, score mixer
J. Marcus Oliver, orchestrator
Johnny Wilson, assistant engineer

Also, I want to thank the following musicians for lending their incredible talents:
Mitchell Newman, violin
John Rusnak, piano
Sussam Deyhim, voice

I know I haven't made a blog entry since October, but I have been very, very busy lately. In fact, I actually completed two whole feature scores and am working on a third right now. In total, I've probably composed a solid hour and a half of music with musicians and singers from all around the world!

Since some of these projects haven't been officially announced I won't mention them now. I will just tell that they are feature documentaries with great stories and great music.