TV Talk: WQED documentary recounts a WWII story in ‘Harbor from the Holocaust’

WQED-TV documents a World War II story of survival in its one-hour film “Harbor from the Holocaust,” debuting nationally on PBS stations at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

“Harbor,” the first national documentary to come out of WQED since 2015, recounts the stories of a few of the 20,000 Jewish refugees who fled Nazi- occupied Europe during World War II to the city of Shanghai, China. “Harbor” introduces the relationships that developed between the refugees, known as “Shanghailanders,” and their adopted city.

“Harbor” was not shot in Pittsburgh but the documentary is the result of several local influences, according to WQED vice president of content Darryl Ford Williams, who executive produced the film.

The film’s concept stemmed from conversations between Ford Williams and Michele Heryford, former executive director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Pittsburgh. Heryford ultimately served as a consulting producer on “Harbor.”

“There was an exhibit that came through Pittsburgh probably around 2010ish at the University of Pittsburgh and I remember seeing the poster that detailed the story of people who had this experience and one of them was Peter Max, who did the Beatles album covers,” Ford Williams recalled. She wound up in conversation with Hereyford and was intrigued to learn of a museum in Shanghai dedicated to this story. “My imagination started firing off questions: What’s in the museum? Where did they get the stuff? It was fascinating imagining the details and things I didn’t know about this story.”

Other contributions to the film came from Ilana Diamond, managing director of Pittsburgh startup AlphaLab Gear, who had boxes of old photos from her great aunt, principal of the Jewish school in Shanghai. Many of those photos are used in the film.

Bettie Carlson of Murrysville is the granddaughter of Ho Feng-Shan, a Chinese diplomat featured in the film and referred to by some as the Chinese Schindler (after Oskar Schindler, featured in the 1993 Steven Spielberg feature film “Schindler’s List”).

“Their Pittsburgh connection is part of the inspiration for WQED pursuing this documentary,” Ford Williams said.

WQED’s Frank Caloiero was one of two directors of photography on “Harbor,” which was directed and produced by New York-based Violet Du Feng. Finish editing on the film was done at WQED and WQED manager of graphic design Paula Zetter designed graphic treatments seen throughout the film while frequent WQED collaborator Iris Sampson earned a co-producer credit on “Harbor.”

In addition to the film airing nationally, WQED has partnered with Friendship Circle, 1922 Murray Ave. in Squirrel Hill, for the exhibit “Jewish Refugees in Shanghai,” featuring photos and artifacts from Shanghai’s Jewish Refugee Museum. The exhibit is viewable to the public in the street-level window of Friendship Circle through Oct. 1.

Rick Sebak’s latest

In WQED producer Rick Sebak’s latest pledge show, “A Couple Quick Quarantine Questions” (noon Sunday), Sebak speaks of working from home and producing video clips from his front porch. He also asks and answers coronavirus-era questions such as, “What have you been doing during the pandemic?”

Ford Williams said a proposal for more of Sebak’s national specials is out for consideration by PBS executives.

‘Orchestrating Change’

“Orchestrating Change,” a documentary about an orchestra composed of musicians living with mental illness, premieres at 8 p.m. Saturday on WQED’s World Channel, which is Channel 13.3 over the air (Channel 473 on Verizon’s FiOS TV, Channel 417 on Armstrong Cable).

The orchestra was created in 2011 by music director Ronald Braunstein, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Braunstein grew up in Squirrel Hill and attended Taylor Allderdice High School but left at the start of his junior year in 1971 to attend North Carolina School of the Arts to study music composition. He later studied composition at Carnegie Mellon University during the 1973-74 school year before going on to attend and graduate from Julliard.

Braunstein resides in Melrose, Mass., but still has family in Pittsburgh, including his brother and stepmother.